The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has demanded that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, continue to approve housing measures after the rejection of the two decrees in Congress. At the end of Friday's plenary session, the leader questioned whether an early election responds to the demands of the protests and insisted that the Executive must act. "People don't want elections, they want solutions," she stated.
Belarra assured that her party is prepared for elections, but she placed the urgency on stopping evictions, expropriating homes from vulture funds, and lowering rents by law. These are the demands that, she emphasized, are being heard in the streets. "And that is done with the BOE," she pointed out, referring to the Official State Gazette, where the norms approved by the Government are published.
Her proposal is for the Council of Ministers to approve "every month" an "ambitious" housing decree, despite the parliamentary defeat. The general secretary of Podemos has asked the Executive to "force the institutional machine" "to the maximum" and has resorted to the Amnesty Law as an example of political will. "They said that the Amnesty Law was unconstitutional one month and the next month they were approving it," she recalled. "Well, let them do the same. People are at their limit and they don't have to pay the price."
The approval of new decrees would remain subject to the control of Congress. Article 86 of the Constitution requires the Chamber to decide on their validation or repeal within 30 days following their promulgation. Belarra proposes re-approving the measures and submitting them to a new vote to maintain pressure on the groups that reject them.
The leader also directed her criticism at the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), which she accused of having shown during the legislature that it is "on the side of vulture funds and landlords, and not of the people." This is a reproach she maintains despite the fact that the four Podemos deputies supported the two decrees, considering that insufficient measures were preferable to none going forward.
The first text, which included protection against evictions of vulnerable people and rental extensions, has been rejected by 178 votes to 172, with votes against from the Popular Party (PP), the far-right Vox, Junts, and Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN). The second, on the automatic renewal of contracts, fell by 184 votes to 166, with the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and Coalición Canaria joining the rejection.
The defeat has led Sánchez to open a period of reflection on the future of the legislature, without ruling out an early election. Executive sources maintain that options to recover the measures are also being studied and that governing and legislating can continue. The decision remains open as housing mobilizations continue.
Belarra supports the general strike
Before the votes, Belarra had pointed from the rostrum to the parties that had announced their rejection of the decrees and had held them responsible for future evictions of vulnerable people. "Ms. Nogueras, Mr. Feijóo, Mr. Abascal, we will not forget it," she warned them. According to the leader, they will be the ones throwing families out of their homes when new evictions occur.
Her intervention also questioned how the Government prepared the measures. Belarra attributed their approval to citizen pressure and reproached the Executive for dividing the package into two decrees to try to gain the support of Junts, a strategy that ultimately did not prevent the rejection of Carles Puigdemont's party. She denounced that the Government brought them to Congress because people "twisted their arm."
Podemos had announced its support on Thursday, after the Confederation of Tenant Unions requested it. Belarra then described the measures as "crumbs" and explained that her party wanted to act as a tool for social movements. She also demanded that indefinite rental contracts be maintained along with the rest of the protections, instead of subjecting them to a separate vote.
The general secretary has defended this Friday the capacity of mobilization to achieve changes and has highlighted the return of Maricarmen to her home after the eviction that triggered the protests. "Mobilized people have more power than all the deputies in this chamber," she stated. The Tenants' Union has confirmed that the encampment in Puerta del Sol continues and has called for extending the organization to neighborhoods and to weekend demonstrations.
Belarra has supported from Congress the general strike promoted by the housing movement, which still has no date. "The general strike is the best tool this country has to fight for housing," she defended.
