Sumar has increased the pressure on the PSOE and warns that next Tuesday it could stand firm if the Ministry of Housing comes to the Council of Ministers with a decree law that is a simple "cosmetic patch," with "partial and watered-down measures" that do not respond to the social demand for real solutions to stop evictions like that of the elderly woman from Madrid, Maricarmen Abascal. "We are at an absolutely critical moment for the Government and for the legislature; it is a moment of being or not being," emphasized the Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy.
"The PSOE cannot remain more on the sidelines," warn the Comuns, Más Madrid, Izquierda Unida, and Movimiento Sumar in a joint statement collected by Europa Press, where they emphasize that on Tuesday the coalition government has the "responsibility" to push forward a "package of effective measures against the housing crisis."
In that text, they underline that "patches are not valid," especially when, in their view, "the solutions have been on the table for months." They also recall the proposals that Sumar has been defending and to which in recent days has been added the "recovery of Maricarmen's home."
Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, already rejected this Monday the "expropriation" of the apartment from which the disabled woman was evicted on Wednesday, arguing that this type of action "leads nowhere and does not have a clear fit in the Constitution."
Demands of Sumar for the new decree
According to Sumar, the decree law that the Executive is negotiating with its usual parliamentary partners and also with Junts must incorporate a reinforced extension of leases, protect families against evictions and against vulture funds, limit speculative uses of housing such as tourist apartments, tackle fraud in seasonal or room rentals, and guarantee "the automatic renewal of rental contracts, so that no one has to leave their home because someone wants to make a profit from it."
In this scenario, the parties integrated into Sumar assure that they will do "everything necessary both politically and institutionally" for the decree to be approved "now, yes or yes."
"We stood firm six months ago and we will stand firm again on Tuesday if necessary," they warn, recalling that six months ago their ministers already refused to enter the Council of Ministers to force the majority partner to push through the rental extension decree, which was later overturned in Congress with the votes of PP, Vox, and Junts.
Sumar insists that, after the outrage generated by Maricarmen's eviction, "society will not accept partial responses or watered-down measures in the face of the drama of evictions and a problem as deep and urgent as the housing crisis." "It is enough to listen to the streets. Effective and comprehensive reforms are needed that are already measures of social consensus. No excuses or reductions," they emphasize.
Responsibility of the Government and negotiation with Junts
"This agreement is the responsibility of the government of which we are a part, a Government that was born precisely with that mandate," they underline, just a few days after the former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, urged Sumar to leave the Executive if measures to stop evictions are not approved.
"This country needs a great agreement on housing that prevents any more Maricarmen from being expelled from their homes and that protects the hundreds of thousands of people who cannot make ends meet because of housing," proclaims Sumar, reminding that last week the PSOE abstained in Congress on the consideration of a law to ban the purchase of housing by vulture funds.
In their statement, these formations also attack PP and Vox for having "overturned the anti-eviction shield on repeated occasions" and "voted against any measure that prohibits a few from profiting at the expense of everyone's homes," although they omit any reference to Junts.
The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has shown willingness to discuss some of the conditions raised by Junts, such as tax incentives for landlords affected by the extension of contracts, in order to attract Carles Puigdemont's party to the agreement.
When asked about that option during the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) Festival, Bustinduy stated that they are "aware of the existing parliamentary reality" and expressed confidence that "if there is sufficient political will on the part of the groups," the decree can move forward.
Call for political will and firmness of Sumar
"What we want is for that political will to exist from all parties," he added, insisting that "it is not worth closing this crisis falsely" when, in his opinion, "there are sufficient conditions for it to move forward with the agreement of all the parliamentary groups that are needed, a substantive housing decree" and "no patch can solve the social crisis that has opened."
Both Bustinduy and the Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego, have reiterated that they will be "extraordinarily firm in defending the minimums that must accompany the solution that the government must provide" in the face of the "social outcry" that is perceived in the streets across the country since last Wednesday.
"Our firmness is unbreakable and in the same way that we already stood firm in a Council of Ministers, we are not going to accept a cosmetic solution or a patch. We are going to proceed with determination, we already stood firm once and if it is necessary to stand firm again, we will do it," Rego has stated.