Spain’s council of ministers on Friday called on prime minister Mariano Rajoy to challenge three laws passed by the Catalan parliament in the Tribunal Constitucional, two of them based on a conflict of powers. The complaints come with a petition to initially suspend the laws if they are admitted by the court.
According to the acting justice minister, Rafael Catalá, the Spanish government will contest the law that places a tax on empty dwellings on the grounds that this measure already exists in the current funding system of local tax offices, and which foresees extra charges of up to 50% of annual property tax (IBI). A new tax on the same subject, he said, is an “unconstitutional vice”.
The other two laws in question, which are challenged because the Spanish government considers them to be an infringement of its powers, are the Llei 6/2015, which is related to the activities of local governments, and the Llei 17/2015, which is aimed at ensuring equality between men and women. Catalá pointed out that his government has nothing against the aim of the legislation, but that both he and his advisory bodies consider it to be an infringement of state powers.
The minister justified the presentation of the complaints as “the normal exercise of powers of any public administration when it is considered that another has overstepped the limits of its jurisdiction.” The Spanish government, he said, has contested 30 Catalan laws, while the Generalitat has contested 40 of those from the Rajoy administration.
As for the anti-eviction law, which is of special concern to the Generalitat, he pointed out that before taking the step of presenting a legal challenge, mechanisms exist for reaching agreements, something he insisted the Spanish government was more than willing to work on.
