After being evicted from her Madrid home, Maricarmen Abascal is asking Pedro Sánchez to take the case to the Council of Ministers. She wants a decree that would change the rules behind her eviction.
Reuters reported that 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal was given about 30 minutes to leave her Madrid flat. She had lived there for 71 years. The eviction took place in Retiro, where Euronews said previous attempts had already been made.
She was taken to hospital after suffering severe exhaustion during the operation. From her hospital room, she recorded a message for the public. The Sindicato de Inquilinas released the video. It was her second public message since the eviction. Her difficulty speaking is still clear.
По данным Euronews, выселение в районе Retiro стало четвёртой попыткой выселить Абаскаль из квартиры, где она жила с 1956 года.
Maricarmen has given the proposal a name: the "decreto Maricarmen". She wants the Consejo de Ministros to approve it on Tuesday. The measure would be a first step toward dismantling the legal and institutional system that she says made her eviction possible.
The proposal is not law yet. Even if the Government approves it, Congress would still have to validate it. RTVE reported that the tenants' union wants the decree to cover evictions, rental-law reform, seasonal rentals and room rentals.
The campaign is aimed at more than the prime minister. Maricarmen is also asking her supporters to sign an online petition launched by the Sindicato de Inquilinas. The petition links her case to a wider push for changes to Spain's housing rules. The eviction drew protests and political attention, Reuters, the BBC and The New York Times reported.
Her demand is simple. She wants other people to avoid what happened to her.
Maricarmen also says public pressure could help secure indefinite contracts and other measures backed by the tenants' organisation. The dispute began with the end of an old rental agreement. Spain English identified the company involved as Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión, also known as Urbagesa. The company proposed a monthly rent of €2,650 instead of approximately €500.
RTVE сообщает, что проект “decreto Maricarmen” предусматривает автоматическое продление действующих договоров и заморозку цен по ним. В пакет также хотят включить меры против выселений, реформу закона об аренде и регулирование сезонной аренды и аренды комнат.
The next question is whether the Consejo de Ministros will turn the demand into a decree. Congress would then have to decide whether to support it. For now, Maricarmen is asking for that first legal step.
Protests have spread beyond Madrid. Euronews reported demonstrations in cities including Granada. The Sindicato de Inquilinas has made her case the centre of its campaign.
The housing debate also includes proposals beyond evictions, as outlined in an earlier housing report. Maricarmen's request is more direct: change the rules that operated in her case before another tenant faces the same result. Reuters reported that she was given around 30 minutes to leave. Workers carried her from the building on a stretcher, and an ambulance took her away.
The proposed "decreto Maricarmen" would not reverse her eviction. It would not create protection until it becomes law. The Government has publicly criticised the eviction, and the case has become a prominent symbol of Spain's housing crisis.
Nothing has changed yet. Maricarmen is asking ministers to begin.
