Call for ban on Franco-favouring compendium

SPAIN (Agencies) The Socialist Party (PSOE) last week weighed into the simmering feud over the controversial Dictionary of Spanish Biographies, compiled by the Royal History Academy (RAH), by tabling a draft bill to prevent its publication in Spain and abroad. The party has called on the Socialist government for the offending sections of the divisive publication to be vetted by a committee after a "lack of objectivity" was detected in some of the entries. The entry for Francisco Franco, for example, states that the former dictator "set up an authoritarian regime, but not a totalitarian one." The dictionary, for which the RAH was awarded a public grant of 6.4 million eurosto bring to fruition, shows an "intolerable lack of thoroughness and neutrality," according to the PSOE. In Congress on Wednesday, United Left deputy Gaspar Llamazares and PNV member Aitor Esteban Bravo are expected to question Culture Minister Ángeles González-Sinde over how the government plans to rectify the contents of an opus which runs to 43,000 biographical entries. (See What's all the fuss about at the Royal Academy?)