Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union Ordinary meeting
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HOUS European Parliament
Follow its sittingsDan Jørgensen
This is the first regulatory proposal that we put forward under my mandate. And what we're trying to address is some of the major concerns that has been voiced very, very urgently by Member States, governments, parliaments, but especially by mayors, local governments, citizens, NGOs, tenant organizations, unions. There's not one single topic that has gotten as much attention in the area of housing, I would say, as short-term rentals. Now, short-term rentals is not the only focus of the Act, but it is certainly a very important one, so I'll start with that. So I don't need to share with you the analysis of what our problem is and how serious it is, because we've talked about that many times.
But just maybe a few numbers. We know now from Eurobarometer that 40% of all Europeans consider the lack of affordable housing a serious and urgent problem. For cities, that number is 51%. So more than every second person in our cities in Europe consider this a really serious problem. This tells us that we need to act.
Now, some people say, is this even a European competency?
Is it even something that you need to deal with? And I can give a bureaucratic answer and I can give a political answer and I think since we're here today I'll give you both. The bureaucratic answer: yes. Short-term rentals, it's a service. Services are regulated of course as one of the freedoms in the European Union.
Second home vacant buildings, that's got to do with capital. Capital is of course also regulated in the common market. So regulation of services and capital is obviously a European matter. The political answer is if something is on the top three on the agenda of our citizens and as the chairman said in many in many countries it is indeed that, some it's even number one. Then we cannot just lean back.
Then we need to act. At European Parliament election where all of you were elected in many member states it was number one on the agenda. So I used to serve in this house as many of you know for many years and I don't remember ever having discussed housing. I don't remember one question ever in the hundreds of thousands of meetings I've been to because it wasn't that big of a problem and it wasn't considered a European one.
But because it now is such a big problem, citizens expect us to act. My personal belief is that citizens don't really care that much on which level decisions are made to solve a problem, they just want it solved. And they expect us to work together: city councils, regional governments, national governments, European Union. So this is what we attempt to do. Now on short-term rentals, in many cities this has grown out of control.
Obviously short-term rentals is in many ways a good thing. It means that we can travel more, it means that we support tourism, create jobs, all of these things are good things. It's good also that sometimes families can get some extra help to pay their bills because they're able to rent out a room or their home for some time, which is fine. But when it leads to people being crowded out of their houses, when it leads to parts of cities where in reality there's no longer any local people living because it's just short-term rentals because there's more money to be made from the people who own the buildings, and when that overall happens in a way so that these areas are under stress, then it's fair I think and legitimate I think to act.
Now, with vacant homes and vacant buildings, obviously it's a different challenge, but there's similarities. Around 20% of our homes in Europe are vacant. And I can understand why some citizens say, "Okay, so we have a huge housing crisis, but every fifth home that I see, nobody lives there." It's a paradox, at least. Why do people not live there?
Well, sometimes it's second homes, which of course can be fair and legitimate and all of that. I'm not against second homes at all. I have a summer house myself. Sometimes, though, it's for speculation. Sometimes it's because it's a commodity.
It's like instead of buying a gold bar, you buy an apartment, and maybe it's too much of a hassle to rent it out to somebody. So you don't. Now, again, it's important to say that although I think it's obvious the way I present it that I see this as problems, that's not really that relevant for what we propose today because we don't make it mandatory that you address these issues, but we make it possible. So we respect the subsidiarity principle.
First of all, we tell the citizens of Europe we acknowledge that this is a problem. We also acknowledge that it's a common European problem and we do acknowledge that we need legal certainty and legal clarity on how to do it because we've seen examples of member states trying to do something to regulate these issues and then being dragged to court. So we acknowledge these things and then we set up the toolbox. Or actually, it's not even a well-defined toolbox. It's a legal framework that makes it possible for member states to invent the tools that they want.
