The fragile coalition government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is teetering on the brink of collapse after Spanish lawmakers soundly rejected two radical decree-laws aimed at controlling the housing market.
The failed measures, which included draconian restrictions on property owners and tax hikes on tourist rentals, were a reactionary attempt to quell public unrest following the eviction of an 87-year-old tenant in Madrid. Parliament rejected the first decree by 178 votes to 172 and the second by 184 to 166, leaving the administration without a path forward.
The defeat exposes the weakness of Sánchez’s minority government, which has been plagued by a series of scandals and judicial investigations.
While the administration attempted to frame the vote as a moral imperative, critics—including the People's Party (PP)—rightly pointed out that the government's heavy-handed interference would only serve to frighten property owners and further restrict housing supply.
Juan Bravo of the PP correctly noted that housing costs are lowered by building more homes, not by government mandates that stifle the market.
As protesters gathered outside Congress to demand further state intervention, the rejection of these decrees serves as a rebuke to the government’s attempt to use populist rhetoric to mask its failure to address the root causes of the housing crisis.
With the government now scrambling to decide whether to dissolve parliament, the political future of Sánchez remains in serious doubt.
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