The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has attacked the Government's decision to break down the package of measures to address the housing crisis into two royal decrees, a maneuver that she has described as a "trap" and warned that the "divide and conquer will not work."
Given the complex correlation of forces in Congress and the Executive's need to secure the support of parties with very different positions on housing, such as Sumar, Podemos, Junts, and the PNV, the Government has opted to distribute its proposals into two separate texts.
The first of these decrees includes the automatic extension of rental contracts for two years, a demand from Sumar that, however, does not have the approval of Junts. The second groups measures such as the extension of protection against evictions until 2030, the regulation of seasonal rentals and rooms, and the prohibition of investment funds acquiring housing until 2028.
After the approval of both decrees in the Council of Ministers, which will be submitted this Friday to the Plenary of Congress for validation or repeal, Belarra has criticized that the Executive has chosen to divide into two norms what was initially designed as a single decree.
According to Belarra, this operation constitutes a "trap" whose "only objective" is to "whitewash the government and contain social mobilization" which, in her opinion, is already "historic." Thus, she has pointed out that the Executive's strategy is "the opposite of what should be done when you really want to solve the housing problem."
"Dividing the decree between one that has more chances of passing and one that is definitely going to fail, which is the one that contains the measure that could have a more structural approach compared to the purely and exclusively conjunctural measures, is clearly a trap," the Podemos leader has insisted.
Belarra accuses the Government of preparing a decree to lose it
In the same vein, Belarra has accused the PSOE of being fully aware that one of the decrees is doomed to not pass the parliamentary vote. "They bring it to lose it and they know it perfectly," she has stated, also pointing out that even within the PSOE it is privately acknowledged "that it is going to fall," which is why she considers it to be "a joke" to the citizens.
Although it has not revealed what the voting sense of Podemos will be this Friday, Belarra has emphasized that the formation will be "at the disposal of the social movement" and will be "a tool in the hands of all the people who are mobilizing in Puerta del Sol."
In this context, she has demanded that the Government rectify and bring to Congress a single decree that groups all the measures regarding housing. Next, she has called to maintain pressure in the streets and to continue organizing, convinced that it is this mobilization that will achieve "that the Government rectifies."
Belarra has remarked that "there is much more to do to solve the housing problem in Spain. There are expropriations, stopping tourist use, but really if it wants to be approved, the minimum is that the Maricarmen decree is approved in full, in a unique way," she concluded.
Compromís and BNG also question the splitting of the measures
In the corridors of Congress, the deputy of Compromís integrated into the Mixed Group, Águeda Micó, has also spoken out, who has described it as a "disappointment" that the housing package has been split into two decrees.
Micó has pointed out, however, that now it is time to analyze in detail the "fine print" of the regulations, and has expressed her reservations about measures such as tax incentives for property owners. "This buying and selling of votes to be able to get things that matter to us all is a bit displeasing and the PSOE seems to always do the same," she concluded.
For his part, the deputy of BNG, Néstor Rego, has also condemned the Government's decision to split the measures into two decrees, although he has admitted that, if the dilemma is between "a patch" or leaving the population unprotected, they will opt to support them. "We will approve the decrees, but we will suspend the Government on housing policies," he has stated.