That is why it's annoying that it should be invoked, for instance, to avoid investigating the crimes committed during General Franco's regime. O to protect it against the Catalan process.
The Transition was a pact between frightened people. There was the living memory of a war that hadn't ended in 1939 but in 1975, and because Franco had died of old age. His supporters had the State's every resource at their disposal, but they knew --they weren't stupid-- that time and the world were not on their side.
The opposition was weak and permanently afraid of a military coup that would bring back the past. The Transition was a ceasefire: let's move towards democracy, but without judging the past.
But some unwritten clauses were never fulfilled. Franco's supporters were to be left alone, but, in return, they had to stop being in charge. However, impunity was not enough for them and they wanted to set the limits. For instance, regarding matters of national identity: once we had reached a certain point, they said enough is enough. The Transition came to a halt and backtracked. The pact was not fulfilled. Those who were supposed to step aside, chose to stay put instead, often lurking in the shadows. And they decided to have the last say on how far we could go and what could and couldn't be touched. And that happened around the same time as the failed coup of 23 February 1981. A coup that perhaps wasn't quite such a failure after all.
