Junts knocks down the investment consortium and the rent decree

MadridDouble no from Junts in Congress, which has shot down both the investment consortium agreed between the PSOE and ERC and the decree extending rental contracts. A stance that has made the "juntaires" the target of criticism and indignation from the left during this Tuesday afternoon's plenary session. In the first case, both the republicans and the socialists, as well as the Government, have reproached Junts for blocking the processing of the bill, presented by ERC, which proposes to establish a new joint body between the State and the Generalitat. This entity should guarantee the execution of the investments that the Spanish government budgets for Catalonia, which, traditionally, are not fully put into practice.

Junts, however, has decided to vote against the consideration of the rule, which has not even been able to take a first step in the lower house. "Catalonia does not need more "chiringuitos" paid for with people's money [...], it does not need a consortium, it needs the transfers of the money that belongs to us to be made," defended the Junts spokesperson in Congress, Miriam Nogueras, regarding a rejection that is not new and that the party had already previously expressed in Catalonia. For ERC deputy Inés Granollers, Junts is dedicated to "destroying" with its "no to everything," but according to Nogueras, voting in favor of the consortium is "normalizing the subordination of Catalonia to Madrid" and "lowering Catalan aspirations." The republicans argue, on the other hand, that as long as investments depend on the will of the State, it is necessary to "propose solutions so that the citizens of Catalonia live better."

The Government has also lamented Junts' position. "Catalonia is defended with facts, not with words and gestures," said the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, at the institutional event of Sant Jordi in Madrid. The Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, assured that the executive will not stand idly by and will seek another instrument – which she did not specify – to improve the execution of investments, recalling that it is a topic that generates consensus in the country. Although the consortium was one of the points being negotiated in parallel with the budgets, Romero denied that the Congress's rejection negatively affects negotiations with ERC. "We are very disappointed with Junts," she concluded.

The extension of rental agreements

However, the most tense moments occurred with the housing decree. From the rostrum, the ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, took out a fifty-euro banknote and proclaimed that "this is the flag [of Junts], which they share with PP and Vox." According to Rufián, Junts' vote is explained by the "particular interests" of its officials and he urged an investigation into the assets of the seven Junts deputies. The vote against by Carles Puigdemont's party, added to that of the Spanish right-wing, caused the rule that extended rental contracts ending this year by two years and limited the annual update of those indexed to the CPI to 2% to lapse. The right-wing deputies voted amidst shouts of "pocavergonyes" and "culpables" from an activist, who was evicted.

Despite the pressure exerted by Sumar throughout the day to try to provoke a last-minute change of heart from Junts, the congresswoman Marta Madrenas has ratified her opposition to a decree that she has labeled "a legally very flawed propaganda operation" and has criticized the "ideological bias" and "systematic allergy to all property owners" of the minority partner of the Spanish government. The PNB has also expressed criticism of the decree in both "substance" and "form": "There is a lack of legal certainty," said its spokesperson in Congress, Maribel Vaquero, at a press conference in the morning where, however, she announced an abstention, although it would not have changed anything either.

Has the PSOE dragged its feet?

The person in charge of defending the decree in Congress has been Pablo Bustinduy, Minister of Social Rights –not Housing– and one of the visible faces of Sumar. This political group has reproached the PSOE for "not having been sufficiently involved" in the negotiation to save the rent extension. No socialist minister attended the debate, and its approval, a month ago, in the Council of Ministers was already preceded by an unprecedented clash between the PSOE and Sumar. These reproaches have not pleased the socialists, who have warned that from the outset Yolanda Díaz's party knew that there was no parliamentary majority to validate the norm and have urged them to "not mistake their adversary".

What will happen now? Podemos and ERC are demanding that the Spanish government approve a new decree extending contracts and that it be reintroduced every month, no matter how much it continues to fail when it reaches Congress. Upon leaving, Bustinduy promised that they would bring it forward "as many times as necessary". The minister expressed hope that citizens would "make them pay dearly" for the rejection of a "reasonable and proportionate" measure and at the same time urged Junts to "resume negotiations tomorrow". Sources from the Ministry of Housing, from the PSOE, have regretted that it has failed, but have focused on other measures, such as the regulation of seasonal rentals.