We of course then have suggestions and proposals and you can look at what's already being done in some member states and and I'm sure that these tools will be applied even more in the future, certainly now it can be done with legal certainty. So again, just to underline, our analysis is that this is a real problem. Our analysis is that vacant homes and short-term rentals are part of the problem many places, but we do acknowledge that there's also something called the subsidiarity principle and we do need to respect local democracy. So we don't we don't order countries, we don't make it obligatory that they impose measures, but we make it possible.
So will this help? I'm very, very convinced that in many cities it will and that we are answering a demand from many stakeholders and citizens. But of course we also have to be honest and say this will far from solve all of our problems. Far from. There are so many other things we need to do.
Many of the things that need to be done obviously need to be done at a national level, but there are also still many things we can do on a European level. We need simplification of rules to make it easier to build and renovate. We need to look at what we can do especially targeting young people. We need to look at what about permitting rules. This is also a part of the simplification efforts.
What about speculation? As you know, we've started an analysis to look at the financialization and speculation aspects of this sector. When we get those results, we'll also have a discussion in this house and I suspect probably with differences of opinion on what to do about it. But then at least we will be forced to take it because we will have it there black and white what's the actual problem. We need to do whatever we can also to mobilize more investments.
Again, this is difficult, but the pan-European investment platforms that we've made with the EIB is taking, I think, steps in the right direction. We're listening, of course, to Member States and stakeholders on whether or not there's more we can do. We need to do more to fight homelessness, obviously. Again, difficult to legislate from Brussels on these issues, but we can learn from each other best practices. We can maybe find funding to help.
You're negotiating the next MFF. I'm sure many of you will be arguing that housing needs to play a bigger role. Already in this MFF, the EU, we are spending 43 billion euros on housing issues, so it's not a small thing, but it is of course spread all over different kind of issues, but with the housing as the central focus point. So, Chairman, again, having seen you lift weights, I don't even want to get close to my limit, so I will stop here. Thank you.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you very much, Commissioner. I will not say that you lift more weights than me, so in that sense, it goes back to you.
Thank you for that. Now, we proceed to the questions of committee, and we will do per two speakers, and the speakers have two and a half minutes to begin with, and I start with the EPP, Borja Jiménez Larrace, two and a half minutes, please.
Borja Giménez Larraz
Muchas gracias, presidente. Muchas gracias, voy a hablar español, sí, señor comisario, muchas gracias por estar hoy aquí. Hoy tenía que ser un día importante, no le engaño, llevamos esperando con impaciencia este momento y tengo que decirle que estamos profundamente decepcionados. Imagino que no estará sorprendido, pero es que llevamos más de un año repitiéndolo. Nos enfrentamos a una crisis de oferta, a una crisis de carácter estructural, 9,6 millones de viviendas se estima que son necesarios construir.
La propia Comisión habla de 2 millones anuales. La Comisión lo sabe y lo reconoce. Sus recomendaciones es cierto que contienen propuestas positivas: la aceleración de permisos y licencias, plazos de 60 días para su construcción, viviendas para jóvenes, aprovechar los instrumentos de financiación de la Unión. Pero son eso, solo recomendaciones. Entonces es cuando la vicepresidenta Ribera y usted esta mañana anunciaban exultantes la propuesta para abrir la puerta a restricciones a la compra de residencias o terrenos que no se utilicen como residencia principal.
Y yo, iluso de mí, que creía que el mercado interior, la libre competencia, la economía de mercado eran pilares fundamentales del proyecto europeo. Además, saben perfectamente que este tipo de medidas no es que no vayan a solucionarlo todo como ustedes mismos están diciendo, sino que es que además son tremendamente contraproducentes. Ejemplos: Suiza y Francia, ya ha sido testado y ya tenemos los resultados: cierta contención de los precios, es cierto, a costa de la destrucción de empleo y de la actividad económica. Esta propuesta solo tiene una explicación, que son prejuicios ideológicos y diría que populismo en estado puro. Y déjenme que les diga algo como ponente del informe del Parlamento: estas medidas ya fueron propuestas por los grupos de la izquierda y si no fueron incluidas en la propuesta y en el informe final fue por una sencilla razón: es que no había apoyo suficiente en este Parlamento.
