Sumar threatens cabinet boycott over Spain housing decree

Sumar's ministers will stay away from the Council of Ministers on Tuesday 29 September 2026 if the housing decree-law is not on the agenda, Moncloa.com reported on 27 September, describing it as the junior coalition partner's deadline in its standoff with the PSOE. The same outlet had reported two days earlier that Presidency Minister Félix Bolaños had already pencilled in 29 September for approving the royal decree on housing, but had turned down Sumar's call for an expropriation. So the date itself isn't really the fight. What's in the text is.

The spark was a single eviction. El Español reported on 24 September that Sira Rego, Sumar's Minister for Children and Youth, wanted the cabinet to approve the new decree and also expropriate the home of Maricarmen, an 87-year-old woman evicted on Wednesday 23 September from the Madrid flat she had lived in for seven decades. The Objective quotes Bolaños as rejecting expropriation formulas that "lead nowhere" and lack "a clear constitutional basis". Infobae adds another Sumar demand: Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz says the decree has to go after vulture funds and foreign investment funds that pay no taxes in Spain.

El Mundo points to a different story. In its 27 September report, as relayed by La Vanguardia and Shango Media (El Mundo's own text could not be read directly), government sources call Junts' change of position a "real tectonic shift" and say it matters more to the executive than the row with Sumar, because Junts' votes give the government its majority and also set its limits. After Maricarmen's eviction, Carles Puigdemont's party acknowledged contacts with the government and said it was studying its proposals, after spending almost a year saying it would no longer negotiate with Sánchez. Moncloa.com lists the conditions: tight rules on vulture funds and guarantees for small landlords. It says the concessions under study include a tax cut, 0% VAT for under-35s buying their main home, and handing Sareb properties in Catalonia over to the Generalitat.

That is why Sumar is trending in Spain today, but it isn't the only pressure on the majority. According to Moncloa.com, Podemos (outside the government but a parliamentary ally) refuses any deal with Junts on the decree and is demanding the expropriation of 650,000 homes held by vulture funds. That figure has only been reported by this one outlet so far. On 28 September, the same site reported that Sánchez was holding last-minute talks with both Junts and Podemos. If you rent or plan to buy in Spain, keep an eye on this: the decree's fate in the Congress of Deputies is still unclear, and the final vote had not happened when this review was written.

Sources : Moncloa.com, El Español, The Objective, Infobae, El Mundo, La Vanguardia, Google Trends.