Catalan health minister disappointed with ‘paternalistic’ Spanish government

The Catalan minister for health, Alba Vergés, has accused the Spanish government of acting in a "taxing and paternalistic" way in the management of the coronavirus and with the de-escalation plan in particular.

The minister says the behaviour is "disappointing" coming from the left-wing parties of the Spanish Socialists and Podemos, who form the coalition Spanish government.

Spanish president Pedro Sánchez announced a four-phase plan yesterday for the country to come out of confinement, aiming for "new normality" by the end of June.

Speaking to Catalan radio, Vergés criticized the "false coordination", which to her amounts to nothing more than "make proposals and then see if they accept them." 

"It is a very bad management of a crisis," concluded Vergés, who considered the financial distribution by province to be a "flagrant mistake." 

She also criticized that not a single euro comes from the central government to strengthen health teams, given that the Spanish executive is "the owner and lord of the taxes of the citizenry."

Lockdown timeframe "unwise"

During the Catalan government's press briefing on Covid-19 on Wednesday spokesperson Meritxell Budó welcomed the fact that Spain had published a phased plan with "some scientific basis, as we had asked for previously."

Budó said that the Spanish timeframe for exiting lockdown was very short. "We think this is unwise," she said, saying the plan lacks "information on monitoring cases, something essential for effective control" of the pandemic.

Budó described the regional meetings between Spanish president Pedro Sánchex and the regional presidents as "monologues", that did not represent "coordination."

Chamber of Commerce head sees "no logic"

Joan Canadell, the president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, also added his voice to the critics against the Spanish government's phased plan for the de-escalation of confinement. 

He stated that he "sees no logic" in dividing the phases by provinces and describes this measure as "very inappropriate." He also demanded an explanation from the authorities as to why this is the case. 

In a press conference over video call, Chamber of Commerce head labeled a return to economic activity without massive tests or protections for employees a "serious problem." 

Phase transitions depend on "many factors"

Speaking earlier in the day, the director of Spanish health emergencies, Fernando Simón, defended Spain's plan to use provinces as the "basic unit" for applying changes as lockdown ease.

Simón did say he was open, however, to working with other territories that were proposed by regional governments. He also stressed that there will not be a single factor to decide when a territory changes phase, but it would depend on "many factors".

Unionist opposition calls for consensus

Yet, spokeswoman in the Catalan parliament for the unionist Cs party, Lorena Roldán, was also critical of the plan, accusing Sánchez of designing the de-escalation of the restrictions "through improvisation, unilaterally and without the consensus of political forces."

"We ask you that things be done by consensus from here on," she said addressing the Spanish president in a press conference on Wednesday. “Let us sit down and design the plan to lift the confinement all together,” she suggested.