European Parliament Demands More Social and Political Measures to Solve Europe’s Housing Crisis – Ursula von der Leyen’s Continuity at Stake

2024-07-11 03:40:00

The Social Democratic (S&D) group in the European Parliament demands that Ursula von der Leyen implement more European social and political measures in the next legislature to end Europe’s problem of access to housing. The main condition is to support its continuity at the head of the European Commission. Before the European Parliament’s decisive vote, which is scheduled for next Thursday,…

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The Social Democratic (S&D) group in the European Parliament demands that Ursula von der Leyen implement more European social and political measures in the next legislature to end Europe’s problem of access to housing. The main condition is to support its continuity at the head of the European Commission. Facing the decisive vote in the European Parliament, which is scheduled for next Thursday, and which the German conservative must overcome to remain in office, the S&D group, with at least 136 Members, also demands that it not be the green agenda is up. holding The socialists also demand that Von der Leyen – from the European People’s Party family and who has been flirting with Italy’s ultra-conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her parliamentary group, the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) for several months . ) – does not cooperate with the extreme right.

In their proposal, presented to Von der Leyen next Tuesday at a closed-door meeting in the European Parliament, the Social Democrats talk about the lack of affordable housing and an urgent crisis across Europe. They recommend that specific programs be included within the European integration policy and an additional investment of at least €50 billion, from various funding sources – including the European Investment Bank (EIB) – to set up a European program. Such a framework would include social and affordable housing schemes, support for national policies and public housing, a legislative initiative to regulate rents and binding targets to gradually end homelessness in the EU. “The housing shortage is a major European problem, which is also cross-cutting, and covers everything from energy efficiency, the anti-poverty agenda and others,” highlights Socialist MP Lina Gálvez.

The Social Democrats also demand that the figure of the European Housing Commissioner be created. An idea that Von der Leyen accepted, according to parliamentary sources present at the meeting. Other sources speak of a good atmosphere and emphasize the effort made by the German conservative to convince them. They show this with an example: the forecast was that the initial intervention of the candidate to repeat as president of the European Commission in this meeting would last 20 minutes, but it lasted for 40. “We have heard good words, but there is more of we need specificity and that “Concrete moves to the strategic lines that Von der Leyen must present in writing, before the debate we will hold next Thursday in the European Parliament,” says Iratxe García, president of S&D.

“The support of the socialist group cannot be a blank check,” says García, who explains that the procedure for supporting the German party in the last legislature was similar. “We want you to make commitments on social policy and fundamental rights. And we also want to send a clear signal that we are not going to block fundamental progress in Europe,” he says.

Von der Leyen is stepping up the offensive to get the 361 votes (out of 720) from the European Parliament that she needs to be in charge of the Community Executive again, as EU leaders suggested a few weeks ago. The president of the Commission tries to convince his traditional ally: his own popular MPs, the social democrats and the liberals. The three groups add up to 401.

But the voting process is secret and the German is counting on losing votes even from his own popular ranks. That is why he is also testing the Greens (53 parliamentarians), with whom he met this Wednesday – he also met with Liberal Renew – and some conservatives. On Tuesday, in his meeting with the Social Democrats, he again distinguished between Meloni’s distant group, ECR, with whom he will meet on Tuesday, and others, such as the new Patriots for Europe, led by Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Marine of France. Le Pen, which is now the third parliamentary group. The German company is not thinking of forming a coalition with ECR or a structured cooperation, but rather some concrete collaborations to push forward initiatives.

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The votes of the Social Democrats, therefore, are decisive for Von der Leyen. While negotiating, the S&D group, in addition to housing policies, places a lot of emphasis on social and labor measures, to which it dedicates a separate section (the first and longest document of 12 pages). This section emphasizes strengthening the European labor authority or limiting contract restrictions in subcontractors. They also demand that a target be set for the coverage of the agreements at 80% of employees, a step which, if implemented, would have little impact in Spain, which would comfortably exceed that level, but would have a major impact on the countries of the east, ie with much lower protection levels.

“Von der Leyen cannot abandon the social, equality and environmental agenda, and although there are other priorities, she must continue to promote it. A lot has been done, but it needs to be implemented,” says Gálvez. The social democratic delegations agree with the green ones in demanding that no changes be made to the European green agreement. One of the points of this program will be controversial: allowing 2035 to be the last year in which manufacturers can sell combustion cars. This measure was approved with many difficulties in the legislature which is now coming to an end and there is a lot of pressure from Von der Leyen’s own party, the EPP, to delay the entry into force of this ban. Parliamentary sources indicate that this is where the German was most prominent.