Sumar faces this Tuesday the almost certain defeat in Congress of the decree-law that automatically extends rental contracts expiring in 2026 and 2027, in a climate of reproaches to the PSOE for its scarce involvement in the negotiation and to PNV and Junts for having announced that they will not support the text.
Although the rule has been in effect since its approval by the Council of Ministers, like any decree-law, it needs the definitive endorsement of Congress for its validation or repeal. In Tuesday's vote, PP, Vox, Junts, and PNV have already announced that they will not support the initiative, which condemns the decree to its fall.
Within the minority partner of the Government, which groups several formations, positions have diversified: some officials have focused their criticism on the groups that oppose the measure and even on their own ally in the Executive, others raise the possibility of promoting a new decree with concessions to Junts and there are those who still resist giving up the current one as lost.
Barbero maintains negotiation until the end
In this last block is the spokesperson for Sumar in Congress, Verónica Martínez Barbero, who refuses to accept the defeat of the housing decree, which includes the extension of rents, and continues to appeal for negotiation until the last minute, despite the fact that PNV and Junts have reiterated that they will not support it in the vote.
In a appearance in the Lower House, Martínez Barbero has warned that before Tuesday's meeting there is no room for "equidistance" and that deputies who vote against must explain why they align themselves with "rentiers and speculators". He has thus called for parliamentarians to "vote in conscience", taking families into account, and has assured that he does not understand that an extension affecting almost 3 million tenants would be rejected.
Despite the fact that PNV and Junts have reiterated that they will not endorse the text and a defeat for the Government is taken for granted, the spokesperson for Sumar insists that there is still room to try to move their positions and emphasizes that they will continue trying to reach an agreement until the last moment.
"More than optimistic, I am a possibilist," stated Martínez Barbero, asserting that his political space has already demonstrated a "very high" capacity to carry out complex negotiations. And he suggested, in a veiled allusion to Junts, that if he were in their place, he would be "clinging with tooth and nail to any negotiation to see what I can get to justify a vote in favor," after Sumar has put on the table the option of a franchised VAT and tax benefits for the owner as a counterpart for the post-convergent.
Compromís raises the tone against PNV and Junts
Other sectors of the plurinational group, however, have distanced themselves from this strategy. The Compromís deputy integrated into Sumar, Alberto Ibáñez, has been especially harsh with PNV and Junts, maintaining that it is in the hands of these parties to dismantle the perception that deputies are "bootlickers" of vulture funds".
Ibáñez has lashed out at the refusal of both parties to support the decree, reminding them that they can maintain their "humanist" political tradition and distance themselves from the image of "multi-owners" aligned with "multimillionaires" through their votes. "Today, the majority of this Congress will be nothing other than the bootlickers of vulture funds," he proclaimed, adding that the parliamentarians of those groups have the "opportunity to purge their sins."
Internal criticism of the PSOE and the Ministry of Housing
Ibáñez himself has not hidden his anger with the PSOE and with the head of Housing, whom he criticizes for "not knowing what she thinks" before the vote on the decree. "I don't know if the Minister of Housing remembers who makes her minister, because Pedro Sánchez has one vote and needs a majority," he added.
The spokesperson for Sumar in Congress, Tesh Sidi, has criticized that the PSOE has left them "alone" in this negotiation and that it seems they "do not assume" that they manage a Ministry of Housing, from which, in her opinion, it is necessary to move from "slogans" to ambitious policies. She stressed that, if the PSOE renounces leading the housing agenda, Sumar is indeed determined to fight that "battle".
In similar terms, the Compromís deputy in the Mixed Group, Águeda Micó, has expressed herself, taking advantage of her speech to reproach the PSOE for "not having wanted" nor "having believed" the decree nor the housing emergency situation that, as she has denounced, the country has been dragging throughout the legislature and which she largely links to the accumulation of housing and the absence of specific taxation for large holders.
Along these lines, he has questioned whether the Minister of Housing is the right person to steer the necessary changes, considering that she is "one of those big property owners and one of those landladies who makes money at the expense of tenants".
Podemos and the Commons ask for a plan B
From Podemos, the deputy Javier Sánchez Serna has demanded a "Plan B" from the Executive and has suggested that, if necessary, an extraordinary Council of Ministers be convened to re-approve the extension of rent controls, even repeating the decree every month until the end of the legislature if necessary, and that it "negotiate seriously" with the investiture partners to guarantee the continuity of the measure.
The co-spokesperson of Commons, Gerardo Pisarello, has also reproached the scarce involvement of the Ministry of Housing in the negotiation, from which they "expected much more", and has lamented that Junts aligns itself with PP and Vox on housing matters.
Outstretched hand to a new decree and debate on the vote
Even so, Pisarello maintains the willingness to reach an understanding with the post-convergent and with the PNV, but "without confusing things" and without "being fooled" regarding the situation of the real estate market. "They will have to explain why they stand next to a group of rich people," he has warned.
Sources from the parliamentary group insist on exhausting all avenues of dialogue until the vote and emphasize that, even if the decree falls, the possibility could open up to process another one later that incorporates some of Junts' demands and achieves their support. Other left-wing groups are committed to persevering with this formula until a sufficient majority is found to shield it in the Chamber.
Regarding the option of demanding a show of hands vote, the spokesperson for Sumar has indicated that, for now, they do not plan to alter the usual voting system. Nevertheless, the deputy from Compromís has not closed the door, stating that it is a decision that "has not been made" and that, in his opinion, "everyone has to show their hand and not hide behind party acronyms".