The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, has stated that if the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, were to call elections, it would not be to "fix the housing problem," but to "fix his problems," specifically, he said, "his housing in the Moncloa Palace."
The Madrid councilor made these statements during a handover of apartments, where he received the 5,000th key since he took office as mayor, and thus reacted to the possibility that Sánchez might consider an immediate early general election if the two royal decrees on housing finally fall, according to sources from the Council of Ministers told Europa Press.
Criticism of Sánchez for housing policy
Martínez-Almeida has questioned why Pedro Sánchez "has not fixed the housing problem in eight years" and has doubted that he can do so now, concluding that an eventual election call would only serve to resolve "his problems."
The mayor's criticism has also focused on the political interpretation that the President of the Government makes of his parliamentary alliances, after the councilor questioned whether no one warned in July 2023, in the previous general elections, that there was no progressive majority in Spain.
Almeida insists that "Junts has not changed"
In that context, José Luis Martínez-Almeida has focused on Junts and maintained that the independentist party is the same as in 2019, in 2023, and in 2026. "Junts has not changed," he reiterated, while asking Sánchez to explain why in 2023 he defended that there was a "progressive majority" and now, on the other hand, that formation is demonized.
According to the mayor, what the head of the Executive did at the time was to justify having handed over "the keys to governability" to a person living in Waterloo, referring to former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont.
Asked about the possibility that Sánchez's closest circle is pushing him to call elections, Almeida ironically questioned whether that closeness is represented by "Koldo García's and Santos Cerdán's 'Peugeot gang'," or also by the president's brother and former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. In the same vein, he criticized the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, of whom he said that she "was on tour looking for a house in Geneva."
"She certainly won't have a problem finding housing in Geneva with the 300,000 euros she's going to pocket annually" from the International Labour Organization (ILO), the mayor pointed out, also maintaining that if Sánchez is advised by his circle, they will probably tell him not to call elections due to the judicial situation of several of his collaborators and because the presidency of the Government allows them to hold on.
For Martínez-Almeida, calling elections "is a decision by Pedro Sánchez," but if the president believes that Spaniards will accept that the move responds to the housing issue and not to "his housing in the Moncloa Palace," then he is "deeply mistaken."
The Sol protest and the knife issue
The mayor of Madrid has also reiterated that the housing encampment in Puerta del Sol does not seem peaceful to him, has defended that all violence is condemnable "wherever it comes from" and has questioned the debate generated around a knife that, in his opinion, could be used as a weapon, whose image, he indicated, was included in the second of the requests sent to the Government delegate, Francisco Martín.
"Honestly, what I hope is that there are no incidents and that absolutely nothing happens, but if there are incidents, it is obvious that that knife can be used as a weapon, something indisputable," he declared to the media from the Palacio de Cibeles.
Martínez-Almeida insisted that he is surprised by the "mockery" he has seen around that image and rhetorically asked if anyone cuts bread or spreads hummus at home with a knife of those dimensions. He also recalled that, in his opinion, the protest is not peaceful because there has been vandalism of the monument to the Bear and the Strawberry Tree and the monument to the victims of terrorism.
At that point, the councilor responded to the general secretary of the Madrid socialists, Óscar López, whom he asked to "calm down." Almeida assured that he is not linking what is happening in Sol with ETA, but he did emphasize that the monument to the victims of terrorism has been vandalized, the message "Ayuso, Almeida, go to hell" has been projected on the facade of Sol, and other episodes have occurred that, in his opinion, prevent speaking of a peaceful protest.
"You will see me in disagreement but never in insult"
Asked about last week's demonstration, the March for Dignity, in support of Ceuta and to demand elections, in which the PP participated and insults against Pedro Sánchez were heard, the mayor insisted that he will never be seen justifying an insult.
"You will see me in disagreement but never in insult," he affirmed, and recalled that he maintained the same position during the protests and incidents outside the PSOE headquarters, on Ferraz street. According to him, he then defended that the situation had "gone too far" and that it could not be that merchants and residents had to endure that type of mobilization, a position that, he stressed, "is in the archives."
The mayor also maintained that he cannot be accused of justifying violence based on ideology, because, he pointed out, he condemns any incident "wherever it comes from." "I do not distinguish between ideologies, beliefs, thoughts to condemn violence. For me, violence is always condemnable," he reiterated.
Why protests do not reach Moncloa
Martínez-Almeida has also wondered why the protests have reached the headquarters of the Madrid City Council and the foot of the Community of Madrid, but not the Moncloa Palace, considering that there are three levels of administration with powers over housing: municipal, regional, and state.
"They have only gone to the Government of the Community of Madrid and the Madrid City Council, but they have not gone to the Moncloa Palace when it is a Government that has been in power for eight years, which when it came in, was the 18th problem for Spaniards and today it is the first," he pointed out. In that vein, he wanted to know from the campers if they do not consider that the Government of Spain also deserves reproach and if that reproach should not be formulated under the same conditions as to the Community and the City Council of Madrid.
