I am not surprised that Pedro Sánchez has walked back his promise of co-governance between the Spanish government and the autonomous communities in this second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are used to the Spanish prime minister doing this, even if, hours earlier, in a television appearance, he again insisted that this time, unlike last spring, the virus did "understand territories" and there would have to be a territorially-based plan of action and the autonomous communities themselves would manage the measures to be adopted. Someone even said that, now, Spain would be similar in its coronavirus management to Germany, where the Länder take most of the responsibility and decide on the steps to be implemented.
Well, to the much-vaunted co-governance Sánchez has struck two damaging blows: first, establishing a state of alarm until May 9th, a period of almost six months, when in the previous wave the requests for extensions were taken to the Congress of Deputies fortnightly. Surely a formula could have been found to leave it in the hands of the Spanish parliament, a formula that was not so focused on a single leader. Sánchez thus looks after his own needs, avoids the political attrition that permanent negotiations with political parties involve, and most importantly: he will be able to take any measure without the need for the governments of the autonomous communities.
The second point is the curfew which is decreed throughout Spain, even for the communities that didn't request it, except in the Canary Islands. The regions have the right to regulate if they want it to start at 11 pm, as established by the Spanish government, or one hour later or earlier, and to end it between 5am and 7am in the morning. Calling this co-governance sounds just a touch pompous. Hopefully along the way there won’t be many more surprises, once Pedro Sanchez takes full control for the next six months.
Having expressed all these doubts, it should also be noted that it is very concerning that the Spanish government has not talked about compensatory economic measures for the sectors most affected by the crisis. In Catalonia, the restaurant sector is still stigmatized, while, for example, Italy has implemented tougher measures this Sunday, because, in addition to the curfew, it has ordered the closure of bars and restaurants for a month from 18 hours and has closed down and locked up cinemas, theatres, gyms concert venues and conference rooms. There is, as you can see, no single model, and that is one of the reasons for the current arbitrariness. Much more help will be needed than the administrations have put at the service of the public, because if this doesn't arrive, the eruption of social discontent will be inevitable.