The package reaches beyond housing, covering rules on face coverings in public settings and the treatment of unaccompanied minors. The Council of Ministers agreed to ask the prime minister to bring a constitutional challenge against 20 changes included in the law accompanying the Valencian Community’s 2026 budget.
The regional parliament, the Corts Valencianes, approved the changes with support from the PP and Vox. The government’s agreement is a step towards a challenge; the appeal has not been described as filed, and no court ruling on the provisions has been reported.
On housing, the government argues that “national priority” breaches the constitutional guarantee of equality, including the requirement for effective equality. Its objection concerns criteria based on regional definitions of local roots, which it says could affect both foreign nationals and Spanish citizens. The report by elDiario.es, citing government sources, sets out the executive’s legal arguments rather than a court finding.
Those arguments extend to a rule requiring faces to remain uncovered in public settings, including on public transport and at public performances, as well as in public services such as healthcare and education. The government says the measure encroaches on state powers and could have a discriminatory deterrent effect. It also disputes changes to education law that make the promotion of equality and non-discrimination for LGTBI people in schools optional rather than mandatory.
The government also objects to provisions on the protection of unborn life, saying they conflict with constitutional rights and state powers and could obstruct access to voluntary pregnancy termination. On family reunification for unaccompanied minors under regional care, it says the changes bypass state-law procedures and safeguards, including the involvement of the central administration and the public prosecutor.
Further objections concern access to senior Valencian public-service posts: officials from other administrations would need at least 10 years of service, a threshold the government says is not equivalent to the one applied to Generalitat officials. It also argues that rules for strategic renewable-energy projects intrude on state powers over environmental and energy matters, as well as economic planning.
Housing policy also featured on the agenda of a separate Barcelona city-leaders’ programme, covered in this report on the Barcelona programme. The Valencian dispute concerns the legality of regional rules within a national constitutional framework.
