Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Thursday a reform of the law governing the functioning of the intelligence services, mainly in order to "strengthen judicial control", following a resounding spy scandal.

“It is a question of strengthening the guarantees of this control, but also of ensuring maximum respect for the individual and political rights of people,” declared the head of the left-wing government before the Chamber of Deputies.

Mr. Sánchez also announced the forthcoming adoption of a new law relating to "classified information", the current legislation dating from 1968, therefore from the time of the Franco dictatorship.

"It is urgent that the regulations adapt to democratic, constitutional principles," insisted the Prime Minister.

The scandal, which cost the head of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), Paz Esteban, her job, broke out last month after it was revealed that the phones of Catalan separatists had been tapped by the Spanish intelligence services using the Israeli Pegasus spyware.

The Catalan separatists then threatened to withdraw their support in Parliament for the minority government of Mr. Sánchez, with the risk of causing his fall before the end of the legislature, scheduled for the end of 2023.

The case then took on another dimension when the government revealed that Mr. Sánchez and his Minister of Defense, Maragarita Robles, had themselves been spied on by this software, this time as part of an “external attack” whose author remains unknown to this day.

The reforms announced Thursday "will update the procedures (...) in order to prevent these security breaches from happening again in the future", said the Spanish Prime Minister.