Sanchez ‘sorry for mistakes’ as resignation demands grow

PEDRO SANCHEZ, the Spanish prime minister, has apologised to the country for mistakes made by his government as it has dealt with one of the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreaks, amid an increasingly hostile political atmosphere.

“I wish to apologise to citizens for our own mistakes, compelled at all times by the urgency of the situation, the shortage of resources, and the exceptional and unprecedented nature of the crisis and its huge proportions,” Mr Sánchez said of a crisis that has led to more than 232,000 cases of coronavirus and close to 28,000 deaths in Spain.

In the face of increasing opposition in parliament and on the streets – where small gatherings of protesters demanding the government’s resignation are a daily occurrence – Mr Sánchez yesterday asked congress to support a further extension of the state of emergency, in place since March 15.

Most of Spain is in “phase 1” of deescalation, with two fortnightly periods to go through before people can move freely from one region to another. Madrid and Barcelona, the two worst-affected areas, will not reach normality until July 6, at the earliest.

Mr Sánchez gained the backing of Ciudadanos, the centrist party, to reach a narrow majority, but he promised to study alternative legal ways of enforcing restrictions on movement for the remainder of the lockdown phase-out.

For the first time, the Popular Party, the country’s main conservative opposition, joined the hard-right Vox in voting against the state of emergency.

“You want us to choose between you and chaos, but it’s impossible because you are chaos,” Pablo Casado, the PP leader, told Mr Sánchez. “You are incapable of protecting Spaniards aside from this brutal confinement.”

Mr Sánchez countered that the state of emergency had saved “thousands of lives”, and confirmed that his government would pass a minimum household income next week because “Spain cannot accept the sight of queues at food banks”.

The prime minister said that a period of national mourning would be declared once all areas had reached phase 1 of de-escalation, meaning flags will be flown at half-mast and no festive public events permitted – even were lockdown rules to allow for them.