Junts' express evictions make their way to Congress

MadridThe offensive launched by Junts a month ago against home occupations took its first step in Congress this Tuesday. With the support of the PSOE, PP, Vox, and PNV, a bill has been passed that introduces modifications to civil and criminal legislation allowing for express evictions within 48 hours. "Common sense should prevent us from justifying that, in order to guarantee the human right to housing, we can violate the human right not to be arbitrarily deprived of our property," argued Junts MP Marta Madrenas, who admitted that there is an "alarmist" discourse about the occupations, but that this does not prevent it from being a "serious" problem and "it is serious."

This is a debate that has taken place repeatedly in both Congress and the Senate and divides the plurinational majority. Sumar, ERC, and EH Bildu criticized the focus on this rather than on the problem of access to housing. "It's a distraction," criticized Republican MP Etna Estrems, who lamented that the right is establishing the "mental framework that they can occupy your apartment when you go down to buy bread." In fact, Estrems denounced the Junts initiative as "seeking to equate violation of domicile with squatting." That is, the measures to expedite an eviction should apply whether the eviction is in the owner's habitual residence or in an empty home.

The bill also proposes preventing "delays in the recovery of possession due to the allegation of vulnerability by illegal occupants of the property." In response to this, Sumar MP Gerardo Pisarello stated: "We will not allow ourselves to be distracted by the classist and racist debate on employment." Oskar Matute, from EH Bildu, lamented that they have already debated the issue of squatting six times this term and 18 times in the previous one, 17 of which were at the initiative of the right and far right. "Behind this is the permanent desire to generate a state of fear and anxiety in the population," he denounced.

Although the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) agreed in denouncing the imposition of this framework of danger, Socialist MP Guillermo Hita stated, during the debate in the plenary session of Congress, that "the legal system has sufficient mechanisms" and acknowledged that the initiative does not represent a solution to the housing problem. However, the Socialists voted in favor, as Junts (Junts) had already indicated, although they intend to introduce amendments.

Division between the PSOE and the partners

This isn't the first time the PSOE has distanced itself from Sumar and the other progressive partners in a debate related to security. Together, they already managed to bring together both the Socialists and the Popular Party in September to process the A bill to toughen the punishment for repeated thefts, another of the regional council members' workhorses. In fact, the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) was the one who initiated the debate on eviction, one of the blows in the previous term, and provoked a strong confrontation with Unides Podem.

However, the PP (People's Party) reproaches the Socialists for keeping the anti-employment law they themselves promoted in the Senate, where they hold an absolute majority, on the shelf for "more than a year." According to MP Cristina Agüera, "their objective is not to resolve the real problems, but rather to continue subjecting the institutions to Pedro Sánchez's problems," that is, to the "continuity in government" that depends on the seven votes of the regional council members.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, the PP (People's Party) has boasted about having achieved Junts' abstention from processing its proposed land law, which was not necessary for its passage. Meanwhile, in Congress, the Socialists have so far failed to pass the bill. the land law they had proposed precisely because of the opposition of the same groups that have shown themselves to be against the Junts initiative on occupations.