PandemicIn Europe, Local Leaders Increasingly Frustrated with Pandemic Restrictions
Across Europe, mayors are also questioning the orthodoxy of lockdowns, arguing that infection rates are trending up even in locked-down towns. They are not going as far as to ignore government instructions, but they are becoming increasingly frustrated with the pandemic restrictions central governments are imposing from on high. Local leaders say they are better placed to know when and how to tighten restrictions, or whether they are needed at all. They fear central governments are not getting the balance right between protecting lives and saving livelihoods and businesses.
In Madrid, the mayor has bowed before the law of the land, but has vowed to take Spain’s central government to the courts to try to reverse new more restrictive coronavirus lockdown rules.
In Marseilles, the mayor has expressed her fury with Emmanuel Macron’s government for ordering the closure of all restaurants and bars in France’s second largest city, saying nothing justifies the order.
In a string of northern English towns the anger is echoed. There, mayors are also questioning the orthodoxy of lockdowns, arguing that infection rates are trending up even in locked-down towns.
They are not going as far as to ignore government instructions, although last week, Andy Preston, mayor of Middlesbrough, a struggling post-industrial town in Yorkshire, came close, suggesting at one point he might defy the order.
Preston has bemoaned the central government’s decision to ban households mixing in pubs, restaurants and public spaces in the town of 138,000, saying new strict rules will have a detrimental effect on jobs as well as on mental health.
Preston is not alone. City and regional leaders in several European countries are becoming increasingly frustrated with the pandemic restrictions central governments are imposing from on high. Local leaders say they are better placed to know when and how to tighten restrictions, or whether they are needed at all. They fear central governments are not getting the balance right between protecting lives and saving livelihoods and businesses.
Resurgence
The emerging pattern of pushback coincides with an alarming rise in infection rates in Europe. National governments are warning that the surge in cases, if not contained could end up overwhelming hospitals.
The surge in cases is now being seen, too, in Italy and Germany, countries that had appeared to be bucking the trend. They were thought to have been squelching a second wave of infections being seen in neighboring countries. But on Saturday, Italy reached its highest daily tally since 24 April with authorities reporting 2,844 new infections, up from 2,499 cases the day before.
Italy is one of the few countries where regional and local authorities tend to be even keener on lockdowns than central government, often imposing restrictions ahead of direct orders from Rome.
