Spain moves forward with plan to legalise cutting off utilities to squatters

The Partido Popular political party in Spain used its absolute majority in the upper house chamber (Senado) on Wednesday to give the green light to a bill that amends the penal code to prevent the cutting off of utilities to a "squatted property" from being considered a crime of coercion.

The bill will now pass to the lower house (Congreso), which can either reject or approve it.

What PP proposes is a modification of the penal code to add a new paragraph to article 172.1, which talks about squatting, explicitly stating that the interruption of utilities in a squatted house "can in no case be considered a crime of coercion", as endorsed by the Barcelona provincial court. According to PP, the Barcelona case "can set a precedent in the fight against squatting".

The PP wants the official amendment in the penal code to allow this measure to be "legally applied throughout Spain".