Spain's housing decrees face a second test after defeat

Two housing decrees are heading back to Spain’s Council of Ministers in Madrid on Tuesday: the government plans to approve them again after Congress rejected both on Friday. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday that an early election would be held on 29 November following the defeat.

Sources at the prime minister’s office, Moncloa, say the government has not decided whether to keep the decrees’ original wording or change it.

One decree has a narrow path

The election is due to be formally called on Monday, dissolving both houses of parliament. If ministers approve the decrees again, a smaller body called the Congress’s Permanent Deputation would have to vote on them. It has 69 members.

Parties that backed the first decree, covering housing measures, hold 35 seats there. The conservative People’s Party, Vox and Junts hold 34. The second decree, on automatic extensions to rental contracts, faces a different count: the Basque Nationalist Party also opposed it, leaving 34 votes in favour and 35 against.

The rejected plans covered evictions, rental extensions, room lets and short-term lets, as well as tax breaks for tenants and landlords. Health Minister Mónica García wants both decrees brought back. Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez instead urged people on X to vote; her post did not call for the decrees to return.

Topics: Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com