Me temo que y le auguro un un un mal futuro a este a esta parte. Dejen de regular y de repartir la escasez y céntrense en en generar crecimiento, pongan los recursos de la Comisión al servicio de una política de abundancia de vivienda, señor Comisario, y aquí aquí vienen mis mis preguntas. ¿Por qué no tal y como les ha pedido este Parlamento no se centran en priorizar ese paquete de simplificación normativa, en reformar la directiva del IVA con el objetivo de reducir los impuestos, en promover la innovación, en facilitar accesos a mecanismos de financiación y fomentar la colaboración público-privada? Ahí creo que está la solución y ahí es la guía que marcó el Parlamento Europeo. Pero por favor dejen de lado el intervencionismo, hagan que hablar hoy de vivienda en la Unión Europea valga y merezca la pena.
Gracias.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you very much. Please keep an eye on your time. Commissioner, three minutes for the reply. Ah, pardon, excuse me. We group by two, excuse me, Ms Bischoff, and then three minutes.
Gabriele Bischoff
Yes, a warm welcome to you to present it the same day as it is agreed here in our special committee. And I was listening carefully to the chairs and yours jokes about your works on your muscles, but I have the impression that you should have huge ears because you were listening to so many stakeholders, you were exchanging with us regularly and that you took up what we discussed.
And I'm not disappointed as my colleague emphasized from the EPP because also I think, for example, the legal proposal on short-term rentals is one piece of a puzzle that we desperately need to help the mayors and cities to solve the crisis. We never anticipated it would be the sole and only solution. And I would like to reiterate, and I don't too often praise the Commission, I have to say, and Commission President von der Leyen, but in her last SOTEU speech, she mentioned three things. I quote: "We need to revise our state aid rules to enable housing support measures." Done.
"We need to make it much easier to build new houses and student residences." Still in work and it's complex. And the third was: "And we will also propose a legal initiative on short-term rentals to tackle the remaining issues." Done now. And we take it as a Parliament and we will work with this proposal because many come like me from a city with really housing stress and where we desperately need solutions.
And as you said, you don't make it mandatory, but we wanted more legal clarity for the cities that take different measures.
And I agree with you, they know best what measures are needed. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, but to have the possibility to act and here to have more legal clarity is very important. And I would like to know also, as we say, we have these two big initiatives that are done now, that means our work starts, only your work is done. But we will as co-legislators deal with it, but also with the other proposals, what is the timeframe so that we know at the end of the day we will have all pieces of puzzles here and we can give the message: we did our job to help you on the ground to solve the housing crisis better.
Thank you, Commissioner.
Dan Jørgensen
Thank you so much, Gaby. And actually I should have started by saying this: thank you to all of you, even if we don't agree 100% on everything. For sure we could not have done this without the work of the Parliament.
I doubt I would even be sitting here if it wasn't for the Parliament, because I think it was the pressure of the Parliament that made President von der Leyen see the magnitude of the problem, which was a very good thing, and therefore also decide to have a Commissioner with a dedication to housing. So thank you for that. And the report, I think you will see that you wrote many of the proposals are actually reflected in this act. Not all of them, of course. This is, as Gaby said, a piece of the puzzle, but it is an important one.
And to the concrete question on why it is that we are not doing more on supply. So this is not, of course, a solution to the supply crisis. Of obviously not. If there was a silver bullet, probably I would propose it, but it's not there. But there's many different things we can do, and this is a part of it.
Because yes, you can build new, but again, is that what we tell our citizens if they look at a city where every fifth house, some places every third house, are empty, and then tell them, sorry, you cannot get a roof over your head until we build something new? Which, by the way, the new things that we build, we cannot guarantee that it will be used for property because of the free market, they might just keep them empty until they can sell them and make more money. Again, this is also my personal conviction coming through here, obviously, because as a Commissioner I represent everybody, also the ones that don't want to do it. Then that's fair enough, but then you take that discussion with your citizens.
