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Bloomberg
The Spanish government won final approval for an emergency decree boosting tenants’ rights at the expense of landlords less than four weeks before a general election.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist administration prevailed 33 votes to 31 at the parliamentary panel that can confirm or revoke legislation when the full plenary is out of session. The measures, negotiated with lawmakers from the anti-establishment group Unidas Podemos, will cap rent increases for tenants, delay evictions for people facing economic hardship and reduce the market power of institutional investors.
Urgent steps were needed because of “the grave situation of economic and social vulnerability of a great number of families,†Public Works Minister Jose Luis Abalos said before the vote.
After dissolving Parliament to make way for elections, Sanchez put more than five decrees before the panel to boost spending or legal rights for everyday Spaniards. While his minority administration lacked the votes to pass the measures on its own, he bet that his right-of-center opponents wouldn’t shoot them down ahead of a tight election.