The president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that this Tuesday he will bring to the Council of Ministers the housing decree with urgent measures against the housing emergency for its approval, and he has called for a "final effort" from the parliamentary groups to support it in Congress.
He made this announcement during the closing of the IV Vanguardia 2026 Awards, held at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, in Barcelona, an event in which the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, also participated.
Sánchez emphasized that the Executive has worked intensively to push this decree forward: "We have made a great effort to materialize it. With dialogue, with negotiation capacity, incorporating proposals and initiatives from all political forces that have been willing to join this effort," he stated, without going into detail about the measures included.
In this line, he called on the parties represented in the Lower House to have a broad vision and a sense of State, reminding that "behind every measure there is something much more important than any political calculation, however legitimate it may be."
The event was also attended by the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu; the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo; the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull; the Government delegate in Catalunya, Carlos Prieto; the president of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Lluïsa Moret; and the councilors of the Presidency and of Economy and Finance of the Generalitat, Albert Dalmau and Alícia Romero, along with other authorities and institutional representatives.
The case of Maricarmen and the housing emergency
During his speech, the president referred to the eviction last week of Maricarmen in Madrid, and defended that patriotism also consists of preventing a 87-year-old woman "who has been paying her rent religiously for 70 years in the same house, in her same neighborhood, from ending up on the street after a lifetime in that house."
For that reason, he insisted that the central Government, the autonomous communities, and the municipalities must get involved to the maximum, emphasizing that the protection of people and their homes is not "an ideological issue but a matter of humanity."
Measures due to the war in Iran and rising prices
At another moment in his speech, Sánchez communicated that the Council of Ministers this Tuesday will also approve a new package of measures to support the most affected sectors and the most vulnerable families due to the increase in prices derived "particularly" from the war in Iran.
He insisted that it is an "illegal, unjust, absolutely unjustified" war and emphasized that Spain has positioned itself against it "with all its might."
Defense of press freedom
Sánchez also addressed the situation of press freedom, warning that it is suffering damage that he considers enormous, even in countries that have historically been benchmarks of freedom of expression and that now ban prestigious media for raising "uncomfortable questions or refusing to amplify the lie."
He recalled that "the first responsibility of journalism is to seek the truth and be faithful to it. It is not easy in a time like this when a biased or directly false headline can have much more reach than a headline," and defended that a free press is essential to prevent the world from regressing.
Support for Greenland and the international order
The president celebrated the award granted to the Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, highlighting that it comes at a time he considers especially significant due to the questioning of its sovereignty and independence: "We are all Greenland," he stated.
In this context, he reiterated his commitment to an international order in which "force does not replace law" and in which lies, hatred, and division do not prevail over the truth.