Now we put forward the legal framework so that you can act locally. And I think it's one of the areas where sometimes we discuss back and forth with the subsidiarity principle is it European is it national. But here actually it's I think it is quite simple. We need to deal with this because it's about services and about capital and it's about the internal market. But surely the ones who know best what is needed and the ones who can secure that we do this in a way that that satisfies the citizens are national and local.
So we we let it be up to them. I I can say in all honesty in this room because normally it's not normally you don't bring people into the kitchen and see how you make the course you just serve it and say voilà but many of you know the discussions that we've had before we presented this and and one of the things that we discussed was whether or not we should put forward like a white list of of restrictions and measures that you could that you could use. But we ended up not doing that. And we ended up not doing it for one reason that that would be overstepping on the subsidiarity. So the people that was skeptical that we would do too much were afraid.
On the other hand, the people that wanted to do more said, "Okay, but if you do this, you also risk making it too narrow and actually limiting." So this is why I think that the balance we've found actually takes into consideration some of the concerns that both side of the argument have been putting forward.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you, Commissioner. Next round of speakers. I believe Patriots do not have a representative. Mr. Hölvényi, you have two and a half minutes.
György Hölvényi
No, I don't need two and a half minutes. I'd save your time. No, thank you really for this draft. And it's really 46 pages. It's already has a message, you know, that's the quantitative message.
For me, it's I, of course, we were not able to read it, you know, carefully. But I would raise a concrete question. Yeah, you were talking about the need to act several times. Yeah, but it was asked about, you know, what's next? We know the legal frame.
Yeah, but what is your real message? Yeah, what should be our message to the citizens? This is the problem is what you're facing with the subsidiarity and such a kind of this is a local issue. And to sell it this kind of papers, you know, for the people in the villages, small cities, big cities, Eastern Europe, North part of Europe is very difficult.
What would be your exact, exact message, not only one sentence, you know, really for young people about this issue? And how can we eliminate it, that will be a really a paper of wishful thinking? That's it. Thank you.
Antonella Sberna
Grazie, Presidente. Commissario, che dirle? Intanto profonda delusione e preoccupazione. Perché come fatto per il rapporto sull'housing, lei è venuto in questa commissione, ha detto che avrebbe aspettato il nostro rapporto e poi ha presentato il rapporto della Commissione prima che noi dessimo formalmente il nostro voto e il nostro parere. E ovviamente il Parlamento, come ha detto già il mio collega, ha già bocciato tanto di quello che oggi ritroviamo qui, proprio perché il nostro rapporto, quindi il rapporto del Parlamento eletto dai cittadini, ha proposto oltre ad aver analizzato tante, tante questioni.
Oggi si tenta di mascherare dietro il regolamento sugli affitti brevi un atto che io considero illiberale e che rischia di bloccare il mercato immobiliare di un intero continente. Un regolamento che, se politicamente almeno a nostro avviso è irricevibile, risulta privo di senso per tante parti.
E le do tre elementi. Avete dichiarato che gli affitti brevi non sono l'esclusiva causa della crisi abitativa europea, e ovviamente avete ragione. Sono l'1,2% delle case in Europa, e il dato è del vostro centro di ricerca e non, ovviamente, di una lobby. Allora la prima domanda viene da sé: perché scrivere un regolamento che riguarda solo l'1,2%? Secondo: il testo dice che un territorio è in crisi quando una casa costa più di otto volte del reddito.
Ma otto volte il reddito di chi? Di una persona sola? Ma, ad esempio, una banca quando concede un mutuo chiede il reddito del nucleo familiare. Quindi voi, per decidere se un'area è sotto stress, considerate il reddito di una sola persona, e lì scatta il divieto. Terzo: il secondo trucco.
