The Basque Parliament rejects EH Bildu's proposal to declare the Basque Country a high-tension area

The Basque Parliament has rejected the proposal of EH Bildu to declarethethree territories ofthe ACV area of high tension  and has advocated to continue applying the current model of the Right to Housing Act, analysing the situation by municipality.

All parties except Sumarhave opposed the non-legislative proposal in which the abertzale coalition urged the Basque Government  to develop its own reference index for rental prices and to analyse possible applications within its sphere of competence.

With the votes of the PNV and the PSE-EE, the abstention of Sumar and the rejection of the other groups, Parliament has supported the amendment tabled by socialists and jeltzales, thus maintaining the legal process currently in force. 

They have therefore asked the Basque Government to implement the current model and, consequently, to extend the declaration of strained areas to all municipalities that qualify for it, with the aim of providing 'support' to 72% of the Basque population.

EH Bildu\u00A0Xabier Astigarraga argues that the housing problem is "widespread" in all Basque municipalities and therefore believes that institutions should use all available tools to address this reality.

María José Etxegoien (PNV) has explained that although the problem is general, the price situation, supply or housing needs are not the same in all municipalities. That is why, after highlighting the Government's work in this area, he has stressed that his party, "beyond electoral messages, defends effective policies."  A0

In the same vein, the socialist Adrián Fernández has pointed out that EH Bildu's proposal is not legally feasible because the three territories in general do not meet the legal requirements to be tense areas and has insisted that the department of Denis Itxaso is speeding up all procedures to ensure that this designation reaches as many municipalities as possible.

For her part, Ana Moralese of the PP has said that the tense areas are one more brake on the defeat of the PSOE and the PNV. "The creation of new homes does not require price control, but the construction of more flats," she said.

On the contrary, Jon Hernandez (Sumar) warns that speculation does not understand border issues, so the housing problem does not end at the borders of a municipality. "Let's not go after speculation, let's cut it all over the territory," he says.

Finally, Amaia Martínez (Vox) rejected the proposal on the grounds that they want to turn the Basque Country into a 'laboratory of institutional interventionism' and advocated 'price freedom'.