Sánchez cuts up the social decree: he raises pensions and includes measures to "protect" small business owners.

MadridLast week, Congress rejected the pension increase and the so-called social shield to curb evictions, with votes from the PP, Junts, and Vox parties. Now, the Spanish government has been forced to break up the decree law in order to salvage, on the one hand, the increase in pensioners' purchasing power; and, on the other, it has included measures favoring "small property owners" to try to win over Junts and the PNV. This Tuesday, according to sources at La Moncloa (the Prime Minister's residence), the Spanish government approved two separate decree laws—which come into effect immediately—and which must be ratified by Congress within a month. The pensions decree has guaranteed support to pass (Junts and the PP voted against it because it was bundled with other measures), while it remains to be seen what will happen with the decree related to housing.

The Spanish government maintains the suspension of evictions for vulnerable families. However, with some nuances, as reported by ACN, following an agreement with the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), in line with the positions of the provincial council members, the ban on evicting vulnerable families who cannot pay rent remains in place. However, small landlords, meaning those who own one or two properties, are now excluded. In these cases, social services would be responsible for finding alternative housing for these families. Yesterday, the Junts party members assumed that some measure would be incorporated to satisfy them, and this Tuesday the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) announced an agreement with the Spanish government that would align with the position defended by Carles Puigdemont's party: an agreement to extend the "social safety net" to landlords with "only one rental property," thus preventing them from being forced to pay rent. "They are allowed to regain the possibility of renting their apartments, preventing further months of non-payment," the PNV explained, warning of the risk that these small landlords could become "new vulnerable citizens." They find themselves caught between Junts and the PNV and the rest of their left-wing partners, who are demanding that they not back down on measures against evictions either. "Absolute disgust." An indication that the new measure is unlikely to garner the necessary support for a plurinational majority.

Junts' positioning

Miriam Nogueras's party had already asked the Moncloa Palace last week to break up the content of the so-called omnibus decree-law, but at that time the PSOE and Sumar refused. Now they are forced to at least separate a portion of it so that the pension increase can be passed, in addition to any housing-related measures they manage to agree on and that circumvent Junts's veto. In other words, the same situation as last year will be repeated, when the social safety net decree was rejected in Congress and later revived after talks with Carles Puigdemont's party. The difference now is that Junts insists they are not negotiating with the government, as this is their modus operandi after their break with the PSOE in October. They are clear on this point: "If they remove the entire issue of jobs, we will vote in favor of the decree."

Sources from the group led by Míriam Nogueras insist that from the outset, like the PP (People's Party), they were prepared to support the pension increase. However, they maintain that they will not vote in favor if the Spanish government does not separate this measure from the so-called omnibus decree, which also prevented evictions of vulnerable families. "Yes to pensions, no to squatting," Junts (Together for Catalonia) reiterates. Specifically, the Junts members oppose two measures included in the decree: firstly, the suspension of evictions of vulnerable families who stop paying rent—whether they are large or small landlords; and secondly, they also reject the suspension of evictions when the property is owned by a legal entity or by individuals who own more than ten properties. "Squatters bother the neighbors," argue sources within the Junts party, adding that this happens especially when the owners are large landlords who aren't paying attention to what's happening in their properties. A year ago, Junts did support these measures in exchange for the establishment of a compensation fund for landlords who would stop receiving rent from tenants. But a year later, they lament, this compensation hasn't materialized. The left is putting pressure on

This Monday, Sumar had expressed openness to the possibility of splitting the social decree into two parts, provided they were approved simultaneously by the Council of Ministers and there was an agreement with Junts for their ratification in Congress. These conditions are not currently met.

"Our position is that all the measures must be passed. The important thing is not the how, but the what. They all have to be included; we will not allow the measure suspending evictions to be dropped," explained Sumar spokesperson and Minister Ernest Urtasun. Meanwhile, Esquerra spokesperson Gabriel Rufián had also shown a willingness to negotiate and criticized Junts and the PP for rejecting the decree law because they disliked some of the measures. "It's like refusing to eat because you don't like a particular dish," he concluded in statements to the media.