Sumar clings to housing to try to save the legislature and assert its influence in the Government. A few days after Congress rejected the extension of rent controls due to opposition from the right-wing parties, the Minister of Culture and spokesperson for the party allied with Yolanda Díaz, Ernest Urtasun, reiterated this Monday that the minority coalition partner’s position is that, without addressing the high cost of rents, it will be very difficult to renew the Government after the elections scheduled for 2027. In a joint press conference with Enrique Santiago, parliamentary spokesperson for IU, the leader announced that “this week” they will draft a proposal with the groups to bring a new decree to the Council of Ministers as soon as possible. The issue, they argue in Sumar, directly impacts the Andalusian campaign, where the left, with up to three different lists, starts at a disadvantage. They also announce that they will pressure the government partner to take action on this matter.
“If anyone expects us to give up, that will not be the case,” said Urtasun, who avoided setting deadlines for when the new regulation could be approved again. “The extension must return to Congress as soon as possible and we will not stop until we achieve it. What we want and will do from now on is to take up the challenge of last week’s debate. We will draft a proposal this week that responds to a broad and consensus agreement,” announced the minister, who believes that a pact with Junts — which voted against the text along with PP, Vox, and UPN — is possible.
His party already opened last week to incorporating some of the demands of Carles Puigdemont’s party, which requires, among other housing initiatives, tax breaks for landlords. And it calls on the PSOE to advance on other pending issues, such as the reduced VAT for the self-employed. Something that in any case depends on the Treasury.
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The decree was approved in March by the Council of Ministers after a struggle between Sumar and the socialists, who rejected giving the green light to the extension because they were convinced it did not have the necessary support in the chamber. After the Government’s approval, the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, left the negotiations to the Department of Social Rights, led by Pablo Bustinduy, to try to validate it. “The same groups that voted no last week voted yes in the past. And the effects of the war make it unthinkable to marginalize housing measures from others that may be adopted to address the situation,” said the spokesperson, who defends that this issue “is the main factor of social inequality” in Spain.
In Sumar they believe these are sufficient reasons for the PSOE to agree to bring a new decree to the Council of Ministers. Furthermore, they say, you cannot campaign in Andalusia as a “reference” of the left (referring to the international profile projected by President Pedro Sánchez) without approving housing initiatives. “We will remind them every day,” says a leader of the political space. In Andalusia, the coalition that groups IU, Movimiento Sumar, Podemos, Alianza Verde, Partido Verde, and Iniciativa del Pueblo Andaluz has made the housing situation, as well as healthcare, one of the pillars of its campaign, and the argument may help them engage directly with the socialist candidate, former First Vice President María Jesús Montero. This Monday, she will have a first opportunity in the five-way debate on RTVE.
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