Rent war in Spain: “Decree Maricarmen” should come quickly

Spain's government knows what is at stake less than a year before the next general election. Because the housing issue that led to mass protests is not just any issue. The problem of unaffordable housing affects millions. “I have a message for you, Maricarmen: The government is working hard to present the legislative decree on housing next Tuesday,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at a meeting of his socialist PSOE on Sunday.

Sánchez is directly addressing Maricarmen, the 87-year-old disabled pensioner who was evicted last week in front of cameras amid protests with a large police presence in Madrid. The images sparked days of protests across the country, organized by the sindicato de inquilinas – the tenants’ union.

The largest rally took place in Madrid on Saturday. Tens of thousands protested and several hundred then occupied the central Puerta del Sol square. They want to stay at least until the cabinet meeting on Tuesday. They hope that the decree, which has long been known to the public as the “Maricarmen Decree”, will contain effective measures against the housing shortage.

"I want what happened to me to help prevent it from happening to other people; I want it to move people to fight and to change the laws that made my eviction possible," said Maria del Carmen Abascal - her full name - in a video she posted on social networks from the hospital.

As the head of a left-wing coalition without its own parliamentary majority, Sánchez has to reconcile a wide variety of parties. This is the only way he can get a new housing law through parliament against the resistance of the right-wing Partido Popular and the ultra-right Vox. It's not about ideology, but about humanity, Sánchez urges us to act together.

“We want a decree that takes action against the fondos buitre (German: vulture funds) and puts an end to these investment funds that pay no taxes in this country and make a fortune at the expense of the working population,” explains Yolanda Díaz, head of the smaller of the two coalition partners, the left-wing alternative electoral alliance Sumar. She is calling for a stop to evictions and is joining the tenants' union and, like them, is demanding a freeze on rents and unlimited rental contracts.

The left-wing Podemos party, which left Sumar years ago, also warns that it will not go along with everything. She wants a decree that clearly takes action against real estate funds. Podemos fears that Sánchez is leaning too heavily on the conservative Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the economically liberal Catalan independence party Junts.

Junts general secretary Jordi Turull is ready to “put a stop to the vulture funds because they have the social sensitivity of a steamroller.” At the same time, he is calling for support in the form of tax relief for private landlords. The moderate tones of the party of exiled Catalan ex-president Carles Puigdemont give Sánchez hope for a compromise between the extremes.

While the public political debate and negotiations behind closed doors are in full swing, the protests continue. Hundreds of people visited the camp at Puerta del Sol throughout Sunday. These included well-known faces from social movements, trade unions, but also from culture - such as the actor Javier Bardem and the director Pedro Almodóvar.

In a second video, Maricarmen regrets not being able to be at the camp. “Let us hope that all of this will end tomorrow and that what you are suffering now can then be resolved,” she continued, calling on the protesters to “fight and defend what is yours.”