In a new televised speech, Pedro Sánchez announced yesterday to the Spaniards that he plans to ask Congress next week for another extension of the state of alarm. He stated that it would be "the last", but did not detail the exact duration - "about a month," he said, nor the conditions of application. What was clear is that he plans to implement a de-escalation by territories, which means that the PSOE and Podemos government gives in to one of the main demands of nationalists and independence activists. ERC and the PNV, essential to spread the alarm after the PP confirmed its rejection, demanded from Moncloa an asymmetric lack of confinement, so that the single command is diluted and both Catalonia and the Basque Country can manage the de-escalation to their liking. Sánchez gives in not for the general interest, but to shore up his own survival.

It is clear that the Government's objective is to perpetuate the restriction of freedom of assembly and movement with the subterfuge of pandemic control. However, as we publish today, more and more jurists of recognized prestige alert to the suspension of fundamental rights of citizens throughout the successive extensions of a state of alarm that seems more like a hidden state of emergency. Given the president's intention to extend this instrument, which is contemplated in the constitutional provisions, the experts consulted by this newspaper consider that it would be more appropriate to strengthen health regulations in the event of a possible outbreak of Covid. If Sánchez ignores these authorized voices, it is because he wants to continue eluding Congress. First, he did so by ruling by decree, after conforming the Executive with the weakest parliamentary base of democracy, and now he abuses Article 116 of the Magna Carta, which protects the state of alarm. Extending this until the end of June is equivalent to skipping parliamentary control, taking into account that July and August are unworkable months. This crude trick shows the paralysis of a Government incapable of controlling the epidemic and willing to continue punishing some territories, as is the case with the Community of Madrid, for political reasons and without meeting the criteria of transparency and rigor. The current legislation contemplates alternatives to the constitutional exception to maintain sanitary protection measures. That Sánchez does not want to make use of them reveals his drift towards a cesarean behavior that seriously erodes institutional credibility.

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