Junts returns to negotiate with the Government the housing decree after striking down with PP and the far-right Vox the anti-eviction shield that would have protected Maricarmen

The eviction of Maricarmen has brought out of a drawer a negotiation that had been blocked for months. The Government and Junts have resumed contacts to try to approve a housing decree with measures against evictions, just one day after the 87-year-old woman was expelled from the house where she had lived for seven decades.

Carles Puigdemont's party recognized this Thursday that the PSOE is studying their proposals and expects to receive a response in the coming hours. Junts delivered its own text to Pedro Sánchez two weeks ago with tax breaks, incentives for purchase, and guarantees for owners. Now it intends for these measures to be included in the negotiation of the decree that the Executive wants to take to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.

The political scene is difficult to separate from what happened in Madrid. Maricarmen was evicted on a stretcher after a huge police deployment, spent the night in the hospital, and still has no stable housing alternative. The images provoked demonstrations in several cities and brought back to the center of the debate a reality that had been trapped for too long between drafts, parliamentary calculations, and cross-vetoes.

Junts comes to the table after having joined its votes with PP and the far-right Vox to overturn the protections that would have allowed the suspension of evictions of vulnerable people without an alternative home. Pedro Sánchez assured from New York that the norm would have avoided Maricarmen's case. The pro-independence party, however, now presents itself again as an essential piece to resolve the blockade.

The Government wants to take advantage of social indignation to try to close an agreement before Tuesday. Sumar demands the approval of the decree even if the votes are still up in the air and to let each party take a stand later in Congress. The socialist side prefers to arrive at the Council of Ministers with a reasonably secured majority to avoid another parliamentary defeat.

Junts turns its seven votes into the price of the agreement

Junts' demands diverge in several points from the priorities defended by the left. The party demands tax deductions for tenants and for small mortgaged owners, to recover savings accounts intended for housing purchase, and to facilitate the construction of new properties.

It also demands that the State assume the cost of protection policies for vulnerable families and that these burdens do not fall on small landlords. Junts agrees to study an extension of rental contracts, although it proposes conditions for tenants and the possibility for the owner to recover the property when needed.

Puigdemont's party also incorporates measures against squatting and asks for guarantees that the decree respects regional competencies. Its recipe gives a central weight to tax incentives and owner protection, while the text promoted by PSOE and Sumar aims to strengthen the position of those facing an eviction or an unaffordable rent increase.

Therein lies much of the problem. The Government needs Junts' seven votes, but any excessive concession could alienate Podemos, which rejects tax benefits for landlords and the reform of the land law. The Basque Nationalist Party also demands legal certainty, respect for competencies, and urbanistic changes. The parliamentary majority depends on parties that propose opposing solutions for the same crisis.

The Housing draft includes permanent protection for vulnerable households. Judges could keep an eviction suspended until the city council or autonomous community offered a reasonable residential solution. When the owner was a small landlord, the Administration would have to compensate them for the rents and expenses incurred during the suspension.

The norm also contemplates extending contracts that expire until June 2028 for two years and at the same price, closing the avenues used to circumvent limits through temporary or room rentals, and strengthening guarantees against large holders.

Maricarmen's case has placed these measures in a much more uncomfortable light for those who blocked them. Junts argues that it was the Government that paralyzed negotiations for months. Its parliamentary history shows, at the same time, that its deputies helped to overturn the social shield and the extension of rentals alongside the right-wing parties.

Before seeking votes outside, PSOE and Sumar will also have to resolve their own fight. Yolanda Díaz demands approval of the decree on Tuesday and the expropriation of Maricarmen's home, a proposal that the socialist side considers unviable and that would further complicate the support of Junts and the PNV.

The Executive is looking for a broad text that brings together anti-eviction measures, the extension of rental agreements, the regulation of temporary contracts, and some incentives for owners. Breaking up the decree would make it easier to move forward with the protection of vulnerable people, although Moncloa is currently maintaining its commitment to a joint regulation.

The urgency has changed the pace of the offices. Measures that remained paralyzed during the summer are now being negotiated against the clock after an 87-year-old woman had to leave her home on a stretcher. Junts has found in this pressure an opportunity to put its program back on the table and raise the price of its votes.

Rufián accuses Junts of being "at the service of real estate vultures"

The spokesperson for Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, has reacted harshly to Junts' return to negotiations. He considers it a "mistake" for the Government to allow Puigdemont's party to set the limits of the decree and demands that progressive forces first agree on their measures.

Rufián asks the Executive and the left-wing parties to bring an ambitious text to Congress and then force Junts to publicly decide whether to support it. The republican leader argues that the negotiation proposed by the PSOE grants the Catalan right an influence that its positions on housing do not justify.

"Enough of the blackmail from the Catalan right", he wrote after accusing Junts of being "at the service of real estate vultures". The ERC spokesperson wants the vote to record the position of each group and for Puigdemont's party to bear the cost of once again rejecting anti-eviction measures.

The formula defended by Rufián involves first closing an agreement between the Government and the left. Junts would then have to choose between supporting the protection of tenants or overturning it again with PP and Vox.