Will it be possible to ban travel between regions after the state of alarm? The government believes so

MadridIn six months, the Spanish government has changed its position from defending that no measures could be approved without a state of alarm to claiming "almost everything" can be done. And with each passing day the Spanish believes more measures are possible without the protection granted bu the state of alarm, which allows the restriction of fundamental rights. At the end of October, the Spanish Parliament approved a six-month state of alarm to be able to impose the curfew and also restrict travel between communities. The then Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, claimed it was the only possible option. However, the first vice president of the Spanish government, Carmen Calvo, has defended this Thursday that once the state of alarm ends after May 9, the ban on travel between regions can continue.

This is a measure that experts are not sure about: they consider that it is beyond the competences of the autonomous communities. In fact, in March last year the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, criticised the then president of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, when he wanted to close off Catalonia. It is also true that at that time there was already a state of alarm and home confinement had been decreed. Now Calvo argues that "except for home confinement - which limits the right to free movement, affects fundamental rights and can only be taken by way of the exceptional situation - almost all other measures can be applied with existing legislation". However, she pointed out, speaking to reporters from Valladolid, that the decision to confine an entire territory would have to taken by the Interterritorial Health Council, the body that brings together the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, with all the regional health ministers.

A "different scenario"

As Sánchez already defended on Wednesday before the Spanish parliament - where he ruled out giving more powers to regions after the state of alarm because he considers that it could be detrimental to fundamental rights - Calvo has argued that we are facing a radically different scenario than six months or a year ago, since this week will there will be more people who have been fully immunised against covid-19 than people who have been officially infected by the virus since the beginning of the pandemic. "Sometimes situations as complicated as those we live require difficult explanations," said the number two of the Spanish executive before reiterating that, in her view, the decisions of the Interterritorial Health Council are mandatory for all communities.

In addition, on the criticism from regions warning that there will be a legal chaos once the state of alarm is lifted on May 9 because the courts have to validate all new measures, Calvo has defended that 99% of the time the judges have always bached regional governments. In fact, she has warned that some communities have had the audacity to even skip the state of alarm - it happened with Castilla y León when it decreed a curfew at 20 h, which the Constitutional Court ended up overturning - and that is why the safest thing is that the justice system retains control of fundamental rights.

For practical purposes, in the midst of the pre-campaign for the May 4 elections in Madrid, where the management of the pandemic has become a battle horse, Sánchez does not want to face the debate of extending the state of alarm. But at the same time he does not want to give more powers to regions by approving new legislation, as both the opposition and a good part of the partners of the investiture bloc are demanding. In exchange, he has wanted to turn the Interterritorial Health Council - where the socialists have a majority - into the decision maker on what is done from now on. It seems that the power and decision-making capacity remain only in the hands of the regions, but at the moment of truth the government may end up imposing - according to what they defend with dubious regulations, according to experts consulted by the ARA - their decisions through the tool of "co-governance" of the Interterritorial Health Council. However, hte will always the last word and not health experts or epidemiologists.