Nearly One Million State Of Alarm Fines Remain Unpaid In Spain

Nearly One Million State Of Alarm Fines Remain Unpaid In Spain.

Within the first 100 days of the first state of alarm, the State security forces and other bodies imposed more than a million fines on citizens for breaching the restrictions against the coronavirus that attracted fines of between €600 and €30,000 euros depending on the severity of the case.

Ten months later and the Government has confirmed that 20% of the sanctions have been processed or are in the system and waiting to be processed. However, there is not much information about the remaining 80% of the fines.

In addition, nobody can clarify whether those that are not processed will expire and will end up being annulled, while ministers warn that many of them could end up not being valid due to statutory time limits etc.

Sources from the Ministry of the Interior say they have evidence that the total number of sanction proposals imposed between March 14 and June 21 was 1,142,127. The same sources also allege that the government do not have any more data, since the processing of sanctions is not within their area but falls to two different administrations under the rule of Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

In the case of government departments, they have processed 20% of the total. According to a parliamentary response from the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Public Function to EH Bildu, dated March 24, 2021, there are 67,292 cases in progress and another 161,702 already completed, which adds up to a total of 228,994- leaving almost a million fines unprocessed.

According to government documents, Andalucía is the autonomous community that is processing the most sanctions or has already finished processing, with almost 60,000 fines levelled at covid flouters

They are followed in the ranking by the Canary Islands, with 34,828, and Castilla y León, with 24,732. The Delegation of the Government of Madrid has done the same with 5,614 proposals for sanctions, all of which have been paid. “The Delegation has everything up-to-date and processes it in a timely manner, ” added sources controlled by socialist Mercedes González, Councilor of the Municipal Socialist Group of Madrid.

Source: 20minutes