Pedro Sánchez, the President of the Government, is attending the UN General Assembly this week in New York, where he plans to speak this morning. Prior to his intervention in the early hours of Wednesday to Thursday (Spanish time), Sánchez offers a press conference from the Permanent Representation of Spain to the United Nations. Asked about possible reforms in the field of housing, on the day of the eviction of Maricarmen Abascal in Madrid, which the president has mentioned, Sánchez said that the eviction is a "social tragedy that we cannot accept either as a country or from the public administrations. If there are competent administrations of vulnerable people, they are the city councils and the communities" and has accused the Community of Madrid of being "more concerned with buying and selling penthouses with 200 meters of terrace with public money" and of boasting “that vulture funds can buy public housing.”
“They have ignored a social demand, a social tragedy that should have been resolved by the Madrid City Council and the Community,” he insisted. The head of the Executive has asked for "high-mindedness and responsibility to carry out a royal housing decree that is necessary to resolve this social tragedy but also to contribute to solving a problem for many Madrid residents and the entire Spanish society." He has assured that it is an issue that transcends “political colors.” The Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, of Sumar, demanded this Wednesday that next Tuesday the Royal Housing Decree Law be brought to the Council of Ministers which, if it had been in force, he said, would have prevented the eviction of Maricarmen. Pedro Sánchez has assured from New York that they will propose measures “urgently”, without “ruling anything out”, but has not specified if and when a new royal decree will be presented. “We need the responsibility of Parliament to validate a Royal Decree-Law that allows us to ensure that, among other issues, evictions like the one suffered by an elderly woman, who has religiously paid her rent for 70 years, do not happen again either in Madrid or anywhere else,” he stressed.
Sánchez has described as “normal” his greeting with the Venezuelan president, Delcy Rodríguez, this Wednesday in the plenary session of the UN Assembly. He has not commented on Judge Peinado's decision to open an oral trial against Begoña Gómez, and he has not elaborated on the letter from former socialist president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero addressed to the judge who is keeping him investigated in the Plus Ultra case, although he has renewed his "support" for him.
Regarding the migration crisis in Ceuta, Sánchez has assured that he has spoken with several European leaders and also from other states outside the European Union: "I think that above all what I have found is a lot of empathy, not only for Spain, but also for these migrants." The president has highlighted the State's investment in the autonomous city. “There are 80 million euros before the end of the year, we are talking about 4% of Ceuta's gross domestic product,” he stressed.
Before his meeting with the media, the President of the Government spoke at the Latin America, Spain and the United States Forum on the Global Economy, organized by the Spain-United States Chamber of Commerce. And even before, he has shared an event as the main guest of the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdami, along with other progressive leaders. The socialist councilor has highlighted the increase in the minimum wage as one of the most notable measures of the Spanish progressive Executive.
This Tuesday, Sánchez inaugurated, together with the leaders of France, Kenya and Australia, a high-level dialogue on the protection of children's rights against the threat of AI.
