The PP MEP Borja Giménez Larraz has described this Wednesday the Affordable Housing Law presented by the European Commission as a "disappointment," an initiative that aims to provide greater legal certainty to local authorities to limit tourist rentals and the buying and selling of second homes in pressured areas. In his view, the priority should be to increase the housing supply and not impose barriers to the single market or free competition.
The proposal, presented in the Housing Committee of the European Parliament, offers municipalities and other administrations a legal framework to restrict the activity of short-term rental platforms like Airbnb, as well as the acquisition of second homes in areas with strong real estate pressure.
Giménez Larraz has reiterated that the Brussels initiative is a "disappointment" and has recalled the report on the housing crisis in the European Union approved in March by the European Parliament, of which he was the rapporteur. That text from the EP, he emphasized, highlighted the "need to boost supply" through administrative simplification, land mobilization, and speeding up permits.
The report backed by the Eurochamber also included proposals such as tax reductions, strengthening financing, and creating a pan-European public housing platform, measures that the MEP considers more effective in addressing the housing problem.
In his opinion, to tackle the housing crisis, an "increase in supply" is essential, while "the left is focusing on distributing scarcity instead of defining policies that allow for growth and abundance in the sector."
The popular leader has acknowledged that the initial part of the community proposal, focused on recommendations, incorporates "reasonable" elements such as speeding up permits. However, he stressed that the legislative component of the text is "deeply disappointing" to him.
The MEP has labeled the forecast of limiting the purchase of second homes as "very serious." In his view, this restriction is "an absolute nonsense because it calls into question a fundamental principle of the European Union, such as the single market, free competition, and the market economy."
He also added that this type of measure has already been tested in countries like France or Switzerland, with little encouraging results: although in certain tourist areas some price containment has been observed, the productive fabric has been affected and economic activity has suffered.
"We do not believe that it is the solution because it is not useful, it is counterproductive and it constitutes a violation of the fundamental principle on which the European project is based and is more typical of socialist regimes than of a project like ours," concluded Giménez Larraz.