I prezzi li prendete provincia per provincia, ma a quale livello prendete i redditi non lo sappiamo. Sappiamo che avete pubblicato l'allegato qualche minuto fa, ma ovviamente non abbiamo avuto modo di leggerlo, perché l'allegato con il metodo del calcolo che è uscito dalle anticipazioni non c'è in questo testo, ma ci chiedete di negoziare una soglia senza calcolarla. Adesso leggeremo quello che c'è scritto nell'allegato. Il risultato che appare è che con questa formula potrebbe portare, ad esempio, un territorio di provincia, un'area rurale, un borgo, ad essere più in crisi di un'area metropolitana, che in realtà è quella che ci siamo sempre detti essere solitamente quelle più sotto stress.
E quindi, oltre alla confusione ideologica, superata una certa soglia, uno dei criteri che dovevano proteggere i territori semplicemente sparisce. Lei dice che Bruxelles non impone nulla perché tutto questo è facoltativo, che decidono i sindaci. Ma Bruxelles non decide se vietare o no, questo è giusto, ma decide chi può vietare. E poi, insomma, dite che sarà al vaglio dei cittadini e del voto dei cittadini come giudicare quel sindaco. Io credo che l'Unione Europea non debba fare questo e che probabilmente nessuno in Europa avrà una casa in più perché a una famiglia viene vietato di affittare per due settimane d'estate un appartamento.
Quella famiglia non è un fondo speculativo, è gente che arrotonda con quello che ha comprato lavorando e che non si può pensare di espropriare. Lei prima ha detto: "Non comprate un lingotto, comprate un appartamento". Chi ha più figli compra un appartamento per magari lasciarglielo in eredità e in quel frattempo, per adempiere a una normativa green come ad esempio quella dell'efficientamento energetico, utilizza quel reddito per efficientare la casa. Quindi questa non è l'Europa che vogliamo. Ci auguriamo che, insomma, il passaggio parlamentare possa dare una risposta importante.
Grazie.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you, and please be aware that our translators are trying to keep up. And the time was obviously over. Mr. Commissioner.
Dan Jørgensen
So, yeah, so a few things on on the content. The way that we implement this is by saying that there will be a concept of stressed housing areas. And the criteria that you need to fulfill to be a stressed housing area is of course something that experts have have helped us work out looking at also what we have of available data and what gives the best estimate. And the best estimate that we see at least, we can discuss this of course in the in the trilogue later, but the best estimate that we see is the ratio between income and and price. And also to look at whether or not this has been a trend that it's going to be even more expensive as the years go by.
Now again, it is not something that we impose. We don't tell member states you have to have every city do this, you have to have every region do this. But if you see a problem you can do it and if you do it then you have the legal basis for imposing restrictions or measures.
They then of course need to be proportionate and justified, but it is giving a quite wide range of possibilities. And then to say that this is not something that will influence the overall prices and the overall supply and demand balance, I would disagree with, because, and that would also be my political message to those who may ask, because of course it matters. Even though it's only 1.2% of our homes in the Union that are short-term rentals, these are very concentrated in some areas and some cities. So in those cities it's much, much more. And the clear message that I've been getting from mayors and local governments and citizens is that it is a real problem in many places.
Now, on empty houses, some places it's up to 40%. So again, imagine not being able to, imagine being 35 years old and still living with your parents, dreaming of your own home to start a family, to get a job in a different place, but there's nothing the local government can do, they say.
But almost half of the 40% of the houses in the city are empty. So I think in that situation, I think the voters will make the decision for the politician, they will choose somebody else. But that's politics. Now we give the possibility, people can then choose what to do with those options. It's a very important distinction also to say that we are not targeting primary residences that are then wanting to rent out their house or a room for some time.
