The Ministry of Public Works criticizes Salvador Illa for his "pro-communist" housing policies

BarcelonaThe budget agreement between Salvador Illa's government and the Comuns party, which includes a ban on speculative housing purchases, has been met with strong disapproval from homeowners' associations and business organizations, although tenants' groups criticize it for the opposite reason, deeming it too timid. Against this backdrop, tensions between the Catalan employers' association, Foment del Treball, and Illa continued to escalate this Friday. The association's president, Josep Sánchez Llibre, described the government's housing policies as "pro-communist." In an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, Sánchez Llibre criticized "a series of pro-communist policies that change the budget vote in exchange for violating the fundamental rights of Catalan citizens, such as private property." "I am extremely worried about Catalonia's image abroad," he declared. In this regard, he criticized "the incompetence of recent Catalan governments in housing matters," including the current one, for being "incapable of producing affordable housing for citizens." In his opinion, "they are now making people pay for their incompetence by violating the rights of Catalan citizens" with measures to "socialize private property." "We are facing economic degrowth policies that do nothing to improve the image of President Illa and the Catalan government," he concluded. The measure agreed upon by the Comuns and Socialists, according to Fomento, "will have the opposite effect," among other things because "the necessary legal certainty" will not be achieved. Nevertheless, he hoped that it would all "be a flash in the pan" and that it would not be approved, or that the Constitutional Court would strike it down. The agreed-upon proposal limits the purchase of housing to large property owners and companies—except for social entities. Large property owners are defined as those with five properties in the same high-demand area, which in Catalonia comprises 271 municipalities where over 90% of the population lives.

Clash over financing

On the other hand, Sánchez Llibre addressed the "great scandal on the part of the Catalan government" regarding its critical stance on the agreed financing modelwhich he criticized as "insufficient." "I'll take the 4.7 billion [from the new model], but we're not stopping here; we'll keep working," he argued. The reason? "We hold the key to governability," he said, referring to the decisive weight of parties like Junts and ERC in forming majorities in the Spanish government. He also commented on the "conversation" between himself and President Isla, and how business organizations agreed on a position, in which They also criticized the model as insufficient.Despite appreciating improvements.

In parallel, he demanded "respect" from the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, in the face of criticism for the absence of employers' associations in collective bargaining and their distancing themselves from the minimum wage increase. "These are regrettable statements and stem from a lack of understanding," he said. Therefore, he asked him not to "criminalize" business owners and to thank them for their role in "moving forward" with the economy.