The new decree-law that came into force on Monday doesn’t give any margin for the celebration of popular festivals in the Canary Islands as long as there is a pandemic. Many Brits, including some that live in the islands, continue to compare the situation in Spain and the Canary Islands with the UK, when the reality is every government is handling the pandemic in their own way as they see best, and as it states in its text, this new decree-law is in force until the official declaration of the end of the pandemic nationally by the Ministry of Health of Spain.
Although the decree is now in place, it is still waiting to be passed as a bill by the regional Parliament (for which they have a period of one month to do so), it includes the text in point 9 of article 25 of chapter II, which is the section for measures applicable at the different alert levels, it could not be more clear and concise stating that even in level one, "parties, festivals and other popular events cannot be celebrated".
Although it is true that the decree may be amended slightly during its passage through the Parliament, the sharpness of this rule has not only caused consternation among festival and carnival fans, but it has not gone unnoticed by the Santa Cruz City Council either.
Santa Cruz will suffer the biggest loss by this ruling, as the Carnivals held in the city are among the best in the world after Rio de Janeiro, and in Spain ranks up high with other popular celebrations with those of Cádiz, the Seville April Fair, the Pamplona Bull Run, and the Valencian Fallas (carnival).
At the moment the Santa Cruz council has said they will announce in October whether or not it is possible to have a Carnival in 2022 or not, after the bill is passed to see if it is amended to favour events of this type, especially with the economic impact that it brings to the island, not to mention the relief that these events mean for the mental health of many people.
For now, the Canary Islands Government, who seem to be oblivious to the controversy, are announcing meetings with different sectors to explain the content of the decree, which aims to be a regional legal compendium of all regulations related to COVID-19, while the opposition parties have already shown their disagreement with it.
