Salvador Illa twists the law to try to impose restrictions on Madrid

• Direct. Last minute on the coronavirus crisis

• Government Salvador Illa tries to impose his plan to close Madrid without agreement

• The measures: what can and cannot be done in Madrid and nine other municipalities in the region

The political brawl between the Government and the Community of Madrid resulted this Wednesday in a new debate bordering on quantum mechanics.

The agreement to restrict mobility in 10 Madrid municipalities was both approved - according to the Government - and not approved - according to the PP communities.

Such is the degree of complexity that this sanitary-legal struggle has acquired.

What has - it should be remembered - as a backdrop the worst data of the second wave of coronavirus throughout the EU.

River?

In short, that the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System - the coordinating body between the regions' Health Councils and the Ministry of Health - voted unanimously on the measures proposed by the Minister of Health,

Can the Government force Madrid?

But then, has the closure of Madrid been approved?

Is it forced?

The minister says yes

, that when there is a majority, the decision is "collegiate" and the agreement is firm.

And that it will translate it into a ministerial order "in the next few days", which will be "mandatory." But it happens that the regulation of the Interterritorial Council ensures, in its article 14, that the measures that are agreed in its meetings are always " recommendations "to be agreed by" consensus ".

And "consensus" means, according to the Dictionary of the RAE, "agreement produced by consent between all members."

Everybody.

Which has not happened.

That is the root of the debate, but the questions do not end here.

Can the Government force Madrid to apply the measures?

With the regulations in hand, and without an intervention, no.

Illa himself stated that "it is up to the communities to transpose the ministerial order in their corresponding official gazettes if they are affected by the collegiate decision." And he added that he does not contemplate that Madrid or any of the other regions that voted "no" refuse to apply the measures.

But he did not say if Madrid will intervene in that case.

From Isabel Díaz Ayuso's team

They answer that it is "false" that it is "a collegiate decision", and they cling to the literality of the regulation.

The royal decree of June

More questions.

So, what is Illa based on to affirm, categorically, that there is a regional agreement?

According to Law 40/2015 on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector, the Government can impose joint plans on all its members when it performs coordination tasks for the entire General State Administration.

But the Interterritorial Council is not subject to this prerogative, since it does not have the category of a Sectoral Conference. And why does it not have that category?

Because the Government did not want to.

Pedro Sánchez's team

designed a royal decree in June for the Interterritorial Council to function as a Sectorial Conference and thus be able to impose its resolutions on coordination matters, but, a few days later, it backed down and did not present it.

Why?

Because the nationalist and independence parties did not accept that, by royal decree, decisions could be imposed from the central government, so neither the Interterritorial Council can impose coordination norms nor does a ministerial order have sufficient rank to force the autonomies to adopt the measures " recommended. "And the Government, beyond the Interterritorial Council, could not impose the measures on Madrid?

Yes. But the health of the community would have to intervene, de facto.

You can do it in four ways: applying article 155 of the Constitution (which is completely ruled out), declaring a state of regional alarm (it is not on the table either), or using two laws that enable you to take drastic measures in extreme situations. urgency.

The two laws

The first of these is the Law of cohesion and quality of the National Health System, whose article 65 specifies that the declaration of "coordinated actions" such as those presented this Wednesday must be ratified in the Interterritorial Council except in "situations of urgent need , in which case the measures that are strictly necessary will be taken "by Health and they will be informed" urgently of the measures adopted "to the affected regions. The second is the General Law of Public Health:" It corresponds to the authority State health (...) the adoption of any special intervention measures in public health matters that are necessary for urgent or necessary health reasons or in the face of extraordinary circumstances that represent an obvious risk to the health of the population, and provided that the available scientific evidence thus accredits it ".

Madrid: "Not valid"

Asked if the Illa order is going to apply, the Health Council,

, he insisted that this "has not been approved by consensus", so "legally it is not valid."

"Ila has tried to impose measures that go against many Spaniards," said Escudero, who assured that Madrid in this crisis has acted with "loyalty and collaboration" and not the Executive of Pedro Sánchez.

"We do not understand the imposition, the Government of Spain is in a hurry to intervene in Madrid, not to fight the virus." Illa pointed out: "They themselves said there was an agreement. It is not for me to explain the reasons why there has been an change of position ".

The problem is that it was the regional vice president,

(Citizens

) the one that spoke of pact, and not the PP.

Illa added: "I do not contemplate that a collegiate decision that also affects public health, is not carried out by the Community of Madrid."

Andalusia: "It is arbitrary"

The Ministry of Health and Families of the Junta de Andalucía voted against because it considers that the Health criteria are "totally arbitrary", reports

from Seville.

Counselor

He pointed out that "Andalusia has voted against because this document has been rejected by Andalusian technicians and experts in the Public Health and Health Alerts presentations that have met this morning."

Catalonia: "It's wet paper"

The Generalitat assures that the document stems from a bilateral pact with Madrid that they do not recognize and that it is "wet paper", because they apply more measures.

According to

,

of Catalan Health, "the most worrying, the saddest thing, is that Madrid continues without acting".

Murcia: "They expected submission"

Murcia voted "no", after noting an abstention by "mistake", according to regional sources.

"The question is that you cannot impose a plan and boast of co-governance, especially when the experience is in the management of the autonomies that are the ones that are living the day-to-day of the virus and who know best how to tackle it," they underline from Murcia.

"You cannot raise a closed document and wait for submission, without listening to the contributions and suggestions."

Galicia: "Obvious parameters"

Galicia rejected the proposal because "it obviates many of the parameters included in the document prepared by the Clinical Committee of experts from the Galician community."

The

of Health,

He pointed out that Galicia has been combining the data of "up to 10 parameters, with their corresponding indicators."

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