Franco's regime is one of the most typical examples of
fascist regimes in Europe, along with Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany. Originally the term fascism referred to the National Fascist Party of Mussolini, but the term has
long since been used to describe all radical, authoritarian nationalist political ideologies.
There is absolutely no justification that the modern Spanish government is fascist in any way. FYI, Spain is now ruled by the Socialist Party, the archenemy of Franco's regime.
It is totally unfair to criticise the modern Spanish state. Spain is in my opinion one of the countries which has improved the most in terms of social, political and economic reforms over the last two or three decades. Spain was still backward by Northern European standard in many respects in the 1970's, but it has mostly caught up with the rest of Western Europe. For example, recycling is a good indicator of a country's human development, and Spanish people are among the most avid recyclers nowadays (along with the Germanic countries, except the UK). Spain has also made tremendous improvements regarding gender equality, economic freedom and democracy. The areas that are still lagging behind are
freedom of press and corruption.