Lockdowns and rumours of Lockdowns aplenty as the political landscape seems to be tumbling toward another period of quarantine
The long weekend got underway on Friday night with the stark revelation that the Spanish government was in fact drafting a new State of Alarm. The Executive adjusted the terms of the current State of Alarm twice in 48 hours before having a Congress vote on the State of Alarm being in place until May 2021 without democratic check of a recall vote every 15 days. A little more than 24 days after securing that mandate from the legislature, there is now frank admissions that a new State of Alarm is being drafted to enable autonomous regions to enact house bound lockdowns. This could effectively see Spain enter a national lockdown once again, but issued by the regions.
The legal position is as yet unclear but having observed the fact that autonomous regions have almost unanimously elected to enforce the curfew and perimeter confinements under current legislation, the odds against lockdown powers not being put into force are long indeed.
The chances of such a policy being put in place are also increased as the population clamour for such a move and the Government are criticised as other European countries implement the policy. France and Germany have implemented full lockdowns, rumours and expectations of a similar move in the UK along with existing lockdowns in Wales and Ireland and aggressive curfew hours in other European nations point to the possibly that the direction of travel is heading one way only.
Our latest news round up podcast covers this uncomfortable development alongside some other local stories, including the Cocaine shipment intercepted by the Zaragoza city perimeter check points, the unfortunate optics of leading politicians attending banquets in opulent surroundings and an interview with a local chef about how the hostelry sector are adjusting to the challenging reality of the new normal.
RIP Sean Connery August 25 1930 - October 31 2020
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