The president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has inaugurated this morning at the Francesca Bonnemaison library in Barcelona the first of the sectoral conventions that the PP is going to hold for all the autonomous communities, dedicated to measures against squatting.
Feijóo has been greeted with applause and shouts of "president!" by the more than two hundred attendees at the event, who filled the auditorium, and has broken down the measures that the Popular Party has included in its proposed law to fight illegal occupation, which will be debated in Congress, according to the forecast of the conservative leader before the end of the year.
The legislative changes that are required, according to the popular, are to establish the urgent eviction, within a maximum period of 24 hours, in those cases in which the occupants of a home cannot prove a valid legal title to be in the home and the eviction immediately in the case of a flagrant occupation, in which, for example, the house has been entered without keys, breaking down the door.
In addition, the PP proposes to strengthen the penalties for the crime of usurpation, with sentences of up to three years in prison, and improve legal protection against "the occupation mafias." On the other hand, Feijóo has requested that illegal occupants not be able to register in the municipal census and that it be prohibited that an illegally occupied property be considered a domicile.
Likewise, the popular demand that the amounts paid in the real estate tax (IBI) or in wealth tax be returned to the owners, in those communities where this rate exists, for the time they have suffered the occupation. "It is surprising that there are municipalities that look the other way and collect these taxes," said Feijóo, who considers this situation a "double mockery of the rule of law."
The president of the PP has also referred to the Catalan political situation: “The independentists have left Catalonia without a government. Fortunately, they want Catalonia”, Feijóo stated about the departure of the Junts ministers from the Government, which has left ERC with a meager parliamentary minority. "The procés has been very bad business for all Catalans", concluded the popular leader, who has defended that the PP of Catalonia aims to "recompose civil rights and freedoms that have sometimes been threatened".
In this sense, Feijóo has insisted that his project seeks to solve the "priority" problems of the Catalans and that one of them is the occupation, since Catalonia "is the community where the most illegal usurpations of housing" occur, 43% , pointed out the president of the PP, of all those of the State."For politicians it is important to know the real problems and then have the courage to implement the measures to serve society and help people", said Feijóo, who He has referred to the "suffering" of those who have been evicted from their homes or have seen their properties occupied.
Faced with this situation, there are politicians who "look the other way because they are interested in the vote" of some sectors, he pointed out in reference to the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, and for this reason the PP bill will seek in Congress that all the parties are defined. “It will be seen who agrees and who doesn't”, announced Feijóo, for whom it is not possible to defend “those who believe that they can live at the expense of the work and effort of others”.
As measures to facilitate access to housing and decouple the phenomenon of occupation from the cost of rents and mortgages, instead of regulating rental prices, which in the opinion of the PP has not worked in any of the cities where it has been applied, such as Paris, Berlin or Barcelona, Feijóo has proposed "lowering land prices" and "avoiding speculation in the construction of decent housing", as well as establishing rental aid, "essential" for young people.
"If we divert attention we don't solve anything and we make everything worse," said Feijóo, who stressed that "squatting is a criminal activity" and that a family without resources "must always be helped and protected", but an illegal occupant " You have to evict him from the house.”
“Everything that happens in Catalonia worries us. As much as they try to cover up the problems of citizens with political crises, we are much more interested in the problems of the people than those of politicians. We are going to defend the Constitution and the Statute. And all those who feel Catalan and Spanish will have a continuous defense in this their home that is the PP of Catalonia”, Feijóo concluded before those attending the event, who have applauded this proclamation.
"Others presented themselves as an alternative to independence and now they have run to guarantee the continuity of independence in the Generalitat", he charged against the socialists. "We are not going to do that. We are never going to support or ensure the independence government, because it is always bad for Catalonia”, concluded the popular leader, for whom the Constitution is the “best political work” that the Spanish have done “for centuries”.
