The proposal for the expropriation of Maricarmen's apartment pits government partners against each other: Bolaños rejects it while Sumar redoubles pressure and collects signatures

The proposal for the expropriation of Maricarmen's apartment raised tensions within the Government this Friday. Félix Bolaños rejected the measure demanded by Sumar and questioned its constitutional fit, while the minority partner insists on taking it to next Tuesday's Council of Ministers along with the new housing decree.

The Minister of the Presidency distanced himself from Bilbao from a proposal that Yolanda Díaz and the Sumar ministers consider necessary for the 87-year-old woman to return to the house where she has lived for seven decades. Bolaños assured that these formulas "lead nowhere and do not have a clear fit in the Spanish Constitution" and advocated for a broader response to housing access problems.

His position found an immediate reply from the left wing of the Executive. The Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, reaffirmed that Sumar will continue "fighting" for the expropriation and defended that the Government has legal tools to act. The leader recalled that the Constitution subjects private property to a social function and demanded a response that warns investment funds that they cannot treat people's lives as a "Monopoly board."

The disagreement focuses on the use of this path for Maricarmen's specific case. Bolaños advocates for general measures that protect all vulnerable tenants, while Sumar believes that recovering this home would send a political message to those who speculate with a basic good.

Sumar maintains pressure within the Government

Bustinduy separated the expropriation from the future housing decree and made it clear that these are two distinct decisions. The first would allow action on Maricarmen's property. The second seeks to extend protection against evictions, extend contracts, and regulate some of the most speculative uses of housing.

Movimiento Sumar has accompanied its pressure within the Executive with a public campaign that exceeded 12,000 signatures during its first three hours. The collection will remain open until Tuesday, a date that the party has set as the deadline for the Government to respond to the eviction and approve the new package of measures.

"The PSOE must react", claimed Sumar's parliamentary spokesperson, Verónica Martínez Barbero. Yolanda Díaz has also demanded that both decisions reach the Council of Ministers "yes or yes". The offensive allows the minority partner to place housing at the center of its political action and establish its own profile within the coalition after images that have caused deep social indignation.

Bolaños has confirmed that the Government is working with the aim of approving the decree next Tuesday. Previous measures fell in Congress with the votes of PP, Vox and Junts, so Moncloa is trying to previously secure a majority that avoids another parliamentary setback. The positions of Junts and Podemos continue to force the Executive to reconcile very distant demands.

The minister has asked for "broad-mindedness and responsibility" from the groups and has defended that the conversations remain out of the public spotlight. "Private conversations, public agreements," he summarized after assuring that the Executive will "work its heart out" for the decree to go ahead.

The offer that changes the scenario

The proposal presented this afternoon by Urbagestión to the Madrid City Council introduces a new element in the struggle. The owning company has offered to incorporate the apartment into the Reviva program of the Municipal Housing and Land Company so that Maricarmen can return through a "stable and affordable" rent.

This formula would allow the company to maintain ownership while the EMVS would assume the management of the rent and offer different guarantees to the owner. The City Council has received the proposal, although it still needs to study it. The Tenants' Union and Maricarmen's lawyer assure that they have not received any official proposal.

If it materializes and has Maricarmen's approval, the offer can reduce the immediate clash over the expropriation. For now, it remains a proposal without closed conditions and appears after the woman has been expelled from her home, transferred on a stretcher, and admitted to the hospital. Before the eviction, several alternatives for purchase, rent, and mediation were proposed, which ended without agreement.

Sumar maintains that the conflict goes beyond Maricarmen's immediate future and demands a political signal against large property owners. The socialist sector is focusing its efforts on a decree with general scope and with sufficient support to survive the Congress vote. The signature campaign will remain active until Tuesday, when both positions will meet again around the Cabinet table.