Practically since Cándido Conde-Pumpido assumed the presidency of the Constitutional Court, The sentences, especially the most controversial ones, have been passed thanks to the dominant progressive majority in the body, by seven votes to four. This week, the plenary session has decided to consider an appeal by the UGT (also challenged by CCOO) against the prohibition of the Madrid Government Delegation to celebrate 8-M in 2021, during the second state of alarm, for the same proportion, but the majority has been made up of members of both sensibilities.
Conde-Pumpido himself, in favor of rejecting the union’s appeal against the ban on celebrating Women’s Day in Madrid’s Plaza de Cibeles when there were still restrictions due to the covid pandemic, has been left in the minority. The vice president voted with him, Immaculate Montalbanand the judges María Luisa Segoviano and Laura Díezwho was the rapporteur of the initial sentence, which has been discarded after deliberations.
They have voted in favor of upholding the UGT-Madrid appeal Ricardo Enríquez, César Tolosa, Enrique Arnaldo, Ramón Sáez, Juan Carlos Campo and María Luisa Balaguer. These magistrates consider, and the sentence will affirm this, that the ban on the demonstration that UGT and CCOO called on 8-M in Madrid violated his fundamental right because The decision of the Government Delegate was disproportionatesources from the high court told EL PERIÓDICO.
In the opinion of these magistrates then The routes of transmission were already known, there were means to avoid contagion, such as masks and personal distance, as well as tests to detect contagion.. Furthermore, one could not attend the event to avoid it, because the ways in which it could be avoided were already known. For this reason, they consider that when weighing the rights affected, the right to demonstrate should take precedence over that of public health and the act should have been allowed.
The four magistrates of the conservative bloc, to whom the progressives Juan Carlos Campo, María Luisa Segoviano and María Luisa Balaguer have added their vote, conclude that the Government should have allowed the 8-M rally during the ‘third wave’ of the pandemic. According to the sources consulted, this is the first time that the court of guarantees endorses a demonstration in the middle of a state of alarm.
As the presentation defended by Laura Díez was in the minority, the court has appointed Ramón Sáez, also a member of the majority sector, as a new speaker to prepare a new text in accordance with the meaning of this Tuesday’s vote. This will mean the estimation of the appeal presented by UGT.
Concentration for 250 people
The appeal was filed against the decision of the then Executive delegate in Madrid, Jose Manuel Francoto prohibit “for reasons of public health” a rally called between 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in the Plaza de Cibeles, which they estimated could attract up to 250 people.
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More than two years later, the Constitutional magistrates have agreed with the union, considering that the Executive’s ban violated their fundamental rights and that the concentration should have been allowed.
The decision contrasts with the decision adopted by this same body that endorsed the Government’s decision to prohibit a march called towards the Andalusian Parliament, in Seville, during the first state of alarm, in April 2020, at a time when the right to health protection and the right to life were prioritized. Besides, Last April, the constitutionality of a demonstration called in Vigo was confirmed on May 1, 2020, considering that the circumstances did not exist that would allow the exercise of the right of assembly due to the exceptional situation derived from the pandemic.