TC suspends 3 more Catalan laws: local government, equality, tax on empty flats
Spain’s Constitutional Court has also agreed to hear two complaints by the Catalan government against Madrid’s plan to curb gas pollution and Spain’s civil protection law
BarcelonaSpain’s Constitutional Court has agreed to hear several appeals by the Spanish government against three laws passed by the Parliament of Catalonia: one that sets a tax on empty flats —with which the government hoped to raise €8m—, plus laws on gender equality, cutting red tape and local government. All three laws have been temporarily suspended, a measure triggered as a matter of course by the court’s decision to hear the complaints filed by the Spanish caretaker government in late April.
Last week Rajoy’s cabinet lodged a complaint against Catalonia’s 24/2015 law, which made provisions to tackle housing emergencies and energy poverty situations. For this very reason, this afternoon Catalan president Carles Puigdemont held a summit with mayors, political parties and Catalan institutions with a view to devising a joint strategic response.
The Constitutional Court’s decisions come at a time when relations between Madrid and Barcelona were supposed to be thawing following a meeting between Rajoy and Puigdemont on April 20 and the get-together of their vice presidents —Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría and Oriol Junqueras— on Thursday last week.
So far Rajoy’s government has appealed against 34 Catalan laws, whereas the Generalitat has filed 51 complaints against Spanish legislation.
In addition, the Constitutional Court has agreed to examine a conflict of powers with the Spanish government raised by the Generalitat on the subject of Spain’s Environmental Plan (a law that aims to curb gas pollution in industry) as well as another Catalan complaint against the Spanish law on Civil Protection. Nevertheless, when a regional government files an appeal against a national law, the Court is never expected to order a suspension.
The Constitutional Court has informed the Spanish government of its latest two decisions and now the latter will have twenty and fifteen days respectively to gather all the documents and supporting statements that it deems necessary.
