No dancing rule will stay in place over summer if nightlife re-opens

Yesterday the Ministry of Health for Spain made a second proposal for nationwide regulations governing nightlife during the summer for the whole of Spain including the Canary and Balearic Islands. The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias is meeting the representatives of all the autonomous communities today at the Inter-territorial Council meeting to discuss and finalise an agreement.

After their original proposal was rejected in April, more details have now emerged regarding yesterdays, second proposal, which sees alert Level 1 restrictions as the ‘norm’ for this summer, with the addition of a 2am closing time, but with no dance floors, no dancing, and people being seated at tables.

On the agenda at today’s meeting is the possibility of resuming the activity of nightlife venues which have had forced closure since August last year due to the health pandemic, if the IA14 for the region is at low risk, that is, less than 150 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, which the Canary Islands is.

Nearly all regions of Spain want these venues to re-open, and agree with having strict regulations in place as we are not yet out of the health crisis, and won’t start to be until herd immunity is achieved with vaccination by the end of August.

Extremadura agreed last week that the measure had to be approved within the Inter-territorial Council and that work was being done "on modifying the communicated order that regulates nightlife so that it can resume activity, which has not been open since August 14^th last year.”

Catalonia is also committed to reopening these venues "soon" in a regulated manner to minimize overcrowding, as indicated yesterday by the Catalan Minister of Health, Josep Maria Argimon, who stressed that “people need leisure spaces at night.”

In fact, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) yesterday rejected the request of the nightlife employers' association to reopen the nightclubs, because it believes that there is no "special urgency", although it has left the door open to resolve it on June 8th, once they have had a response from the Generalitat.

The Government of Cantabria is another of those that is going to study whether these premises can reopen, in this case with a mixed bar license under similar conditions to other hospitality establishments such as cafes or bars, keeping all the sanitary measures for this type of establishments, that do not include activities such as dancing.

As always, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, will appear at a press conference to give an account of the Inter-territorial Council agreements and will do so on this occasion from Pamplona, ​​where she will chair the meeting remotely.

MAIN IMAGE: A Dutch nightclub is now allowing guests to 'dance' while staying seated in chairs.