• Direct. Last minute about the coronavirus crisis
  • The map: the advance of the coronavirus in Spain
  • Second, Congress approves extending the state of alarm until April 26 and Sánchez anticipates that he will request another extension.

Pedro Sánchez will appear in Congress next Wednesday, April 22, in order to request the relevant authorization, as required by the Constitution, to extend the state of alarm for the third time.

The intention of the president is to add to this debate what should be held to also inform the Lower House of the content of the European councils that have been held so far to seek economic support measures capable of facing the Covid-19 crisis.

In this way, Sánchez will go to Congress four days before the end of the current term of confinement, on Sunday, April 26. The new extension, in the event that it obtains the parliamentary permission, would foreseeably extend another 15 more days, that is, until May 11 .

This new prolongation of the alarm state could lead to small changes in the confinement conditions, as long as the curve of contagions and deaths from coronavirus is clearly in decline, the ICUs have left the saturation stage behind and material stock is available of sufficient sanitary protection.

The Popular Party has expressed its complaint in the meeting of the spokesmen of the Congress to understand that it is not appropriate to add the debate of the new extension and the one referred to the European councils. The popular spokeswoman, Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, considers that the importance of both requires separate appearances. For the PP, this is new evidence that Pedro Sánchez "tries to drain the bundle."

The PP asks that the experts appear

In this sense, the Popular Group has registered the request for the appearance of the eight experts that make up the scientific advisory committee of the president, and in which he "always delegates his responsibility", to explain in detail his vision of the pandemic, the measures they have proposed to stop it and those they foresee for the future. Álvarez de Toledo maintains that the Government "presents a severe picture of incompetence".

With these prolegomena, the first session of control of the Government since the Covid-19 crisis broke out and which is being held this Wednesday in Congress, anticipates a new round of reproaches against the Government for its "improvised", "ineffective" policy, "irresponsible" and "imposed".

These are the main complaints from the parliamentary forces without distinction, ready to shoot the president and the ministers of Labor, Health, Interior, Social Rights, Finance and Education.

Sánchez will be forced, at the request of the PP leader, to make an assessment of his management of the crisis, very deficient in the opinion of the popular , who suspect that the offer of the president's agreement is a decoy, "pure propaganda", to distract attention from the ineffectiveness with which the problems of the moment are faced.

Pablo Casado will urge to agree on a "crash plan" that solves the problems of supply of protection material that still persist, and will demand the massive testing of citizens. The pacts, in his opinion, should be about the urgent matters of the moment, not about vague future intentions.

The independentistas, worried about the cost

Sánchez will also answer questions from the spokespersons for Bildu, Mertxe Aizpurua , and the CUP, Mireia Vehí , both concerned with knowing to what extent the cost of the enormous economic crisis that is already taking place will be borne by the workers or if, on the contrary, the government plans to pass the bill on to companies with profits.

The PNV will question the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, in an attempt to find out the implications that, according to the Government, will have a reduction in half of the amounts that the autonomous communities can allocate to job search and training for the unemployed.

Citizens and Vox

Citizens will prefer to focus on the guarantees offered by the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa, regarding the availability of protective equipment and tests to detect the coronavirus in a possible scenario of de-escalation of the confinement measures.

For his part, Vox will face the second vice president, Pablo Iglesias, urging him to "desist from imposing the Venezuelan Chavista model in Spain" and will also be interested in knowing "the real number of deaths" from the pandemic.

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  • Pedro Sánchez
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  • Vox
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  • PNV
  • Spain
  • Citizens
  • CUP
  • Covid 19
  • Coronavirus

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