Spanish Government considers Curfew
The Spanish government are considering using nationwide state of alarm to implement a curfew.
Updates 24th October - The President will meet at the Vatican on Saturday morning, where he will meet the Pope. Due to the avalanche of alarm status requests (in no case, like March), Pedro Sánchez could convene the Council of Ministers on Saturday afternoon and, if not, postpone it until Sunday morning.
Updates 22nd October 21.18
The president of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, has announced that in the coming hours the curfew will be decreed in the Valencian Community between 00 hours and 6 am to try to slow the advance of the pandemic. In the next 48 hours the Lawyers of the Generalitat and the Ministry of Health will draw up a resolution that will then be forwarded to the TSJ to give its approval. It is expected that the measure will enter into force at the beginning of the week.
The president hopes that the high court will not object to decree the curfew in the Valencian Community. If this were the case, the state of alarm will be used, said Puig, who appeared this afternoon at the Palau de la Generalitat accompanied by the Ministry of Health, Ana Barceló.
In the early afternoon Barceló spoke at the Interterritorial Council of Health to ask the Government to decrease at the national level. However, as Puig has said, there have been communities that have refused so there has been no agreement. "The Community is going to make its own decisions, we are not going to delay a decision necessary to stop the virus," Puig said.
The curfew will also be accompanied by other restrictive measures to be announced in the coming days.
There will be exceptions;
Work
Emergency Reasons
Care of dependents
Spanish Government considers Curfew
Updates 22nd October
The President of the Generalitat Valenciana, Ximo Puig,has announced that he will propose the declaration of a curfew in the Valencian Community between 00.00 and 06.00 hours until December 9, a situation that will not affect night shift workers.
This measure will seek to prevent the escalation of coronavirus contagions that is suffering this autonomy(especially the province of Alicante),which has passed in a few days from being the least cumulative incidence of the virus to the third position. The idea is that the curfew lasts until December 9th to reach Christmas with low numbers of coronavirus contagions that allow for greater mobility of citizens for the holidays.
Puig today held a round of contacts with the social agents and trustees of Les Corts to analyse the situation of the coronavirus pandemic and issues such as the possibility of asking the Government for a curfew in the Valencian Community.
20th October - Health Minister Salvador Illa today confirmed the possibility was being studied, but stressed it would require the support of all regions and opposition parties such as the PP
The Spanish government is considering introducing a night time curfew across the whole of the country, in a bid to bring down coronavirus infections. The executives believe that it would need to do so under a state of alarm given that there is no other option that would give it the correct legal framework to limit the fundamental rights of movement in this way.
Find coronavirus numbers for our region here.
Spanish Government considers Curfew
The possibility was confirmed today by Health Minister Salvador Illa of the Socialist Party (PSOE), who pointed out that other European countries are also considering curfews, however, because the Madrid regional government – which is headed by the conservative Popular Party (PP) in coalition with Ciudadanos (Citizens), and propped up by far-right Vox – made it clear this morning that it is open to a curfew for the region, which once again has been particularly badly hit by the pandemic during this second wave.
Sources from the central government said today that it would not go ahead with a country-wide curfew if there is not an agreement to do so among ALL of Spain’s regions – some of which, like Madrid, are led by the PP. For his part, Illa today stated before reporters that such a move would not be imminent, but is being studied.
“It’s important to know if the PP would be willing to give its support to this,” Illa said in reference to a state of alarm and curfew, speaking at a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting. “A decision has not been made. It is being evaluated and studied. If it is made, it will be very important to know the political position of the PP.” The minister added that he had not had any discussions with the party about the issue.
Illa once again warned that “very tough weeks are coming,” with regard to the pandemic in Spain, and called for fresh support from other parties. “If this is where we are going,” he said, in reference to a curfew, “we need a state of alarm and I want to know who is willing to support me.”
Article 116 of the Spanish Constitution describes three legal categories for emergency situations: state of alarm, state of emergency and state of siege (in Spanish: estado de alarma, estado de excepción and estado de sitio). It is the first situation that was implemented by the Spanish government at the outset of the health crisis in March, paving the way for one of the strictest coronavirus lockdowns in the world.
The government can implement a state of alarm – as it did in March, and earlier this month in the Madrid region – but it needs the support of Spain’s lower house of parliament and the Congress of Deputies.
The political challenges that face the government in terms of a curfew are similar. The Madrid regional government has said it is open to a curfew, but it does not want a state of alarm. The government believes that this is not possible. One option is to request that all citizens remain at home from midnight to 6am, but an actual curfew, where the police have powers to enforce the rules, would necessitate a state of alarm, government sources insist.
Illa also confirmed on Tuesday that the central government would not renew the state of alarm in Madrid, which is due to expire on Saturday. The central government is still unaware of what exactly the PP-led regional administration in Madrid will do this weekend in a bid to contain this second wave of the coronavirus. This morning, the region’s health chief floated the option of a curfew, or returning to a previous raft of measures that confined residents of 45 basic healthcare areas – administrative divisions that contain one or more healthcare centers.
The original article can be found here at ElPais written by Simon Hunter
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