No country for old women: Pressure builds on Spain’s Sánchez over eviction of elderly tenant

Por Aitor Hernández-Morales — POLITICOPolitics » POLITICO

MADRID — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez faces renewed pressure as housing protests in Madrid escalate and his left-wing allies demand tougher action, straining his coalition ahead of a key election year.

Wheelchair-bound pensioner Maricarmen Abascal, 87, was forcibly removed from her home after living there since 1956, after failing to meet the new rental demands set by the investment firm that bought her building. Thousands marched through the capital on Saturday, with some protestors then pitching tents in the historic Puerto del Sol square. By Monday, hundreds of tents had been erected.

“We live in a country full of Maricarmens, and we’re saying enough is enough,” said Valeria Racu, spokesperson for the Madrid Tenant Union, the group leading the encampment. During a speech to protesters on Sunday, thousands echoed a chant denouncing “inversores culpables, gobierno responsable,” meaning “guilty investors, responsible government”

Sánchez, who last week called the eviction was a “social tragedy,” is now scrambling to contain the situation by vowing to approve a long-delayed housing bill at Tuesday’s meeting of Spain’s Council of Ministers. But crafting legislation that his minority government can get through parliament is proving tricky.

The draft bill must be moderate enough to win the support of the Catalan separatist Junts party, which is conservative on landowners’ rights. But if the legislation is too lenient, Sánchez risks alienating his left-wing allies, accentuating his political isolation in a key election year. The beleaguered prime minister is already facing mounting pressure over the unresolved migrant crisis in Ceuta, as well as a slew of corruption scandals involving family members and close allies.

According to Spanish newspaper El País, a version of the draft text under negotiation on Monday night proposed extending protections against evictions for vulnerable tenants through 2028, capping rent increases at 2 percent in certain cases and offering tax breaks to tenants in rent-stressed areas. Additional measures would seek to ban speculative home purchases by investment funds and potentially raise taxes on short-term tourist flats.

Those proposals fall short of the ambitious action Sumar, the smaller partner in Sánchez’s coalition, is demanding. Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz on Monday called for the public to mobilize against her own government to ensure the draft bill is “up to task.”

“In this country, rights don’t just fall from the sky,” she said.

The current draft is also unlikely to satisfy the protesters occupying the square, who are demanding the legislation include the automatic renewal of rental contracts, tougher action against abusive landlords and a freeze on rents until the housing crisis is resolved.

“We’re fed up with weak measures that do nothing to solve the problem,” said Jorge Collado, a 26-year-old student participating in the occupation.

Collado said he had been forced to move back to his family’s home after his former landlord dramatically raised the monthly rent when he requested a legal rental contract.

“This allegedly progressive government has spent the past eight years promising to do something about housing, but has systematically sided with the landlords who exploit us,” he said.

With Spain due to hold national elections within the next year, Collado said the government would be making a big mistake if it didn’t take immediate steps to rectify the situation.

“When election day comes, I think many people will stay home,” he said. “And in the meantime, we’ll be staying here, for as long as it takes.”

Pablo Simón, a political scientist at Carlos III University of Madrid, called the protests “devastating” for Sánchez.

“These demonstrations are channelling the broad dissatisfaction of left-wing voters who feel this government has failed to deliver on its progressive promises,” he said. “They’re opening a major breach in Sánchez’s strategy for political survival: If that electorate doesn’t show up, he’s doomed.”

Marta García, a 60-year-old retired schoolteacher who was present at the anti-austerity 15-M protests in the same square about 15 years ago, said she had traveled from outside Madrid to support the protesters sleeping there.

“This is an encampment founded on rage — rage at the shameless speculative practices, at the incompetent political maneuvers, at the squandered futures — but also on the hope that things can change and be made better,” she said.

“A bill that fails, but is ambitious and courageous, will have much more of an impact than a toothless one that passes.”

Fonte: POLITICOPolitics » POLITICO