By accepting the appeal presented by the Spanish executive, the TC
put on hold the decisive role that the Catalan law gave to mediation,
especially in those cases in which the non-payment of rent or mortgage
could lead to evictions. It also postpones the possibility that the
Catalan Government could start specific judiciary procedures to resolve
matters related to evictions.
The precepts 1,2,3,4 and 9 of Article 5 of Law 24/2015 have also been
cautionarily suspended. This article foresees that those particulars or
legal entities who acquired an apartment through foreclosure would have
to offer alternatives based on social renting to those families who
couldn’t afford to pay the rent before starting any judiciary procedure.
The Spanish executive also took before the court Article 7, which
sets out that the administration would be able to proceed to obligatory
cession of apartments which have been empty for more than three years
and which belong to legal entities or in the case that there was at
least one family at social risk in the local area.
A decision “to be expected”
The Catalan Government’s spokeswoman stated that the suspension of
these articles by the TC was “to be expected”. In April, Catalan
President Carles Puigdemont firmly criticised the decision to partially
appeal the Catalan law against energy poverty and accused the Spanish
executive of carrying out “political manoeuvring” with subjects which
have to do with “dignity”. According to him, the Spanish government was
“deliberately leaving in the open many families”. He accused the
executive of “pulling the wool” as “energy poverty can hardly be fought
if there is no house at all”.
Barcelona’s mayor Ada Colau assured that Barcelona’s City Hall “will
continue to make the most of its capacities with the skills available”
to guarantee the right to housing. Colau, a former activist and
president of PAH, the Mortgage Platform which has been fighting to stop
house evictions in Spain, criticised the “daring and arrogance” of the
Spanish government and emphasised that law 24/2015 was approved by
unanimity, and supported by thousands of signatures and by a great
social mobilisation. “The fact that a temporary government would dare to
appeal and would try to paralyse a law which was approved with such
consensus and which aims to face one of the worse social problems we
suffer from, is unspeakable”, she stated.
