The debate on housing will be the central axis of the initiatives that PP, PSPV, and Compromís will defend in the plenary session of Les Corts next week, while Vox will again emphasize the "saturation of public services" that it attributes to illegal immigration, according to the various groups detailed this Tuesday in a press conference after the meeting of syndics, in which the agenda was closed.
On behalf of the PSPV, José Muñoz, who had called for an extraordinary and monographic plenary session on the housing situation in the Comunitat Valenciana, emphasized that all parties, except Vox, will focus their proposals on this issue. In addition, he criticized the Consell for the increase in the price of the module for public protection housing (VPP) and denounced that they are now "more expensive" by decision of the PP government.
In his view, it "makes no sense" for VPP to be priced between 250,000 and 300,000 euros, amounts that families needing to access housing "clearly cannot reach," he warned. Therefore, he demanded that the Valencian Executive reverse the increase in these prices.
At the same time, he reproached the PP, Vox, and Junts for their vote against the two decrees from the Government in Congress and urged the 'popular' leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to clarify "what his program will be" regarding housing "if hypothetically he were to arrive" at La Moncloa after the general elections on November 29. Muñoz emphasized that the electoral campaign "also involves material rights, two models of country," and defended that that of the PSOE places "people first."
Regarding the plenary session next week, Muñoz highlighted that the former head of Procurement of the Alicante City Council, María Pérez-Hickman, testified before the judge in the Les Naus case that in 2022 she informed the deputy mayor Manuel Villar that his children were registered in the cooperative and that they ultimately received housing, something "very serious" for the socialists. "We want to talk about all this," he noted.
Thus, the PSPV aims to demonstrate that the PP "keeps" public protection housing in a context where "there is little housing" of this type available in the market. Therefore, it will ask the Consell if it has already initiated the procedures to recover the houses from the Les Naus residential complex "awarded illegally" to officials and relatives of the PP.
Land Law, waiting lists, and Mazón's role
Compromís will also register in the plenary a non-legislative proposal (PNL) focused on housing, while questioning the Consell about the waiting lists in healthcare and questioning the "urgent hurry" of the Valencian Government to process the new Land Law, according to what the spokesperson of the coalition, Joan Baldoví, has advanced.
In addition, Compromís has warned in the meeting of spokespersons this Tuesday that one of the plenaries scheduled for November —the one in the week of the 23rd to the 27th— coincides with the campaign for the general elections on November 29, although the PP has replied, according to Baldoví, that this coincidence "would not affect the normal functioning of Les Corts." "We hope that this is the case, because the specialties of the PP with the complicity of Vox is to steal debates in these Corts," he criticized.
The coalition has also expressed its discomfort because in "the whole month" of October "only two commissions will meet," when the regulations establish that all should be convened at least once a month. "Mr. --Carlos-- Mazón, one more month earning 600 euros and a bit without acting as spokesperson for a commission," Baldoví has denounced.
The PP appointed last December the former president of the Generalitat Carlos Mazón as spokesperson for the Popular Parliamentary Group in the Rules Commission of Les Corts, a position that carries an additional payment of 8,879.78 euros annually (634.27 euros monthly and 1,268.54 in extraordinary payments), according to the remuneration set for deputies. This commission has not met since October 2020.
PP's Criticism of PSOE and Management Balance
In parallel, Nando Pastor (PP) has emphasized that the plenary next week will arrive "loaded" with initiatives on housing, and has taken the opportunity to assert that this issue "was never the reason why Pedro Sánchez called elections," but rather "the excuse" so that the PSOE "does not arrive indicted for illegal financing to the electoral campaign" nor for "us to know more about --former president José Luis Rodríguez-- Zapatero and his jewels, of which there is much more to know."
He has also reproached the PSOE and the PSPV, which he has described as the "most 'sanchista' federation in Spain," for not having "lifted a finger" during the years they have governed "here and there," referring to the Comunitat Valenciana and the whole State. "Those from here and those from there have had competencies and for eight years neither have lifted a finger," he reiterated.
For this reason, he has urged the socialists not to go now "to give lessons and ask for explanations from the rest" because, in his opinion, that shows their "cynicism and hypocrisy." "It is not a mantra, it is the definition of their balance," emphasized Pastor, who insisted that the Botànic "built zero homes in any of the modalities" and "inflated taxes on the people." He also reproached the PSPV for questioning the increase in the module of the VPP when with the Botànic "it went from 1,800 to 2,400 euros, 30% more."
In contrast, he claimed that the current Consell in three years has brought 6,000 homes to the market and has promoted the Plan Vive, to which 320 municipalities have adhered, "85 of them governed by the PSPV." He also defended that the new Land Law reserves 50% of residential buildability for protected housing. "Let them give explanations and, when they have given them, we will gladly listen to the lessons from the left, never before," warned the 'popular' spokesperson.
Forest law and immigration debate
On another note, Compromís has raised in the board of spokespersons whether a report will be requested from the Consell Jurídic Consultiu (CJC) on the forest law due to possible "contradictions" with state and European regulations and to prevent "litigation in the future." The response, Baldoví lamented, "has been a resounding no." On this point, Nando Pastor (PP) has mocked this "brilliant idea" and has reproached the coalition for demanding "for others what they never did" when they were in government.
For its part, Vox will focus its proposals for the next plenary on the "saturation of public services" that it attributes to the "massive influx of illegal immigrants." Its spokesperson, José Mª Llanos, has attacked the PSPV for requesting a monographic plenary on housing: "They demonstrate their miseries, the zero homes built in eight years in the Comunitat Valenciana" by the Botànic and "the disaster of housing throughout Spain." In addition, the group plans to question the Consell about the creation of the Office of Settlement and Return and immigration policy, among other issues.