The Deciport Daily Quick-Look: 09 October 2020
FILE PHOTO: Passengers, wearing protective face masks, walk past social distancing signs upon arrival from Paris at Adolfo Suarez Barajas airport as Spain reopens its borders to most European visitors after the coronavirus lockdown, in Madrid, Spain, June 21, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio Perez
Spain's government threatens to declare state of emergency unilaterally.
Security, Political // BLUF: The Spanish government has threatened the administrative authorities of Madrid, after demanding that if Madrid does not enforce travel restrictions it will declare a state of emergency that would force it to comply.
Madrid authorities reluctantly barred all 'non-essential' travel last Friday, however a Madrid regional court annulled the measures on Thursday, ruling that the government overstepped its mandate and interfered with fundamental human rights.
A state of emergency would effectively allow the Spanish government powers to restrict movement, with the country's Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatening to impose one unilaterally.
(See Point 1 Below for Further Information)
The Daily Quick-Look for 09 October 2020
The Deciport Daily Quick-Look is your at-a-glance look at several key events and situations around the world over the last 24 hours. Each headline contains the link to its source report.
BLUF = Bottom Line Up Front.
FYSA = For Your Situational Awareness.
1. SPAIN - Security (Health), Political: Lock down or face state of emergency, Spanish government tells Madrid
FYSA: Madrid must enforce travel restrictions ordered by the health ministry to limit novel coronavirus outbreaks or the national government will impose a state of emergency that would force it to comply, the government said late on Thursday.In the latest escalation of tensions between the two administrations, the government said it would hold an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Friday morning to decree the state of emergency if Madrid does not impose the restrictions or request intervention. Following a Health Ministry order, Madrid authorities reluctantly barred all non essential travel in and out of the city and nine surrounding towns last Friday to curb the spread of COVID-19 in one of Europe’s worst virus hotspots. But a Madrid regional court on Thursday annulled the measures, ruling the government had overstepped its mandate and the restrictions interfered with fundamental human rights. Declaring a state of emergency - the same legal framework that underpinned Spain’s tough lockdown during the first wave of the virus - would grant the national government the powers to restrict movement. According to a government statement, Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told Madrid’s conservative regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso that she must either enforce the restrictions or request a state of emergency, or the central government would unilaterally impose one. (Reuters. See link in heading for further reading)
2. LEBANON - Security, Political, Economic: Lebanon's Sunni leader Hariri says he fears civil strife as financial crisis hardens
FYSA: Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician, former premier Saad al-Hariri, said on Thursday he feared civil strife as the country sinks into its worst financial crisis since a 1975-1990 civil war. “I fear a civil war and what is happening in terms of carrying arms and what we are seeing in terms of military displays in the street ... means the collapse of the state,” Hariri said in a TV interview. Lebanon’s financial meltdown since last year has wiped out the value of the currency and sent inflation soaring. It has fuelled unrest in a country where divisions run deep since a war fought along sectarian lines. Hariri, a Western ally traditionally aligned with Gulf states, also said Lebanon had no way out of the crisis other than a programme with the International Monetary Fund. (Reuters. See link in heading for further reading)
3. AUSTRALIA - Security (Health), Political: 'Treat with caution': Mikakos turns on Premier in parting shot over hotel quarantine failures
FYSA:Ex-health minister Jenny Mikakos says Premier Daniel Andrews' evidence about private security in Victoria's hotel quarantine program should be "treated with caution" in a stinging rebuke to her former boss. In an explosive final submission to the inquiry published on Friday, Ms Mikakos said Mr Andrews' decision to "subvert" the usual Cabinet processes may have contributed to the errors made in the ill-fated program and says it is "nonsense" for her alone to be held accountable. Ms Mikakos has told the inquiry it is "implausible" to suggest no one made the decision to use private security in the failed program that unleashed Victoria's catastrophic second coronavirus wave. Lawyers for the inquiry submitted last week that the decision to use private security to guard returned travellers in Melbourne's quarantine hotels "[was] not really a decision at all" but a "creeping assumption" among top bureaucrats that was not questioned by anyone. "With respect, such a submission has insufficient regard to the realities of governmental operation and decision-making," Ms Mikakos' submission reads. "It is respectfully submitted that the Board ought to treat with caution the Premier's evidence where he sought to explain the reference to the use of private security in the hotel quarantine program." (SMH. See link in heading for further reading)
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