The Government suffered one of the most resounding parliamentary defeats of the legislature yesterday in Congress after PP, Vox, and Junts joined forces to overturn the housing decree promoted by one of the partners, Sumar.
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The norm, rejected with 177 votes against and five abstentions from the PNV, had become for the group still led by Yolanda Díaz much more than a temporary measure to contain rental prices. It was a political banner with which to assert its weight and justify its presence in the Government coalition. But its fall has not only dynamited Sumar’s main political gamble, but also leaves behind two particularly uncomfortable images for the Executive: the fragility of its parliamentary majority and the growing estrangement between the coalition partners.
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Because the political scope of the setback goes beyond mere parliamentary arithmetic, as reflected by a good part of Sumar’s spokespersons who multiplied throughout the day to interpret the defeat as proof that the PSOE had not really invested all its political capital in saving a measure that the minority partner considered strategic. “If the PSOE had put half the will it put into passing the Amnesty Law, we would be talking about a different result,” sources from the plurinational group summarized after the vote.
The image of the chamber condensed much of that internal fracture. Yolanda Díaz and Ernest Urtasun were the only ministers who accompanied Pablo Bustinduy from the blue bench in defending a decree that Moncloa had practically given up on since Junts confirmed its rejection weeks ago. But what ultimately irritated Sumar was the absence of the Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez. And the plurinational spokesperson for the Comunes, Gerardo Pisarello, made this known from the tribune, reproaching the socialist bench for not having been “sufficiently” involved in the parliamentary negotiation. An accusation that socialist deputy Ignasi Conesa responded to by asking not to “miss the mark” or confuse the adversary. In the PSOE, in any case, last night they downplayed the clash and attributed the criticism to “a Sumar tantrum.”
PP, Vox and Junts overturn the norm and erode the profile of the plurinational space within the Government
“No tantrum at all,” visibly angered spokespersons for the plurinational parliamentary group replied, recalling that, from the very investiture pact, they highlighted the defense of access to housing as a red line.
This strategy became evident during the drafting of the decree, when Sumar showed its willingness to strain its relationship with the PSOE to the maximum. Its five representatives in the Executive even stood up to their partners in the Council of Ministers, refusing to enter until the PSOE agreed to promote a specific norm on the extension of rental agreements after the fall of the previous omnibus decree.
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From then on, and with the Popular Party out of any dialogue after refusing even to sit down and listen to the proposal, several weeks of intense contacts with the partners of the investiture bloc followed. But none of the offers changed Junts’ mind, as they had been against the text from minute one.
Although the defeat was practically discounted, Sumar decided to keep the Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, as the defender of the initiative in yesterday’s debate. One of the most highly valued leaders of the space and with the greatest internal support as a possible future reference for the plurinational left was thus exposed to the political cost of a defeat that was taken for granted. But the decision was firm: “We are willing to assume the wear and tear, but we are not going to give up defending access to a right as basic as housing wherever necessary. They will not break us,” his team warned, as a prelude to new initiatives that would allow the extension of rental agreements to be recovered.
The absence of the Minister of Housing in the decree debate generates discomfort in Sumar
The right-wing parties, for their part, coincided in rejecting the decree, albeit from different arguments. Junts, through Marta Madrenas, called the measure “propaganda” while labeling the 2% limit on rent updates as “absolutely arbitrary.” Vox hardened the diagnosis from a more ideological perspective, advocating for housing construction and closing immigration entry as a way to contain demand. And the Popular Party merely defined the initiative as “improvisation and political survival,” accusing the Executive of accumulating announcements on the matter without effective results in the construction of new homes.
Bustinduy denied each of the right-wing arguments from his seat and closed the debate by warning them all that, sooner or later, “they will pay very dearly for their vote against the interests of working people.”
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