Sánchez launches into the pre-campaign approving 21 measures on housing

MadridThe Moncloa wants housing and "people's problems" to be the framework for the November 29th election campaign and will do whatever is in its power to make it so. These are issues that compete directly with those brought to the table by the right, such as Ceuta —Alberto Nuñez Feijóo is already returning there this week— and also the judicial cases surrounding the Spanish government, such as the move made by the PP this Tuesday to request the indictment of the PSOE for illicit financing at the National Court. In this context, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, wanted to appear personally at the Moncloa this Tuesday, after the meeting of the Council of Ministers, and already put a total of 21 housing measures on the table.

"If parliament turns its back on the citizenry, the citizenry must elect a new parliament," he said just as the press conference began to justify the early election, "we will give our all for housing," he continued. Pedro Sánchez argued that calling early elections does not mean he is "throwing in the towel" or abandoning the citizenry, but quite the contrary: on one hand, he wants a larger progressive majority to "intervene" in an "imperious" way in the housing market, even though he has been governing since 2018; and on the other, he has promised that he will continue to take measures in favor of housing until the elections.

This Tuesday he has already done two things: he has re-approved the decree laws promoted following the Maricarmen case after Congress rejected them on Friday; and he has announced the mobilization of up to 10 billion euros with zero-interest loans for those who want to access their first home (with aid of a maximum of 50,000 euros). There are also other measures such as a 400 million euro fund to promote the development of housing by social providers; conditions are being tightened so that vulture funds cannot buy housing —it now vetoed purchases by investors below 70% of the market price—; or it is mandatory to advertise in rental offers the price according to the reference index of the Ministry of the Interior and the applicable legal limit and whether the owner is a large holder.

The advantage of the permanent deputation

Governing by decree-law and with the Cortes dissolved has a substantial advantage for Pedro Sánchez: the Permanent Deputation comes into operation, where the progressives have a majority without Junts. It is a parliamentary body, a kind of mini-Parliament, which operates when elections are called or during holiday periods, and is currently made up of 69 deputies in a proportional representation of the groups in the chamber. The key to understanding the move from Moncloa is that, unlike the plenary session, in this body the sum of Carles Puigdemont's members with the PP and Vox (34) is less than the sum of all the left-wing parties.

What did the decrees include? On one hand, there is one that stops evictions for vulnerable families, among other measures, such as the extraordinary extension of rentals for two years, in addition to numerous tax incentives for both the purchase of apartments and for tenants and landlords. And on the other, a second decree-law in which indefinite rental contracts are established and compensation for the tenant if the landlord wants to end the contract early. In accordance with the majorities of the permanent deputation, only the first one is expected to go forward, since the PNV has also opposed this second measure, which is a demand of the Tenants' Union.

At this point, Sánchez explained that the council of ministers has introduced a relevant change: since decree-laws come into effect when they are published in the BOE, to prevent indefinite contracts from only being operational for a few weeks, they have conditioned its application only in the event that the measure is approved by the permanent deputation. A fact that will not happen because the PNV voted against it and will position itself the same way again.

Junts' reaction

Junts did not take long to criticize the Spanish executive's move. "It is trying to approve the measures in a body where the social majority is not represented," criticized the party's spokesperson in Congress, Miriam Nogueras, in statements to Catalunya Ràdio, although she admitted that the path chosen by Sánchez "is legal." "It seems wrong to me [...] but he has decided to do it," she said. Words that contrast with the voices of the Spanish right who accuse the Spanish president of committing fraud of law with the approval of the decrees in the permanent deputation. "It is a heavy-handed trick," claimed Pepa Millán, of Vox, while Esther Muñoz, spokesperson for the PP, considers that it is all part of Sánchez's "political campaign." Awaiting possible challenges, it must be remembered that the Spanish government can indeed approve decree-laws with the Cortes dissolved. The only conditions are that they cannot regulate issues such as fundamental rights and that they must be done only for urgent matters. "It is perfectly legal," reacted Ione Belarra (Podem); and the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, warned the right that the street "will run them over" if they try to veto the housing regulations again.