This would not make sense from an affordability perspective because it would not bring more or less houses on the market. Now, member states may choose to introduce measures and regulate those units also using other instruments, for instance over-tourism or something like that, as they have been able to until now. But this is separate from what we're proposing here today. So that's a very important distinction.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you. Now we're going for a remote connection with colleague Mullally from Paris. Is there a connection?
Ciaran Mullooly
Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner, you've said in your press conference earlier today, we're living through a housing crisis in the EU. And in several member states, this crisis has persisted for more than a decade. So I suppose the figure in your act or in the information you've provided stands out first of all. 150 billion euro per year will be needed on top of the current public funding and private investments to meet the housing demand in the EU over the next decade.
Where are we going to start? How are we possibly going to find that scale of money in the budget as set out? So I want to ask a question, and you've heard me ask it before. Maybe you could enlighten us on why you could not do this. When will we finally recognize, Commissioner, that we must fund housing properly and ensure that housing investment can be done by member states off the books?
We must take funding for housing out of the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact. If we can do it for defense, Commissioner, and we've recently done it for energy security measures, we must do it for one of the greatest crises of our generation, housing, or we will never come up with the 150 billion euro based on the, the simple facts.
Colleagues, I say we need innovative ways of dealing with this problem. Business as usual is not going to cut it, I'm afraid. And of course, I'm happy to see the Commission has recommended that we fast-track the approval processes for renovations, that we introduce faster dispute resolution and time limits for judicial reviews, and that we work with the EIB and other institutions to properly fund housing constructions. However, this is not going to really move the dial for those young people trying to move out on their own, the people you just referred to. Therefore, I'm putting forward a bold new proposal, Commissioner, something which will really deliver for our young people: your first EU keys guarantee.
As announced by my political group Renew today, I'm calling on the Commission, ahead of the speech of the Commission President of the State of the Union, to put in place a guarantee for every young person, a guarantee that already works very well in other Member States to each young person, that they will fund the deposit on their first home so they do not have to find thousands of euros upfront for a security deposit on top of the rent. And backed by the European Investment Funding Bank, this is a clear, measurable, and a direct action the EU can take to alleviate the pressure on young people across the EU and provide them with a start in life that can really build on. Take the initiative, Commissioner, seize your moment.
We will never find 150 billion euro per year otherwise to tackle the scale of this problem. Thank you.
Gordan Bosanac
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Commissioner, and welcome to the House Committee, and thank you for the presentation of long-expected Affordable Housing Act. I will start my speech just to remind us all what was happening 10 years ago and how the Commission was treating the citizens' short-term rentals 10 years ago when the many cities in European Union who were alerting actually not only the Commission but also the national governments that something is horribly happening in housing markets and they started to limited the short-term rentals with different tools. And the response from the Commission at that time was initiating infringement procedures against the member states with because the cities apparently broke the internal market procedures. So today you came in front of us with very different view on the problem.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid that we are late. But yes, this what we see it's a change of policy after the 10 years, which was empowered also by some rulings from European Court of Justice, just to remind the famous Cali case, where European Court clearly said that we have to protect public interest when it's question of housing. And my first view on your proposal is that it goes in this direction. However, I can only partially agree with my colleague Gaby from S&D, which said it's checked, it's done. I think we haven't done this proposal yet.
So it took us more than 10 years.
Okay, then I wrongly misinterpreted you. Yes, yeah, but it's we're far that we can say that it's checked because as Greens, as we see this proposals, we are welcoming that there is a now initiative that we're tackling short-term rentals more seriously and also vacant houses as a primary one of for us one of the main causes of the of the housing crisis. But the first view on this proposal, and of course we will also need more time to go in more details, is that when you bring it to the smaller cities or mid-town mid-level cities, they will be confused. I can see no way that they can prove that they are under stress, housing stress zone.
Especially, I cannot see the way how they will prove they are under significant housing stress, which is now expected from them. So I'm afraid that this act will actually generate thousands of new EU consultants who will offer the consultancy to small cities for two, three, four, five, ten thousand euros, I don't know how much. Let us do you calculation and we will prove that you are under the housing stress zone. So we don't want that. We want really to help the cities.
