Numerous regional government measures throughout Spain are being overturned by the judiciary
The regional government of Catalunya has suffered a setback in its policy of introducing restrictions in an attempt to further reduce coronavirus infection rates, with the courts overturning night-time curfews in 129 municipalities and allowing them to remain in force in only 19.
This reflects a widespread tendency across Spain as the judiciary limits the measures implemented to those which they feel are justified by the current pandemic situation, and at the same time it has emerged that the Supreme Court has ruled against a requirement for workers at homes for the sick and elderly in the region of Castilla-La Mancha to be PCR tested regularly. In general, the courts are acting to protect citizens’ fundamental right of movement, which is deemed to be infringed unless the restrictions proposed are adequately justified by a severe threat to public health.
It is on these grounds that various measures have been overturned in recent weeks, and in Galicia, Cantabria, the Canaries and Andalucía the regional governments’ attempts to make Covid passports obligatory for entry into night-time leisure venues have been overruled or are awaiting judicial rulings.
There is no doubting that striking the perfect balance between pandemic measures and personal freedoms is a very hard task, but at the moment the regional governments are caught in a particularly difficult situation. On the one hand incidence rates have fallen by 49 per cent over the last month across the country, indicating a significant improvement, but on the other hand the Ministry of Health’s daily pandemic updates reported 144 Covid-related deaths on both Tuesday and Wednesday, the highest figure since May.
In addition, regional governments are keen to bring the incidence rates down as far as possible before the summer holidays end and the new school term begins in September.
The situation is further complicated by different regional high courts adopting slightly different stances. In Navarra, for example, the curfew between 1.00 and 6.00 in the morning has been maintained in 81 municipalities (as opposed to 88 last week), at least until midnight on August 26.
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Source: Murcia Today
