The plenary session of the Parliament of the Canary Islands has rejected, with the votes against of the parties that support the Government, the amendments to the entirety of PSOE and Vox to the bill of regulation of vacation rentals, which after being debated in the first reading continues its processing.
The Minister of Tourism and Employment, Jéssica de León, has indicated that the bill "can be improved, for sure", and that her department has tried to listen to all the actors involved, although in some issues it has not been possible to reach a consensus.
De León has insisted on the need to "set limits", as other cities and autonomous communities have done before, whose actions have been ratified by the courts of justice.
And as an example, she has alluded to the rejection of the Constitutional Court to the appeal of the PP, her party, against the decree law of the Generalitat of Catalonia of urgent measures on the urban planning regime of tourist use homes.
Sebastián Franquis (PSOE) has reproached the Minister for having chosen to "be with the strongest" with a law in which "competencies are invaded" of the city councils and that has generated the rejection of many sectors, and has predicted that if it goes ahead as it is, its "lifetime" will be "that of this Government".
He recalled that in his electoral program in the last regional elections the PP did not talk about regulating vacation rentals, and has asked "what has happened" so that in two years he talks about a "housing emergency" and has generated "a social alarm".
Franquis has stressed that the PSOE is in favor of regulating the sector, "without a doubt", however, "with common sense and a lot of social sensitivity, and defending our model, not a few, and respecting the role of the city councils", whose proposals "have not been heeded" in the Government of the Canary Islands.
And he has reproached the Minister for ignoring that the ruling of the Constitutional Court to which she has alluded about the regulation of vacation rentals in Catalonia was at the request of an appeal from the PP.
On this issue, Paula Jover (Vox) has criticized that De León has "cheered" this ruling of the Constitutional Court and has asked the PP to stop "making a fool of themselves", that "it is about time".
Jover has described the vacation rental law as "an assault" on citizens and institutions, and has criticized that vacation rentals are pointed out as the "scapegoat" of the residential housing problems in the islands.
She has criticized that "it is loaded on the backs" of 90% of the owners of the same, who are "small holders" and that the Government of the Canary Islands lacks a tourist strategy for the archipelago beyond the "threats" of the president, Fernando Clavijo, to raise taxes if wages do not increase.
Vox considers that the vacation rental bill "demonizes and punishes" this tourist modality that, he has admitted, must be ordered but in a "coherent" way and that responds "to the general interest and not of a few, perhaps of the hotel businessmen".
Esther González, from Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista, who has not presented an amendment to the entirety, has stressed that in her formation they are "very critical" with the content and the way of elaborating and processing this regulation, which if it is intended to last in time must have "the greatest consensus".
She recalled that when it was announced, in September 2023, Minister De León advanced that "it was going to anger many people", and at least in this she has achieved "full to fifteen", with criticisms from all sides except from "the hotel businessmen".
