The Permanent Deputation of the Congress plans to hold a new session on November 12 to decide on the validation of the two royal decrees on housing approved by the Council of Ministers on October 6. This meeting will take place just one day after the general strike for housing and on the eve of the official start of the electoral campaign.
Both decrees, very similar to those that the Plenary of the Congress rejected on October 2 and that triggered the electoral advance, must be ratified by the Chamber within a maximum period of one month from their approval in the Council of Ministers. The texts were published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on October 7.
The first of them, which includes the temporary prohibition of evictions of vulnerable people, tax incentives for tenants and certain owners, as well as ICO credit lines for the acquisition of the first home, among other initiatives, is in force from the moment of its publication.
In contrast, the decree that establishes the automatic and indefinite extension of rental contracts, except in certain cases, is not expected to come into force until November 15. Thus, if the Permanent Deputation were to reject it, as is practically taken for granted, the text would not come into effect for even a single day.
In the debate of the Plenary on October 2, the votes of PP, Vox, Junts, and Unión del Pueblo Navarro (UPN) overturned the decree that concentrated the broadest package of measures, while the text focused on the extension of leases also faced opposition from the PNV.
The extension of rentals is heading for a new rejection
Despite this, the Government is confident in advancing the first decree in the Permanent Deputation, since, considering the correlation of forces in the only body that remains operational after the dissolution of the Cortes, PP, Vox, and Junts sum 34 votes against the 35 gathered by the rest of the groups.
On the contrary, in the vote on the decree regarding the automatic extension of rentals, a tie of 34 is anticipated, given that the PNV would again position itself against the validation, which would cause the text to fall again.
In total, the Permanent Deputation is made up of 69 deputies, distributed as follows: 27 seats from the PP, 25 from the PSOE (including that of the president of Congress, Francina Armengol), six from Vox and six from Sumar. ERC, PNV, Junts, Bildu, and Podemos, which in this body represents the entire Mixed Group, have one vote each.
Appearance of Sánchez due to the incursion of Moroccan vessels
The Permanent Deputation will also have to meet in the coming weeks to pronounce on the request from the PP for the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to appear before this body to provide explanations after not having informed at the time of the presence of Moroccan naval vessels in Spanish waters on July 30, coinciding with the entry of 80,000 immigrants irregularly in Ceuta.
According to parliamentary sources, the intention is for the session in which this request from the PP is voted to take place before the meeting convened to discuss the housing decree laws, although for now no exact date has been set.