“We believe that when there is an extraordinary situation, extraordinary measures are required, and when people do not have guaranteed access to housing, purchases that are not essential for life should be limited,” Apesteguia stated, pointing out that the average price of buying and renting have risen in the last five years by 30% and 40%, respectively.
“The real estate market must intervene and put an end to speculation in housing, houses are for living and not for business. Everyone should be guaranteed the right to have a decent place to live,” he said. This bill, he said, should be approved by both the Parliament and the Congress of Deputies as it affects regional competences – those relating to housing – and national competences – those relating to contracts – which, if approved, would strengthen the law in the face of a possible challenge by European institutions.
“We want to send a message to Europe: if we want to ensure that Europe works, we pro-Europeans must ensure that people living in Europe can have a decent life regardless of where they were born or where they want to live. Europe cannot be an obstacle in this way, but it can be a help”, he said. He went on to say that the bill complies with the provisions of the CJEU in cases where the free movement of capital is contravened.
“The general interest is justified in the collapse of the real estate market and the impossibility of accessing housing. It is not discriminatory, because it does not differentiate on the basis of nationality but on the basis of residence. And it is proportional because its application is measured in objective parameters and is temporary”, he said.
If approved, the law would contemplate a twelve-month moratorium for local councils to study the application of the measures, which are not binding on each other. According to Apesteguia, they will be able to decide whether to apply one, two, three or none, depending on the housing needs of the municipality’s inhabitants, and never for a period of more than ten years.
However, in order to adopt the law, it would have to be approved by an absolute majority in the municipal plenary sessions, as long as at least three of the ten parameters set out to prove that the housing market is highly stressed are met. Among them, some stand out, such as the price of buying or renting a property having experienced in the previous five years a growth of at least three percentage points above the rise in the CPI; that the average purchase or rental price is 35% higher than the national average or that of similar territories such as Sicily, Sardinia or Cyprus; or that the purchase price is higher than the average net salary received in a ten-year projection.
Although he stated that this is the ‘most important’ bill to be presented by MÉS per Mallorca during this legislature – the proposal for which was already put forward in the general policy debate – Apesteguia has not revealed whether it has the support of the different parliamentary groups.
