Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

POLITICS

Socialist sworn in as Barcelona mayor in boost for PM

Barcelona city council elected a new Socialist mayor on Saturday following a surprise deal with two rival factions, boosting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's party ahead of next month's general election.

Published: 18 June 2023 10:56 CEST

Jaume Collboni is pictured speaking at the party headquarters in Barcelona after Spain's local and regional elections in May 2023.

Newly elected Mayor of Barcelona Jaume Collboni is pictured speaking at the party headquarters in Barcelona after Spain's local and regional elections in May 2023. Photo: Lluis GENE / AFP

Socialist candidate Jaume Collboni finished second in local elections last month in Spain’s second city, capturing 10 of the 41 seats on the council.

But just hours before city hall voted to pick a new mayor, the far-left Barcelona en Comu of outgoing mayor Ada Colau said its nine members would back Collboni.

The move was supported by the conservative Popular Party (PP) which has two seats — giving Collboni the support of a slim majority with 21 representatives.

While the socialists and the PP are fierce opponents, the conservatives were was keen to keep Xavier Trias of pro-Catalan independence party Junts per Catalunya out of office.

Trias, who served as mayor between 2011 and 2015, had been favourite to occupy the post again since his pro-business party came first in the May 28 election, winning 11 seats.

READ ALSO: Spain’s far right takes office in a string of major cities

The news of Collboni’s election was met with a mixture of applause and jeers from the crowd gathered outside of city hall.

After being sworn in, the 53-year-old lawyer said he “wants to be the mayor of everyone”.

In a statement, Barcelona en Comu said it sought to “avoid a Junts government that extends a red carpet to lobbies and sectors favourable to right-wing policies”.

Collboni takes over from Colau, a former anti-evictions activist who during her eight years in office has pedestrianised more streets and limited the opening of new hotels to try to curb mass tourism.

His swearing in came as Spain gears up for an early general election on July 23 in which polls suggest Sanchez faces an uphill battle.

He called the snap polls after his Socialist party and their junior coalition partners, far-left Podemos, were routed in the May regional and local elections.

READ ALSO: A foreigner’s guide to understanding Spanish politics in five minutes

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Spain's plan to limit temporary accommodation rejected

If passed, the new law would have meant that anyone who wanted to temporarily rent a property would have to explain why and provide a valid reason.

For example, students or researchers would have to show the research contract or course booking to show it would only last a few months.

It would have also meant that if more than six months passed or more than two consecutive contracts issued, it will have automatically become a long-term habitual residence instead.

On Tuesday September 17th, the proposal was ultimately rejected in the Spanish Congress, voted against by Spain’s three main right-wing parties – Catalan nationalists Junts, Spain’s main opposition party the PP and far-right Vox.

The aim in part was to try and rectify the controversial Housing Law, which came into effect in 2023.

In most people’s eyes, the legislation has failed as landlords have found several loopholes to get around the restrictions, prices have continued to increase and the stock of rental properties is even more diminished.

READ ALSO: Has Spain’s Housing Law completely failed to control rents?

As a result of the fear of heightened regulation for landlords, many have left the traditional market and turned to tourist rentals or temporary accommodation instead, which are far more lucrative.

This has had the opposite effect, increasing rental prices instead of stabilising or decreasing them.

READ MORE: Why landlords in Spain leave their flats empty rather than rent long-term

Seasonal contracts and room rentals allow landlords to raise prices every six or nine months and they not subject to the price limitations of the housing law.

The idea of this new law was to try and set the maximum duration of a temporary rental contracts at six months in order to avoid this, but it could have potentially also caused problems for many who need this type accommodation such as students, digital nomads, those living here on a short term basis etc.

During the debate, Sumar’s spokesperson, Íñigo Errejón, defended the law saying that it is a “solvent”, “fair” and “precise” proposal, which will help “correct an abuse” and “close the gap through which “Landlords can use to avoid the LAU (Urban Leasing Law) and rent regulation”.

Far-left party Podemos blamed the ruling PSOE for having left this “hole” in the housing law, but also agreed that the restrictions on temporary accommodation were needed to try and rectify this.

READ ALSO: Has Spain’s Housing Law completely failed to control rents?

Junts (Catalonia’s main pro-independence party) and the PNV, the Basque nationalist party, were firmly against it. They agreed that the problem must be solved and that “accessible decent housing was needed”, but raised the situation of students, interns, residents or workers who need housing for flexible periods.

Junts party member Marta Madrenas warned of the harmful effects that this limitation on temporary rentals can have for university cities such as Girona.

Vox and the PP meanwhile argued that they don’t want to help cover up the mistakes made by the left with regards to the Housing Law.

Vox deputy Ignacio Hoces stated that the increase in seasonal rentals has occurred due to the “failure” of the Housing Law, since this has caused rental prices to “skyrocketed” by 13 percent and the supply to be reduced by 15 percent.

Temporary accommodation, referred to as alquiler temporal or alquiler de temporada in Spanish, is considered to be anything that’s longer than a month but shorter than a year, middle ground between short-term and long-term rentals. It is also referred to as monthly accommodation or seasonal accommodation.

SHOW COMMENTS

Url copied to clipboard!