The Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, reminded Junts this Wednesday that the urgent housing measures decree-law includes 90% of their requests, which is why she appealed to the separatists to support it in Congress and, afterwards, process it as a bill to introduce the changes they deem appropriate.
During the parliamentary debate, Rodríguez cited as examples of these demands the tax bonuses for tenants and owners, the tax exemptions for people over 65 years old who are going to live in a residence, the zero-interest loans for young people and the reduction of the VAT on construction by 4% to try to lower rents.
Evictions, enervation and payment of unpaid rents
In relation to evictions, the head of Housing stressed that the positions defended by PP and Junts are included in the decree through the formula of enervation, with the aim of "protecting the small owner from the collection of those unpaid debts" by the tenant.
In this way, the minister maintained that the norm will allow the public administrations, and in particular the regional ones, to take charge of the payment of those unpaid rents by citizens. "Public administrations that you govern, gentlemen of the PP," she emphasized.
"Today, ladies and gentlemen, all of you, ladies and gentlemen of the PP, we are also deciding, with our vote, whether we want no more evictions or we are willing to assume the next one," she added.
Criticism of the PP and references to Ayuso and Von der Leyen
During her speech, Isabel Rodríguez lashed out at the PP bench, whom she described as "the worst right-wing in all of Europe," considering that, in the face of the housing crisis, they have only put forward "jokes" and "bad taste jokes." In that context, she alluded to the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, for having mocked, she said, cases such as that of Maricarmen.
The minister also cited the president of the European Commission and leader of the European PP, Ursula Von der Leyen, who, she recalled, has defended "loud and clear" that "speculation must be pursued" and the right to housing protected. "Where are you?" she asked Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party.
The case of Maricarmen and the call for a parliamentary agreement
Rodríguez focused on the eviction of Maricarmen, an 87-year-old disabled woman who had lived for seven decades in Madrid's Retiro neighborhood, and stated that this case "has raised awareness."
In her speech, she compared it to Ramón Sampedro's fight for euthanasia or Ana Orantes's fight against gender violence. "Ladies and gentlemen, if Maricarmen's eviction was a collective failure, what I expect from this Parliament today, and I believe the majority of Spanish and Catalan society expects it, is that it translates into an agreement so that it never happens again, so that there is not one more eviction in Spain," she concluded.
The minister also warned the parliamentary groups that "they will be judged by each of their votes" on the decree and insisted that not only the norm is at stake, but "Spanish democracy."
Memories of Rubalcaba and David Lucas in the housing debate
During the debate, the minister quoted the late former minister and socialist leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, recalling that governing in a democracy consists of "listening to many, respecting everyone and deciding responsibly." She also pointed out that Maricarmen's struggle has served so that no one suffers "what she has had to suffer."
Likewise, she dedicated a few words to the recently deceased Secretary of State for Housing, David Lucas, to whom she attributed the defense that "with dialogue and cooperation" the housing problem can be faced "despite its complexity." "I reiterate his words, and I believe that today it is in everyone's hands to make them possible, to move in that direction. Thank you, David, for your work," she concluded.
