Junts is deceiving the coalition government, which it has driven out of its mind after being subjected to a constant stress test. Carles Puigdemont’s seven deputies once again demonstrated their power in Madrid and achieved what they wanted, to send a new message to the government, in the run-up to the negotiation of the General State Budget. And so they did.
Yesterday morning, Junts had confirmed its abstention from the admission of a law proposed by Sumar and supported by the PSOE and the rest of the investiture partners. The law, promoted by social organisations and tenants, sought to combat the fraudulent use of seasonal and room rental contracts. However, at the last minute, at the time of the vote, the seven Junts deputies decided to vote against, instead of abstaining as they had communicated to the proposing groups.
The tightness of the vote, in which the expected difference between votes in favour and against was one vote (171 versus 170), had the coalition hanging on until the end of the result, which turned out to be agonising and surprising. Junts added its votes against to the PP, Vox and UPN, and the signatories of the law, Sumar, Bildu, Podemos and the BNG, as well as the PSOE, PNV, Coalición Canaria and the deputy José Luis Ábalos, voted in favour. This translated into 172 yes votes against the 178 no votes against the law.
Their vote against the bill represents, de facto, a new parliamentary defeat for the coalition government and in particular for the minority partner, Sumar, which was the proponent of the law. Junts thus makes it clear that, without their supervision, the legislature is frozen.
It was merely a matter of the admission for processing of the law that aimed to put a stop to the “fraudulent” use of temporary rentals by some owners to circumvent the obligations established by the current Housing Law in Spain. The law had achieved the support of the majority of left-wing forces in Congress after the PNV confirmed its vote in favour and Junts explained that it would abstain from voting, despite ensuring that the law does not resolve “the underlying problems”.
Minutes before the vote, Junts had communicated its decision to Sumar, a party that had not expected this decision from the independentists. Sources from Junts later denied “having changed their mind”, but rather that they opted for “no” after other parties – referring to the PNV – decided to announce their vote in favour yesterday, contrary to what was initially planned. That is, Junts claims that it announced its abstention vote at first because it believed that the law would not be passed and that it changed its mind later, when it saw that with the “yes” of the Basque nationalists, the law would be passed if Junts maintained its abstention. The secretary of Junts, Jordi Turull, assured on his networks that the abstention communicated by his party “disqualified the admission of the law for processing” and that “the changes of other parties changed the scenario”. “Junts will not be the party that facilitates the law that invades the powers of Catalonia”, he concluded.
The purpose of the law, proposed by tenants’ unions, was to cover one of the shortcomings of the Housing Law in the last legislature, namely seasonal rentals. According to experts, this is used by landlords to circumvent the price control of the law in places where it is applied. The bill introduced the obligation on the part of the landlord to justify the need for temporary rentals and, therefore, to prove it in terms equivalent to labour legislation. A general presumption in favour of contracts for habitual housing is also introduced. It establishes a maximum of five days for the owner to respond to the tenant when incidents arise arising from the use of the house. It must be the owner who pays the cost of repairs in temporary rentals. As for the deposit required from tenants, it may not exceed two months’ rent in residential rentals and on average in the case of temporary rentals.