TC suspends part of Catalonia’s anti-eviction law
It accepts Spanish government's appeal, which argues that the Catalan law does not respect "equal treatment of all Spaniards"
MadridSpain’s Constitutional Court (TC) agreed on Tuesday to hear the Spanish government's appeal against the Catalan emergency housing law, also known as the anti-eviction law. It is a high-profile law, as it replaced the energy poverty law of 2014, already struck down by the high court.
At the end of April the Moncloa announced that it would ask the TC to suspend this law because it doesn't guarantee the "equality of all Spaniards". This was done only one day after Oriol Junqueras, Vice-president of the Generalitat, met in Madrid with Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, Spanish Vice-president, and conveyed to her the importance of not challenging the law. Now the Generalitat has fifteen days to present the arguments that it deems appropriate.
Moncloa asserts itself
Sáenz de Santamaría urged both the Generalitat and the city councils of Catalonia to continue enforcing the parts of the law that have not been suspended, and to not "hide behind" the Spanish government's appeal. The Moncloa reminded that it did not ask for the suspension of the entire law, and that in no case does the TC decision affect the articles on energy poverty, as "Mr. Puigdemont proposed to Mr. Rajoy". "That is, that they can enforce the rest of the law", she said speaking to journalists after closing an event with business owners at the Palace Hotel in Madrid.
The TC's decision comes only two days after thousands of people demonstrated in Barcelona against the high court's vetoes, in a protest that united civil society, organizations and the majority of political parties. The PSC also decided to join in. Yesterday Pedro Sanchez, the PSOE leader, showed his support to the decision by PSC leader Miquel Iceta, and promised to create a law to prevent the TC from vetoing social regulations if he becomes president.
On Tuesday, Rafael Catalá, acting Justice Minister, called the protest against the TC in Catalonia "deeply anti-democratic". And he expressed his surprise that "parties such as the PSC participate in demonstrations with the far-left”, which is "a very serious attack on democracy". For Catalá, this body "represents the stability of the State and also gives stability to our model of coexistence”.
Two-year ban
The first regulation that prohibited cutting off the supply of electricity and gas to struggling households ended up being suspended at the end of 2014, when the TC provisionally halted the Catalan decree by agreeing to hear the Spanish government's appeal. The administration led by Mariano Rajoy argued that the regulation led to inequalities among consumers in the rest of Spain, where this supply guarantee would not apply. The ruling came down only a few weeks ago, and the TC annulled part of the decree on energy poverty because it ruled that the Generalitat does not have the authority to decide if the supply can be cut off or not, thereby concluding that the Catalan decree is "unconstitutional".
