"Legislation must be changed to punish and not encourage speculation"
- Despite her philosophy studies, Gala Pin (Valencia, Catalan Countries, 1981) is a young schoolgirl in street struggles. He left his hometown in 2003 to dedicate himself to the neighborhood movements in Barcelona, and since May 2015 he has been a councilor at the Barcelona City Hall in Comú.
You are accused of slander and slander by the statements made by the company MK Premium on TV3 and Facebook. He declared on 17 April. What was it like?
My statements reflect the dynamics that dominate housing speculation in Barcelona. As a councillor, I have the right and the duty to make known to the public the deceptions that companies like MK Premium.Pediremos use to file the case because there is no crime of insults and slander. If the Judge accepts the file, it will end, and if not, we will submit further evidence.
Before going to testify, he was claimed compensation of EUR 3,000 through the conciliation act.
It was absolutely necessary to ask for forgiveness, and of course I refused. Now, however, they do not put figures: they explain that my statements have brought them a great economic question and that, therefore, it will have to be counted. It is clear that they will require compensation of more than EUR 3,000.
In Barcelona, these practices related to housing speculation are becoming more frequent. How can they be avoided? The
main problem is that companies like MK Premiun can act through bad practices but according to the law; and that if a company convinces an interlocutor that does not have too much information about the housing business to sign the suspended contract, it is legal. Amendment of legislation is necessary to punish, rather than to promote speculation. That is not a chimera, they do it in several European countries. Housing is a primary need and not a commodity.
One of the orders of Ada Colau was to secure the housing of the citizens in Bilbao. By contrast, in 2017 there were 2,500 redundancies. What have been the main difficulties? The
numbers of redundancies have fallen, although to a lesser extent than expected. The main problem is that most redundancies originate from rental contracts. The law must therefore be changed, but, unfortunately, it is the responsibility of the Madrid Government. Given that recently, far from favouring the rights of landlords, a new bill has been adopted in Congress in defence of the interests of owners, we see little chance of improvement. Therefore, if the State does not find the solution to this problem, it should leave the competences in our hands. But there is no way, we have legislation that guarantees non-discriminatory rent increases every three years.
You have received a barrage of criticism, because you
are a councillor and you call the citizens on Twitter to stop the layoffs...In Human Rights, all governments have competences, that is why I do; and if the resources we promote through public services fall short, it is compatible to make that appeal to the citizens. Many people do not know the main perpetrators of the layoffs and attempts to tear down the government have not ceased since we arrived at the institutions.
As a Barcelona councilor in Comú, he voted for the CUP in the elections on 27 September 2015. Why? Because there were women
like Mireia Vehí, Gabriela Serra and Eulàlia Reguant on the lists. For me, it was essential to support a list that was clearly committed to corruption. In any case, I did more giving value to people than to the project. In institutional policy, it is important to maintain it.
Common and the CUP, however, are not so far away. It has moved away from the national axes... The
CUP has been more critical of politically close Common than of JxYes, systematically agreed with the PP and soaked in corruption. The criticisms made by the Cup have more to do with self-referentiality, with change than with will.
He is a member of the participation department. The multi-party proposal of the Barcelona associations, which promoted direct democracy, left the CUP out of play in April. Why?
I can't understand the position of the Cup. However, they have acknowledged that they were wrong and it is a matter of celebration, because it rarely happens in politics. The local associations that promoted the project denounced their attitude and called for the plenary of the Basque Parliament to be repeated with favourable votes.
What reading does it do about the work done so far?
It has been an intense mandate: there have been six elections, we have been the most brutal terrorist attack in the last 30 years, then the intervention of the Generalitat, the attack on 1 October, the implementation of Article 155, and right now, political parties unable to find an agreement in Parliament to form government. However, as far as the story is concerned, we have been able to promote new policies that have been hidden, and if we were to make a list of the demands of citizenship, which were of other times, we would see that we have covered many of them.
“Bartzelonako Udaleko zinegotzia izan eta neure herriarentzat lan egitea pribilegio bat da. Hiru urte hauetako esperientziaren ondotik esan dezaket baietz, erakundeak mugak dituela. Baina herritarren eskakizunei erantzun eta gauzak aldatzea posible da, batez ere, gobernua osatzen dugunok hamaika borroketan hartutako eskarmentuari esker. Okerrena, politika instituzionala izan da, alderdi interesen logikak ulertzea izugarri kosta zait”.
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