SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

Spain’s Constitutional Court to examine Catalan amnesty

Spain's Constitutional Court said Wednesday it will examine the constitutionality of an amnesty law for Catalan separatists, raising doubts over its application to hundreds of people including secessionist leader Carles Puigdemont.

Spain's Constitutional Court to examine Catalan amnesty
Exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont delivers a speech in Barcelona despite an arrest warrant before feeling the country again. Photo: Cesar Man's/AFP.

Spanish lawmakers in May narrowly approved the bill which grants an amnesty to hundreds of separatists involved in Catalonia’s botched 2017 independence bid that triggered Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s minority coalition government depends on Catalan separatist parties to pass legislation and any complication in the application of the law could cause them to withdraw their support.

READ ALSO: Spain’s contested Catalan amnesty bill comes into force

He agreed to the controversial measure in exchange for the separatist parties’ parliamentary support to secure a new term in office.

Spain’s conservative opposition has staged massive street protests against the amnesty law, which judges must decide to apply on a case-by-case basis.

The Constitutional Court, which has a conservative majority, said it had “unanimously” accepted a request from the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the law as it could violate the principle that all Spaniards are equal before the law.

The court could take months to review the amnesty law. Dozens of people have already benefited from the measure, while others are still waiting for the courts to rule on their case.

Judges have refused to apply the measure to several high-profile Catalan pro-independence figures, including Puigdemont who fled Spain shortly after the failed 2017 secession bid to avoid prosecution and currently lives in Belgium.

Spain’s main opposition Popular Party (PP) and several regional governments, including one led by the Socialists, have also filed a challenge against the amnesty law with the Constitutional Court.

READ ALSO: Fugitive separatist Puigdemont returns to Spain but vanishes again

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

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