The Deputy Secretary for Economy and Sustainable Development of the Partido Popular, Alberto Nadal, has cast doubt this Monday in Logroño on the "solidity" of the objectives of the general strike called for next Wednesday, 11 November, and has insisted that "the one to which we have to demand compliance with these targets" is "the one who has managed it all these years, the current Government".
During his visit to the Rioja capital, where he has taken the opportunity to learn about a local company and hold a meeting with representatives of the employers' association and of the professional colleges of La Rioja, Nadal explained, when asked by the media, that "traditionally, a general strike is called by the trade unions of any country to change the economic policy of the Government".
On this occasion, he has stressed, "we are called to the polls on 29 November, therefore it seems like a contradiction, because the Spanish people will already be choosing the economic policy they want". "Therefore -he has stated- the call does not appear to have solidity from the point of view of what the objectives they intend are".
He added that, "if the problem for having called the strike is housing, then the one to which it has to be demanded is the one that has had the management of housing policies, of the administrative procedure laws, and of the instruments to intervene in the rental market, which has been the current Government and the current Parliament for the result of their housing policies".
As he indicated, those policies have generated "shortage" of supply and "with prices that have risen in a stratospheric way for the young population are practically unreachable". He recalled that "eight years governing the Partido Socialista and eight years in which the housing problem has gone from being a marginal issue to being number one among the Spaniards' concerns".
In his view, all of this responds to "a policy whose basic principle has been not to create the conditions for there to be land with which it is possible to build; not to create the conditions for there to be a construction sector, which has been spoken about with contempt, that is capable of building those homes; or to see the liberalization of land as speculation".
The balance, it has exposed, is that "it's that we are missing more than 700,000 homes and that an annual deficit of around 100,000 is created every year". "That's why -he has stressed- our proposal is to build one million homes a year. Because if there are no more homes, we can't solve the problem. If there is more demand than the existing supply, the only result is that the price keeps going up and up and up more."
As for measures in the short term, he has pointed out that "in the short term, the homes we have available are empty homes and there the Government has done everything possible to scare landlords, if occupancy is allowed, if co-occupancy is allowed, if prices are continuously intervened with, if obstacles are put in the way of recovering the home when rent is not paid, the end result is that owners take their homes out of the rental market".
Nadal has said that, in certain areas, the rental supply "has estimated the drop in rental offers in some areas already" at between "30 and 40 percent" and has defended that "what we need is a policy in which there are more homes available, both for purchase and for rental, and this will make prices more reasonable", generating the conditions for that million homes, reducing bureaucratic obstacles and strengthening the construction sector.
He has also asked to pay "special attention to two segments of the population that need more", starting "with young people, because they begin their working life, they have less stable contracts, they earn less money, and therefore it is more difficult for them to demonstrate solvency both to the landlord and to the financial institution".
Within this framework, the PP proposes to "reduce part of what they have to contribute at the beginning, especially for the purchase of a home, because a young person who wants to buy a home needs to put almost 30% of the value of the home from the start, because banks no longer finance more than 80% after the financial crisis and then between taxes, notary, registry and other expenses another 10% goes on top of that".
"Our proposal -he has specified- is, in that 10%, that the majority are taxes, to reduce taxes for young people by more than 60% and the remaining 40% to refinance it. And to create tax incentives, and savings incentives and guarantees for the remaining 20%. This will allow young people to be able to, together with, but first there has to be homes, because you can't buy a home that doesn't exist".
The second group that has been referred to is "the population with the most modest incomes that need public support, which is already much more direct than for that the exists public protected housing". He has not specified what part of that million homes that the 'populares' defend would be earmarked for VPO, considering that "what matters is that there is much more VPO and free-market housing".
In his view, "there is—he has insisted—that we liberalize land and create the instruments so that all developers that want to invest in Spanish land also come to invest. To give you an idea, given the average housing price in Spain and given that we need a million homes, we will probably need between 150 and 300 million in housing investment over the next four years in order to be able to solve the problem".
Pensions and stability of the system
On another matter, Alberto Nadal has addressed the situation of pensions. He has assured that "if I were a pensioner, what I would really be worried about is that President Pedro Sánchez would remain in La Moncloa, because what can maintain and guarantee our public pension system is appropriate economic policy, which makes the economy grow in a sustained way".
He has argued that "every time the Partido Popular has governed, not only have pensions always grown every year and been paid on time, but the system has also come out strengthened compared to what it initially had".
According to Nadal, "as long as the Partido Popular governs, pensioners have to be clear on three things: one, that the public pension system will be viable; two, that pensions will be paid on time; and three, that they will be increased with the CPI. What’s more, only if the Partido Popular governs can these things be guaranteed", he concluded.