The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country does not authorize the perimeter closure or curfew
- The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country has not authorised the perimeter closure of the state of alarm to establish a curfew and a limit of four people in the meetings in a sentence that has just been made public. The Basque Government intended to establish such measures by decree, but the court has ruled that without the state of alarm it does not have the power to adopt measures that generally limit fundamental rights.
The state of alarm in the Spanish State is suspended on 9 May. However, the Basque Government has no guarantee that the fundamental rights enshrined in the Spanish Constitution will be limited in general without the legal support granted by the state of alarm.
Urkullu has already announced that the Basque Government would issue a decree to maintain the measures currently in force. These measures could include the perimeter closure of the CAV, countries and peoples, the curfew and the maximum capacity of four people. The Spanish Government has left in the hands of the Supreme Court the decision on the appropriateness or otherwise of autonomous measures. In spite of this, Urkullu assured that he would not appeal to the decision of the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country.
The LABI advisory council will meet this afternoon to decide on the measures to be taken from now on and the details of the decree to be published tomorrow. The High Court of Justice of the Basque Country (TSJPV) has previously opposed the claim of Urkullu, already public. In a judgment delivered this afternoon, the Interior Minister warned that "the current legal system does not allow the autonomous communities to generalize and not individualize fundamental rights outside the state of alarm".
In particular, it has decided not to authorise the measures provided for in Article 4(1) and (2) of the Decree not yet published, including the perimeter closure, curfew and limitation of meetings.
At this afternoon’s meeting, therefore, they will have to reform the decree and decide what measures will be implemented from tomorrow. These measures are likely to be made known before evening. The decree will be published tomorrow in the Official Gazette of the Basque Country and it is still possible that some of the measures of the Prosecutor’s Office itself will be resorted to.
The Government of Navarre has already announced on Sunday that it will henceforth lift the perimeter closure of the foral Community. It remains to be seen if it keeps the curfew. The decree of the Government of Navarre will enter into force next Sunday and it will then be when the Court decides what to do with the measures.
