The prominent Spanish daily El País is reporting a hugely alarming scenario in which Spain's central government is mulling a national mobilization and "security law" which would compel citizens to "temporarily" give up their rights in instances of future public health crises or emergencies such as happened with the coronavirus pandemic.
The law is currently at the level of a mere proposal but worrisomely it would elevate matters of public health to the level of 'national security' - as El País spells out based on a translation of its reporting: "Any person of legal age shall be obliged to carry out the 'personal obligations' required by the competent authorities, following the guidelines of the National Security Council, when a state of crisis is declared in Spain. In this case, all citizens without exception must comply with the orders and instructions issued by the authorities."
This sounds vague enough to suggest literally nothing would be off-limits in terms of state authorities' massive legally enshrined reach into people's personal lives on the mere bases of a national crisis. And further there's little or nothing which establishes a clear threshold for what legally would constitute such a crisis.
Throughout the pandemic we've already seen a number of places in Europe, also especially Canada, where government officials already essentially claim such far-reaching powers to force the citizenry to conform. Now Spain is looking to permanently enshrine this scenario into law.
Consider just how far this Orwellian proposal goes, as reported on in El País:
In the event that a state of crisis is declared in Spain ('situation of interest to National Security' is the name given by law), the authorities may also proceed to the temporary requisition of all types of property, at the intervention or provisional occupation of those that are necessary or the suspension of all kinds of activities.
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