Spain's housing decrees: Junts votes no, November 29 election buzz grows

Junts votes no on housing and election rumours heat up

One by one. Standing. Out loud. Spain's Congress agreed that the vote on the two housing decree-laws would be held by roll call, at the request of PSOE and Sumar, in a move read as a way of pressuring MPs so no one could hide behind the anonymity of the button. The day came with Junts confirming on Thursday night that it will vote against, and with PP, UPN and Vox lined up in the same rejection. Without a last-minute U-turn, the texts lapse. The Government responded with a message on social media: it stands with the people, and the people will judge those who do not vote in favour. The catch is that two of the groups singled out are not part of the bloc that keeps it in office.

Why is Junts voting against the housing decrees?

Junts asked the Government last night to withdraw both royal decree-laws and draft a new one that meets its conditions. The Government refused. From there, the geometry gets interesting: according to the reading circulating in the thread, the Catalan party does not prop up the Government out of conviction, but for a price. And that same reading adds that, if its goal remains independence, it needs Sánchez alive in La Moncloa (the prime minister's official residence), because no other tenant will pay it the same. That reasoning leads to an uncomfortable conclusion: Junts's no would be a show no, with the door open to a last-minute abstention.

Against that thesis weighs the opposing argument. The same groups already voted against housing measures in the previous term, according to the list the Government itself has circulated, and every time a decree falls the noise rises. Having them show their cards and deliver the no has more going for it than it seems.

What changes with a spoken roll-call vote?

With the roll call, the excuse of a mistake disappears. There is no button pressed by accident, no MP sitting in the wrong seat: everyone states their vote and it is on record. The manoeuvre has a second layer, and it is the most uncomfortable one. A critical line argues the aim is to expose those who vote against so that sympathetic associations can then go after them. The answer comes from the other side: until recently that repertoire was the preserve of the most radical left, and now it is practised from within Congress itself.

The atmosphere had already heated up before the vote. The session brought angry speeches, MPs getting up and walking out, and an eviction, Maricarmen's, turned into the symbol of the whole debate. Vox's response in the chamber pivoted on that, with encampments growing in Puerta del Sol as a backdrop.

Will there be a general election, and why is November 29 mentioned?

No one has confirmed it, and it is worth saying before going further. What exists is a rumour spreading within the Socialist camp that puts the announcement next week, with a voting date of November 29. The gestures feed the suspicion: Sánchez delivered his speech and left the chamber without listening to the other groups, and Yolanda Díaz did the same. That kind of theatrics, argue those betting on an early election, is what you do when the decision to go to the polls has already been made.

The calculations do not match. Some see the right-wing bloc close to 180 seats, below the polls that gave it more than 200, while others believe the street unrest reshuffles the board once again. The only solid thing about the day is that the session ended with a possible date and no decree.

The eviction, the encampments and the law that already existed

The legal framework was not born this week. RDL 7/2019 extended the length of rental contracts to five and seven years, and its validation was also voted on at the time. About the eviction that has dominated the debate, an uncomfortable reply circulated: the 1994 LAU (Spain's urban leasing law), under which it was carried out, was passed by a Council of Ministers that included the mother of a party leader, according to that reminder. Surnames, the argument went, do not serve every purpose.

The underlying issue is the usual one, argue those most critical of all sides. Since the property bubble burst, no one has touched the structure of the problem: neither side has halted the escalation that today once again leaves a family on the street and feeds encampments that, as reported in the thread, are growing in several cities. The text being voted on this Friday came out of the Council of Ministers this very week. From the BOE (the official state gazette) to the bin in a few days. That is the real parenthesis of housing policy in Spain.