A great paradox

“History will judge them sooner than they think and more forcefully than they think,” said President Sánchez, addressing Vox, the PP, and Junts while acknowledging his parliamentary defeat in the debate on the housing decrees. Immediately, the page has begun to be turned. The reasons for the summons have taken a back seat. The issue of housing is no longer news. Attention has shifted toward what has been read as an insinuation of an immediate electoral call. Coquetry or an anticipation of his intentions? The president is asking for a pause to finish deciding. It seems that this failure on a topic he thought would give him a significant boost has unsettled him, and he fears that by continuing, he may enter an endless agony. Now, what he must evaluate is whether he dares to run again or if he will go home. In any case, the right-wing parties will rush to claim victory: they have toppled the president.

A moment ago, the parliamentary rejection of the first housing decree had just occurred, a success that aligned Vox, the PP, and Junts on the same front—the right-wing alliance—leaving behind their deep patriotic differences. Their votes came together to win a vote highly sensitive to a good portion of the economic power, property owners, investors, large holders, and vultures. The reality is that the interests of the money that directly or indirectly speculates with construction, with powerful actors in this country, have contributed to concretizing what had been evident for some time: the complicity, in certain matters, of the ex-convergents with the right-wing front.

Is the gamble that Sánchez is insinuating a capitulation? Or does he have reasons to think that the crisis that has led to this situation could be a platform to achieve what right now seems impossible: that with elections, he could have the majorities he currently lacks? The fact is that, as it is being presented, the outcome of this episode could lead to a disturbing paradox: that the Maricarmen case, which has impacted public opinion and brought the issue of housing to the forefront as a priority, and has brought to light the miseries in housing exploitation and the enormous difficulties many people face in having a dignified life, ends up leading, due to the government's weakness, to the return of the right to power.