Councils to decide on tourist flat caps after ERC-Socialists deal 

The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and governing Esquerra Republicana (ERC) have agreed on modifications to the November 2023 decree that aims to limit the amount of tourist accommodation in Catalonia.  

The changes mean that it will be up to each town council, rather than the Catalan government, to decide how many licenses to grant for tourist flats.  

The amendments also reduce the number of towns and cities where the new tourism licenses will be required from 262 to 140, in order to accommodate the "reality of each town," according to Socialist Oscar Ordeig. "We can't make Catalonia uniform," he added. 

Following the agreement, Parliament endorsed the government decree with votes from ERC, PSC, En Comú Podem and CUP. Junts, Ciudadanos, Vox and the People's Party voted against. 

PSC and ERC have committed to introducing the agreed changes in Parliament before the end of March. 

"Decaffeinating" decree 

Enric Aragonès of the Sindicat de Llogateres tenants' union criticized the new amendments as "decaffeinating the original decree" and promised to pressure the government to stick to their original draft.  

Housing minister Ester Capella admitted that the government didn't like all the modifications, and that it would work to return the bill to the form "it should never have left." In response, Socialist Oscar Ordeig reminded Capella that agreements "should be respected." 

The original government decree in November was proposed by Esquerra Republicana. It called for limiting the number of tourist apartments to ten per 100 inhabitants and putting an end to permanent licenses for tourist apartments, instead making them renewable every five years.

The five-year license renewals are included in the December version of the regulation, with an addition that the extension will be "automatic" as long as urban planning departments allow it.  

"Today is not a good day for the tourist accommodation sector," said Junts MP, Joan Canadell, of the bill. 

The text agreed by Parliament on Wednesday foresees that the changes agreed by PSC and ERC will be approved before the end of March through the processing of the decree as a bill.