Parliamentary support for the housing decree has become an immediate priority for Sumar, which has decided to open a round of contacts with all political forces, including the Popular Party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo. The initiative, led by Ernest Urtasun, seeks to secure the necessary support in Congress at a key moment for the coalition government.
The initiative comes from Sumar's own parliamentary group, independently of the PSOE, its government partner. “As a political space, we have our own action and we dialogue with the rest of the political forces,” Urtasun pointed out, stressing that the validation of the decree is a “very great priority” for his party at a key moment in the legislature.
The legal text comes after the approval, last March 26, of another anti-crisis decree promoted by the coalition government of PSOE and Sumar, which included measures such as the VAT reduction on electricity, gas, and fuels. Now, the focus is on the decree centered on housing, the result of a complex negotiation between both partners and still pending parliamentary validation.
From the Popular Party, the response has not been long in coming. The Deputy Secretary of Finance, Housing and Infrastructures, Juan Bravo, has accepted the meeting but with a critical tone, assuring that it will serve to convey to Sumar the “serious problem” that, in his opinion, the Government's current housing policy has generated.
The popular party demands the elimination of the current law, which they describe as “interventionist”, and assure that it has caused the withdrawal of 120,000 homes from the rental market. In addition, the PP proposes alternatives such as an “anti-squatting” law, land reforms and tax cuts to facilitate access to housing.
For its part, Sumar has launched the campaign ‘Ask for the extension, defend the extension’, in which the Minister of Health, Mónica García, also participates, who has pointed out that housing is the “main concern” of citizens. García has directly questioned the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, demanding that he decide “whose side he is on”, and has warned that the validation of the decree could represent a “turning point” against speculation.
