The opposition centre right Partido Popular and far right Vox have secured a majority in the Joint Committee (Congress and Senate) on Insularity to reject an initiative by the Gomera Socialist Association and the senator for Ibiza and Formentera to establish a regulatory framework that would limit, regulate or condition the purchase of property by non-residents in the Balearic and Canary Islands.
This was a non-binding initiative proposed by two senators from the Confederal Left Group, which had the support of the PSOE and Coalición Canaria, although this was not enough to get it through.
In the initiative, to which Europa Press has had access, both senators also proposed complementary measures to promote affordable housing, the renovation of the housing stock and priority access for residents of both regions.
In the specific case of the Canary Islands, they sought the express authorisation of the European institutions for restrictions on the purchase of homes by foreigners ‘given their status as an outermost region and the threat posed by foreign real estate pressure to their social, economic and environmental balance’.
In the Balearics, they raised the possibility of negotiating with the European Union to extend this restriction, ‘given the similarity between their situation and that of an outermost region such as the Canary Islands’. In the text of the initiative, the senators of Izquierda Confederal criticised the massive acquisition of homes by non-residents, saying that ‘this is generating unprecedented pressure on the housing market in the Balearic and Canary Islands, especially in areas with the highest incidence of tourist activity’.
‘This situation is causing a profound distortion in prices, progressively expelling the local population from access to decent housing, while eroding the social, economic and cultural fabric of the islands,’ they complained. During the debate on the initiative, Coalición Canaria senator Pedro Manuel Sanginés expressed his support for this demand, although he acknowledged that it is a ‘really complex’ issue due to the free movement of capital and personnel.
From the PSOE, MP Dolores Corujo defended the actions of Pedro Sánchez’s government on housing, citing the elimination of the ‘Golden Visa’ and the approval of the Housing Law as examples.
Opposing this was Balearic MP Jorge Campos from Vox, who accused the Izquierda Confederal group of avoiding the word ‘foreigner’ in its proposal to avoid being labelled ‘xenophobic’.
‘But prohibiting or limiting the purchase of homes by non-resident foreign citizens or EU citizens is pure xenophobia,’ he added. The PP pointed out that the ‘problem’ of housing ‘does not come from outside’, blaming the central government for creating, in its opinion, ‘legal uncertainty, more bureaucracy, tax increases, the elimination of the rental deduction and giving total impunity to squatters’.
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