Date Published: 21/05/2020
ARCHIVED - State of emergency in Spain extended to midnight on 7th June
ARCHIVED ARTICLE The fifth extension was only achieved through a complicated series of pacts which has caused considerable political friction
Although it had become apparent by lunchtime on Wednesday that the Spanish government, led by
socialist Pedro Sánchez, had secured sufficient support to obtain a fifth extension to the state of emergency until June 7th, debate and argument continued in parliament until late into the night, as the complicated make-up of the current parliament highlighted the underlying friction and divisions amongst the various political groups representing the population of Spain.
By Thursday morning controversy about the deals agreed by the PM in order to secure support for the extension before the measures were approved by Spain’s Congress of Deputies was raging, after it emerged that a deal had been struck with Basque nationalist group EH Bildu to repeal a 2012 labour reform before the end of the “extraordinary measures” that are in place to combat the coronavirus crisis – i.e. the state of emergency. The PSOE was obliged to issue a note clarifying the terms of its agreement in the middle of the night and has sparked complicated political rows this morning as a result.
The ultimate aim of the pacts struck was to gain an extension to enable the government to continue on its current course and maintain the state of emergency. Early in the debate the Prime Minister said, "While we must not drop our guard, we can state that the state of emergency has worked and the De-escalation Plan is working.
"We have regained lost ground against the virus, claimed Pedro Sánchez, but it is still out there lurking", and hence we must maintain our prudence and extend the state of emergency, which should govern "until such time as it is no longer necessary to partially restrict some rights to the benefit of public health, and not a day more".
The President of the Government stressed the importance of preventing a possible second wave, by continuing to heed the advice of the experts and of acting in a coordinated fashion in each phase of the de-escalation.
“ The Plan for the Transition to a New Normality is asymmetrical, gradual and progressive, yet the exit cannot be disorderly. "We will exit at different speeds, but we will exit united".
Under the new extension, he explained, the only delegate government authority will be the Minister for Health who, advised by departmental technicians and in coordination with the regional authorities, will set the different paces and forms of the de-escalation. The regional governments, which have always maintained their full capacity to manage their own jurisdictions, will gradually play a greater role, particularly with regard to primary care.
Pedro Sánchez argued that Spain is increasingly closer to recovering "its full vitality" but highlighted the "terrible economic consequences" of the pandemic.
“I apologize to citizens for any mistakes made, which were always dictated by the exceptionality of the situation,” he added. “Beyond our isolated differences of criteria, we have all had to work side by side. We have all been united by the same desire: to save lives.”
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