Junts declares war on squatters

BarcelonaUsually, the spokesperson, Josep Rius, appears at Junts' press conferences every Monday. But when the party wants to convey the importance of an issue, it is the party's general secretary, Jordi Turull, who makes an appearance. This was the case this Monday to talk about his proposals against the occupation of flats. As if the importance that Junts gives to the issue was not sufficiently clear, next to Turull was the leader of the junteros in Madrid, Míriam Nogueras, and the secretary of the table and deputy in the Parlament, Glòria Freixa, to explain the initiatives that they are launching in all parliamentary chambers. "Whoever does it pays," warned Turull, who has sworn to work on the institutional front to end this practice, "criminal jobs," in the face of "great social alarm and the suffering of many people."

Now, what are the data? Together they only have an approximation. Based on data provided by the Generalitat following a parliamentary question from the group, in 2024 there were 5,365 reported to the Mossos in Catalonia until June. A figure that the party has multiplied by two to make an estimate: that last year there were 10,000. "Right now there are 10,000 homes spread across the country that are occupied," said Turull, assuming the approximation as a fact. "In no country in the world is there the right to occupy a home," reaffirmed Míriam Nogueras, who separated this practice from access to the right to housing, which she placed in the hands of the administration. "You cannot expect the main housing policy to be to overturn the right to private property and tolerate jobs as if they were normal," added Nogueras, accusing the socialists, the comuns and the republicans of endorsing this practice and doing nothing: "You cannot put the responsibility of the administration to resolve situations of vulnerability on the small owner."

The fight against employment is, together with the battle against multiple recidivism, an issue that Junts has made its own in recent months, to mark an ideological profile after the Process. In fact, they already promoted an initiative in the Congress of Deputies against multiple recidivists that ended up obtaining the support of PSOE and PP and that, among other things, punished the theft of mobile phones with three years in prison. In the same sense, Turull was optimistic about having the support of Congress for this initiative, above all, he said, because it is a demand of the municipal world.

The concrete measures

Among the measures that have already been presented both in Parliament and in Congress, there are two main ones:

• Reform of the criminal procedure law for express unemployment: Míriam Nogueras has explained that They have presented the initiative to speed up the eviction of squatters if they do not present a "legitimate title" to the property. "The Glovo ticket will no longer be valid," Nogueras summarized, in addition to also putting on the table a change in police protocols so that the occupation can be ended if it is a habitual residence. This is a measure based on the proposal made by the Illustrious College of Lawyers of Barcelona (ICAB) to evict the apartment quickly within 48 hours. This initiative is presented in Congress and also in Parliament to be debated as an initiative of the Catalan chamber in the Spanish way, if it receives the support of the groups.
• On the other hand, in the Parliament, the deputy Gloria Freixa has explained a modification of the Civil Code so that the community of owners can act in the event that there is an occupied flat and "coexistence problems" occur to encourage unemployment, in addition to establishing sanctions if it is a large owner who does not act in response to employment. "We want to solve the inactivity of large owners so that the community of neighbours can act," she resolves, since she considers that these situations are a "risk" for the neighbours and the occupants themselves.