Spain's ruling coalition reaches agreement to approve housing decree

Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, initially scheduled for 9.30am, began an hour late due to last-minute negotiations between the PSOE and Sumar ruling coalition parties regarding the royal decree-law on housing measures. According to sources at Moncloa palace, they have now reached an agreement.

The meeting began after talks continued into this morning. Sumar's main demands were the regulation of room rentals and the automatic renewal of contracts.

The minority partner increased the pressure on the PSOE after threatening to walk out and not participate in the meeting if the decree was "watered down", just as they did six months ago when they refused to enter if a decree to include the extension of rental contracts was not agreed upon.

Several leaders of the Sumar coalition have stated in recent days that they would not endorse a decree that "fell short". Minister of Health Mónica García demanded the two aforementioned measures regarding the automatic extension of contracts and the regulation of room rentals.

She stated that her proposal is "to push this government, so that the progressive label is not just a label", to intervene "in the main problem that the country has right now, which is housing".

Although the agreement for the royal decree has been finalised, the government will have to conclude negotiations with the remaining parliamentary forces within the following 30 days in order to validate.

For now, it has already received the censure of Podemos, essential for the Maricarmen decree to pass. "The government is proposing a band-aid solution. It's a complete farce because people are saying there need to be structural changes and there isn't a single one in this decree," the party's general secretary, Ione Belarra, said.

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