ERC rectifies and will appeal the housing law despite endorsing it in Congress

Four months after approving the law for the right to housing in Congress, together with Bildu and the votes of the then Government of the PSOE and Unidas Podemos, ERC has decided that the text invades the powers of the Generalitat. For this reason, in a plenary session to be held in Parliament on September 1, the Republicans will request the filing of an appeal of unconstitutionality against this regulation despite its initial endorsement.. They will do it together with JxCat who voted against the law and who will now join in asking for this resource.

Undoubtedly, this change of opinion will be one of the issues to be discussed if the PSOE leader Pedro Sánchez can obtain support for his investiture and revalidate the presidency of the Government.. ERC argues for an opinion from the Statutory Guarantees Council, which had two individual votes from its members, to rectify its initial decision in the middle of the negotiation process with the Socialists. For the moment, the president of Parliament, Anna Erra, convened the plenary session for the first of September after JxCat's decision to file an appeal for unconstitutionality.

In July, Junts urged the Council of Statutory Guarantees to pronounce itself and the body concluded that the law for the right to housing violates the exclusive competence of the Generalitat in this matter, such as the principle of financial autonomy and the autonomy of spending of the Government. ERC joined the Junts request and will also support the appeal to the Constitutional Court of this regulation to “defend the self-government of Catalonia and, at the same time, maintain progress in housing matters.”

In addition, the Republicans allege that their work in Congress “allowed fundamental social advances in the area of housing”, such as “capping rental prices or curbing speculation and abuses that affect citizens”. However, they point out that, despite “all the improvements in jurisdictional aspects that could be shielded during the parliamentary process in the Spanish Courts, the Council of Statutory Guarantees details that in some articles the law affects the self-government of Catalonia in aspects such as urban planning or financial and spending autonomy”. That is why ERC and JxCat will join efforts to justify the appeal of this law.

Specifically, ERC proposes to challenge articles 2, 15, 27, 28, 29, and the seventh final provision of the Law for the right to housing, although Junts goes further and claims to withdraw three more articles, 16, 17 and 18, and the first and second transitory provisions. “Esquerra once again vindicates its commitment on all those fronts that mean defending Catalonia, both its self-government and those laws and measures that entail progress and improvements in the day-to-day life of Catalans,” they emphasize.