Spanish authorities declared a state of alarm from 8 am on Monday 17 March 2020 – to last for 15 days – as a start. The measure, which among other things introduced restrictions on unnecessary travel, excluding travel to and from work, grocery stores or doctors / hospitals etc., is authorized in the Spanish Constitution of 1978.
The constitution, which was introduced following the end of the Franco regime and the reintroduction of democratic governance, gives Spanish central authorities three options for what can collectively be called crisis preparedness: estado de alarma, estado de excepción og estado de sitio. Estado de alarma, or state of alarm, is the first of these and in fact the one of the three that is the least intrusive in people’s everyday lives even though it may not have felt this way during the last 13 – 14 months.
All three measures are strictly regulated in the constitution to prevent the reintroduction of dictatorship. For example, the government cannot impose a state of alarm for more than 15 days at a time. Many other countries have introduced travel restrictions and various other measures for 30 days or more, while in Spain the authorities must adopt a new 15-day state of alarm if it is still needed.
Article 116, paragraph 2 of the Constitution states that a state of alarm can be adopted by the Spanish central government through a decree for a period of up to 15 days. The Government must immediately notify Congress of such a decision and the contingency period may not be extended beyond the first 15 days without the consent of Congress. The government’s decision must also specify which parts of Spain are to be covered – which is the whole country in the case of this pandemic.
The two other types of crisis situation available to the authorities are state of emergency and state of siege.
A state of emergency is adopted by the government, but only after Congress has approved the measure. According to the constitution, such a decision must specify what effects it is expected to have, which areas of Spain it applies to and for how long a period it shall remain valid. Decisions on a state of emergency are limited to up to 30 days at a time.
In order to declare a state of siege, the government must submit such a proposal to Congress, which must adopt it by an absolute majority. It is Spain’s elected assembly, Congress, and not the government that decides the duration of a state of siege, what it should include and what conditions should apply to it.
The national state of alarm ended today, at 12 am Sunday 9 May 2021, and from now on it will be up to the regional governments and parliaments to decide on which measures to keep, ease or introduce. So, even though the national state of alarm is over, it does not mean that all restrictions on movement, social distancing and more are over.
You can read more about the measures by region as well as in Ceuta and Melilla in El País’s article here: State of alarm: Which coronavirus restrictions will be maintained in each Spanish region?.
Interested in reading the official, English translation, of the Spanish Constitution? You can find it in pdf-format by following this link: https://www.boe.es/legislacion/documentos/ConstitucionINGLES.pdf.
The Find Your Spain team!
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