Junts Rules Out Backing Sánchez or Feijóo, Demands Catalan Money Deal
Junts says it will not back Pedro Sánchez or Feijóo after Nov. 29 and wants Catalonia to manage its own money. Its views on housing, rent and immigration.
Junts will not support either Alberto Núñez Feijóo or Pedro Sánchez as prime minister after the Nov. 29 general election, the party’s representative said in an interview with the newspaper Ara. The party left the door open to another socialist candidate, pointing to what it calls “the Starmer way.”
The price of any deal, she said, starts with an economic agreement that lets Catalonia manage its own money, as the Basque Country does.
Why Junts says no to Sánchez
Junts said that in 2023 voters closed the door on a PP and Vox government and that the party still holds that line. But it will not give another chance to Sánchez, who in its view has had three years and failed to use them.
Asked why voters should believe the party this time, after it backed Sánchez in 2023 despite saying it would not, the interviewee said Sánchez had opposed the amnesty, the Catalan language and a law against repeat offenders, and changed his mind after the election. She called the amnesty deal essential and “well worth it,” saying there was no normality while politicians were in exile or in prison.
On money, she said that between 2014 and 2024, under PP and PSOE governments, Catalonia did not receive even half of the infrastructure spending budgeted for it, while Madrid received double. If the PSOE in the Basque Country defends the Basque tax arrangement, she argued, the socialists in Catalonia should defend the same for Catalonia.
What it means for renters and owners
Junts voted against the government’s housing decree, a vote that led to the fall of the Sánchez government according to Ara. The party rejects that account and says only Sánchez decides when to call elections.
Junts says its own proposal would have temporarily barred vulture funds from buying homes. For tenants who cannot pay rent, it wants a system like Germany’s, where the administration automatically takes on the debt and pays it. Ara pointed out that the decree adds a section to article 22 of the Civil Procedure Law making the administration pay when it cannot offer alternative housing. Junts says the text has no guarantees of payment, creates legal uncertainty and limits the protection to one or two owners.
The party has long opposed rent caps. Asked how it would lower rents over the next twelve months, it said the answer is investment in public housing.
The interviewee said 70% of people in Catalonia own their home and that owning property is now being “demonized,” as if every owner were rich. She told the story of a woman who inherited several flats and could not afford the taxes on them. Ara noted that, according to the CEO (Catalonia’s public opinion research center), Junts has the fewest tenants and the most mortgage-free homeowners among its voters.
Immigration and Puigdemont
On immigration, Junts blamed the lack of an immigration policy for Spain’s repeated mass regularizations. It wants stricter control and says newcomers who want to settle should have a work contract and learn the language. The party says it has spent a year negotiating the transfer of immigration powers to Catalonia.
She said she hopes Carles Puigdemont’s return happens and that he remains strong after nine years in exile, and that she would like him to be a candidate for president of the Generalitat (the Catalan government). She did not give a date for his return.
Asked what a good result on Nov. 29 would be, she said it would be enough for Junts to remain decisive in Madrid.
Source: Ara
