Date Published: 10/09/2021
ARCHIVED - Spain prepares to declare second state of alarm unconstitutional
The move comes just weeks after the first ‘lockdown’ in Spain was pronounced unlawful
Just two months after the first state of alarm, implemented at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in Spain in March 2020, was decreed unconstitutional by Spain’s highest court, the Constitutional Court in Madrid is about to make the same ruling on the second ‘lockdown’.
Under Article 116 of the Spanish Constitution, there are three categories that can apply to emergency situations in this country: a state of alarm, a state of emergency and a state of siege. There are major differences between the three, and if a state of emergency had been declared at any point it Spain it would have meant that police could detain suspects for ten days rather than three, as well as having the power to shut down media outlets and forcefully enter businesses and homes without permission, all in the name of public safety.
The court ruled that in order to impose restrictions such as confining people to their homes except for essential travel and prohibiting meetings between non-cohabitants, as happened during the first lockdown, the government should have opted for a state of emergency, and thus ruled the first state of alarm unconstitutional.
Now, following the filing of the appeal by far-right political party Vox, it would appear that the second state of alarm is proving even more problematic than the first. Government representatives have argued that since a curfew was imposed and meetings were controlled, the fundamental rights of citizens were limited, but not suspended, and therefore the choice of the state of alarm in this second instance was appropriate.
However, the opposition sees this decision as a blatant attempt by the Spanish government to avoid the hassle of making fortnightly appearances in the Chamber to review the restrictive measures and has deemed the very occasional appearances of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and former Health Minister Salvador Illa during November 2020 and May 2021 as insufficient.
Another aspect with which magistrates have taken serious issue is the fact that the various leaders of the autonomous communities were given the power to increase the restrictions on fundamental rights as the health crisis developed, a move which severely reduced parliamentary control over decisions.
While a ruling on the unconstitutionality of the second state of alarm isn’t expected until October, given that five out of six magistrates voted against the first the same outcome is expected this time around.
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