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MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish regions are urging the central government to take steps that would give them legal backing to impose curfews as the country battles a resurgent coronavirus epidemic.
As of Saturday, 10 of Spain’s 17 regions, including Valencia, Asturias, Castilla-La Mancha and the Basque Country, had asked the government to decree a state of emergency, which would allow regions to limit the movement of people.
The regions expect the government to convene an extraordinary Council of Ministers on Sunday to approve the measure, reported Spanish media, including El País.
“I would say with almost total certainty that there will be one. But it has not yet been officially called,” a Spanish government source told Reuters.
While many regions favor some form of curfew, the powerful Madrid region opposes it, which has so far prevented a decision at the national level.
Spain has registered the highest number of COVID-19 infections in Western Europe. The total cases rose to 1,046,132 on Friday, while the death toll approached 38,000.
Catalonia said Friday night that it would impose a curfew on the entire region, which includes Barcelona, as soon as the central government acts.
“We need a decentralized state of emergency in which the Catalan government maintains all management capacity,” Catalan deputy Pere Aragones said at a press conference.
“The evolution is very worrying. Either we increase our efforts or COVID-19 increases,” he said.
Some regions are considering imposing curfews by alternative means, such as going through regional courts, if the central government does not act.
“We cannot wait any longer and we have to take steps forward,” Murcia regional president Fernando López Miras told Spanish broadcaster TVE on Saturday. “If the central government does nothing, we will pass a curfew.”
The government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez would likely have enough votes to pass the measure in parliament. It would count on the votes of the Basque Nationalist Party and other regional parties that support the measure.
(Reporting by Jessica Jones; Editing by Frances Kerry and Alison Williams)
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