24 Oct, 2020 @ 13:20
1 min read

BREAKING: Spain to declare state of alarm tomorrow

Breaking

SPAIN is set to declare a state of alarm on Sunday in an emergency meeting of the Council of Ministers.

It comes after a slew of regions requested the extra powers over Friday and Saturday to deal with a surge in coronavirus.

The autonomous communities which have asked for a state of alarm to bring in curfews and other measures are the Basque Country, Catalunya, Cantabria, Extremedura, La Rioja, Navarra, Castilla-La Mancha and the Valenciana Community, as well as the autonomous city of Melilla.

The right wing governments of Andalucia and Madrid have also announced curfews but have stopped short of asking the central government for a state of alarm. All regions asking for the measure are run by PSOE or nationalist governments.

The second state of alarm does not mean the country is entering another lockdown.

It is merely a legal framework which allows for regional governments to apply tougher lifestyle and mobility restrictions in their fight against COVID-19.

It means curfews, the closing of city or town borders, reduction of business hours and more can be done so without any judicial spanners in the works.

It comes after restrictions put in place in some regions have been challenged in the courts. 

Last week the Basque Country ordered capacity reductions and limited friend and family meet ups, which was overturned in the Superior Court of Justice. 

Navarra president Maria Chivite said her government ‘needs to have legal coverage to be able to adopt other measures that go beyond the current ones in force.’ 

La Rioja president Concha Andreu said: “The state of alarm means only one thing: having legal protection to be able to adopt the necessary measures to stop the contagion curve. 

“We need certainties and to act within a regulatory framework that protects us while making firm decisions.”

Until this week, most regions had feared the political consequences of declaring a state of alarm, but the rapidly deteriorating figures have seen a rapid turn around. 

The state of alarm being declared tomorrow will only be ‘active’ in those regions who have asked for it to be so.

It could also provide legal cover for reduction in closing hours and curfews and closures in provinces such as Granada.

Laurence Dollimore

Laurence Dollimore is a Spanish-speaking, NCTJ-trained journalist with almost a decade’s worth of experience.
The London native has a BA in International Relations from the University of Leeds and and an MA in the same subject from Queen Mary University London.
He earned his gold star diploma in multimedia journalism at the prestigious News Associates in London in 2016, before immediately joining the Olive Press at their offices on the Costa del Sol.
After a five-year stint, Laurence returned to the UK to work as a senior reporter at the Mail Online, where he remained for two years before coming back to the Olive Press as Digital Editor in 2023.
He continues to work for the biggest newspapers in the UK, who hire him to investigate and report on stories in Spain.
These include the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mail Online, Mail on Sunday and The Sun and Sun Online.
He has broken world exclusives on everything from the Madeleine McCann case to the anti-tourism movement in Tenerife.

GOT A STORY? Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call +34 951 273 575 Twitter: @olivepress

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