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Spain’s king calls on right-wing leader to try to form government

Seeking to break a political impasse, Spain's King Felipe VI on Tuesday called on Alberto Núñez Feijóo to seek to form a new government, despite his conservative Popular Party not having a majority.

Published: 23 August 2023 08:39 CEST
Spain's king calls on right-wing leader to try to form government
Spain's King Felipe VI receives the candidate of conservative Partido Popular (People's Party) Alberto Núñez Feijóo as part of the round of consultations with political representatives before proposing a candidate for the investiture, at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid on August 22, 2023. Spain's King Felipe VI began meeting party leaders in a bid to break an impasse over the formation of a new government following inconclusive elections last month. Acting Prime Minister tries to win an investiture vote in parliament -- which determines who forms the government -- with the support of its far-left partner Sumar and smaller regional parties, including Catalonia's separatists. (Photo by Sebastian MARISCAL / POOL / AFP)

The PP garnered the most votes in an inconclusive election last month and the king called on Feijóo to try to form a government with the PP at the head of a coalition.

The Socialist president of parliament, Francina Armengol, told a news conference that the king had communicated “his decision to propose Alberto Núñez Feijóo as candidate to head the government.”

But the outcome remains uncertain as the early elections on July 23rd left neither Feijóo’s conservatives nor outgoing Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez with a clear path to a majority.

READ MORE: Five key takeaways from Spain’s general election

Armengol said nonetheless she would be contacting Feijóo in the coming hours to set a date for a parliamentary investiture debate.

Both Sánchez and Feijóo had indicated after meeting earlier with the king that they would submit themselves to an investiture vote should the monarch designate them.

READ ALSO: How do you pronounce Alberto Núñez Feijóo?

Earlier, Felipe, seeking to ascertain which party leader has the best chance of eventually putting together a coalition, also met Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party.

The PP won the most votes in the poll but it is not clear if it can secure the 176 votes in parliament required to obtain an absolute majority in the 350-seat chamber.

Should Feijóo fail, that would trigger a two-month countdown to determine if another majority can come together. Failing that the country will go back to the polls to try to break the political deadlock.

On the face of it, Feijóo will fall short as his PP has 137 parliamentary seats while potential allies Vox and two small regional parties only have 33 between them which, if pooled, would give a PP-led coalition only 172 votes, four short of the required majority.

Sánchez said he would accept Feijóo being designated to form a government — while predicting his rival would be unable to put together a parliamentary majority.

The Socialist leader wants to return at the head of a “progressive” government of centre and radical left and insists he could garner more votes than Feijóo.

READ ALSO: Who is Alberto Núñez Feijóo?

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PROPERTY

Spain’s plan to limit temporary accommodation rejected

Spain's left-wing government had planned to tighten its grip on temporary accommodation rentals as a potential means of making more long-term rentals available, but the country's right-wing parties on Tuesday rejected the proposal in parliament.

Published: 18 September 2024 11:53 CEST
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.

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