The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has called the housing decree being prepared by the Government a "mockery", has expressed opposition to splitting the measures into several texts, and has warned that if the Executive finally approves a "patch", she will demand its withdrawal.
In a press conference at the Congress, Belarra described the Government's response to the "historic" mobilizations for the right to housing as "lamentable", a reaction that, in her opinion, comes after the eviction of Maricarmen, the elderly woman who was evicted last week in Madrid from the house where she had resided for decades.
Criticism of the measures included in the draft
The purple leader has maintained that the text being prepared by the Government does not incorporate "a single structural measure" and has also criticized the introduction of tax breaks for landlords. In her opinion, it is "unacceptable" that the expropriation of properties in the hands of vulture funds is not contemplated, that an end is not put to tourist flats, or that the application of indefinite rent is not even clarified.
Ione Belarra has insisted that the measures included in the draft are "very far from what is being asked" by the people camping in the Puerta del Sol, and has therefore encouraged continued protest to force the adoption of broader housing reforms.
Podemos's vote, still undisclosed
Asked whether her vote would be negative or if she would move towards abstention when the decree reaches the Congress, the Podemos deputy did not reveal the direction of her position. She did emphasize that they would give time to social mobilization and that, if a "patch" decree is finally presented, she would ask for it to be withdrawn and replaced by a better one.
"We must listen to the people and follow the path that the people mark," she stated, before rejecting the "ploy" of dividing the measures into several decrees, a strategy that, she said, the PSOE uses to let the most ambitious proposals fall in the Lower House.
In contrast, Ione Belarra has demanded that "this time" the "take it or leave it" must be for Junts and PNV, and added that she hopes the PSOE understands this in order to rearm the left.
