Spanish government pulls land law from Congress vote to avoid second defeat

The Spanish government has requested the withdrawal of the land law from the agenda of Thursday's plenary session of Congress, where it was scheduled to be debated and voted on. 

Pedro Sánchez's executive preferred to avoid another parliamentary defeat in a week, after the rejection of the law against pimping on Tuesday.  

In that case, the Socialists were left alone to defend a law aimed at abolishing prostitution.  

Left-wing coalition partners Sumar, pro-independence Esquerra and Junts and the Basque party PNB voted against the bill, as did the conservative People's Party.   

On Wednesday, Sumar and Podemos also announced that they would not support the Land Law bill because they disagreed with the text.    

However, the government assured that the withdrawal is to ensure that "the regulation is not affected by the electoral situation," referring to the European elections on June 9. 

The Ministry of Housing emphasized that the bill aims to "respond to the need to promote and expand the stock of public housing in Spain."  

The bill also seeks to "guarantee the legal security of urban development and provide environmental protection guarantees," as well as to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda.