Spain’s progressive government suffered a major legislative defeat after parliament rejected two emergency housing decrees intended to address the country’s worsening affordability crisis.
The votes came as renters’ groups and other protesters gathered outside parliament, demanding measures to curb rising housing costs. The setback has also prompted speculation that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez could consider bringing forward elections, currently expected next year.
Mr Sánchez made a final appeal during a five-hour parliamentary debate, urging legislators to support what he described as “necessary” measures.
“What is behind these decrees is the desire to instil order and a sense of humanity in a market that if we do not rein it in will destroy our society,” he told the other 349 members of parliament. “Do the right thing, or history will judge you, and sooner than you think,” he said before the roll-call votes.
The Catalan separatist party Junts had announced earlier that it would oppose both decrees. Its votes, combined with opposition from the centre-right Popular Party and the far-right Vox, ensured that the measures failed.
According to The Associated Press, protesters loudly jeered the results outside the chamber. People in the public gallery shouted, “Vulture funds govern the congress,” while demonstrators displayed homemade signs featuring vultures and denounced property speculators they blame for driving up prices.
One rejected decree contained measures that the government said would halt evictions of vulnerable people, make property speculation more difficult and offer tax incentives to encourage renting. The second would have made residential leases automatically renewable by tenants.
The renters association Sindicato de Inquilinas, described as the main protest group, said it was calling for further demonstrations on Saturday and was pushing for a general strike.
The government had introduced the decrees amid public anger following the televised eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her home in Madrid the previous week. Her removal, reportedly carried out with her on a stretcher, triggered protests and a camp-in at the capital’s most important square.
Ms Abascal has since become a symbol of the campaign for lower housing costs in a country where many people are unable to buy homes and face a limited rental market. The average rent in Spain has almost doubled over the past decade.
The company that evicted her reversed its position this week after intense public and political pressure, saying she could return to the apartment. Ms Abascal has remained in hospital since being removed from her home, but her lawyer said she was pleased to learn that she would be able to go back.
The parliamentary defeat leaves the government without the two measures it had presented as an urgent response to the housing crisis, while protests and calls for broader action continue.