And this is why as Greens we will act, we will have a lot of comments and work very hard to transform this proposal into the one which can really help the local governments, because as it's written now, we don't see it works.
Dan Jørgensen
So, yes, first of all, thanks for the input from Paris today. I think there's some interesting ideas there and we are actually studying together with the EIB the guarantee for young people to see whether or not it's an idea that we can, that we can use.
And it's also true that the 150 billion that was mentioned every year, it seems like an incredibly difficult amount to reach. And it's definitely my opinion that we need to do whatever we can to of course mobilize European funding, whether it's from the European Union or it's from the EIB or it's from individual member states, which of course will also be probably the lion's share of which public money there will be in this. It will not be enough. So we need to use these public money that we have wisely. We need to use them where the market does not deliver and we need to use them where they can generate the most investments overall.
Now the MFF negotiations, I'm sure this house will push hard and that is of course one of the areas where it's possible to change things with regards to funding. On the criteria, first of all, thank you for the kind words and for also reminding us all that this is long overdue. Now we've of course aimed to make this as little bureaucratic as possible. But we are very open to support and listen to ideas also in discussions with co-legislators when the negotiations start. We only want to make it as easy as possible.
One of the things is that you don't have to notify to the Commission if you do define something as a stressed housing area. That's one thing that makes it easier.
But again, let's definitely discuss this in more detail when the negotiations start.
Konstantinos Arvanitis
Σας ευχαριστώ. Κύριε Επίτροπε, σας ευχαριστούμε πάρα πολύ, καλώς ήρθατε. Πολύ θυμωμένη ήταν μαζί σας η δεξιά και η ακροδεξιά. Κατανοώ βεβαίως, γιατί το θέμα και της στέγης είναι βαθιά ιδεολογικό. Και φυσικά η αυτορρύθμιση της αγοράς που υποστηρίζουν, μας έχει φέρει σε αυτήν εδώ την κατάσταση.
Και η στέγη πρέπει να αποφασιστεί να δούμε αν είναι αγαθό, αν είναι δικαίωμα ή αν είναι μόνο προϊόν εκμετάλλευσης. Εδώ λοιπόν η ελληνική εμπειρία δείχνει ότι χρειαζόμαστε πραγματικά μια φιλόδοξη νομοθετική πράξη. Εγώ συμφωνώ σε γενικές γραμμές, εμείς συμφωνούμε σε γενικές γραμμές με την αντίληψη που έχετε στην πρότασή σας. Όμως θέλω να είμαι χρήσιμος και θέλω να σας πω ότι σε γενικές γραμμές στην Ελλάδα το να έχει ένας, να μπορεί να μπει σε ένα σπίτι θέλει το 50% του εισοδήματός του, αν δείτε βεβαίως και πώς είναι ο βασικός μισθός στην Ελλάδα και τα ενοίκια.
Θέλω να ρωτήσω λοιπόν συγκεκριμένα πράγματα. Α, είχαμε και κάποια προγράμματα, το Σπίτι μου 1, Σπίτι μου 2, που ουσιαστικά η πρόταση ήταν ο τραπεζικός δανεισμός, οπότε δεν ήταν και πολύ φιλικά για τους πολίτες. Θέλω να ρωτήσω, πρώτον, ο χαρακτηρισμός μιας περιοχής ως περιοχή υποστεγαστική πίεση βασίζεται κυρίως στις τιμές αγοράς. Γιατί δεν αποτελούν βασικά κριτήρια τα επίπεδα των ενοικίων, η συγκέντρωση βραχυχρόνιων μισθώσεων, οι κενές κατοικίες όταν αυτές είναι συχνά έμμεσοι παράγοντες, οι άμεσοι παράγοντες που πιέζουν την προσιτότητα; Δεύτερον, φαίνεται ότι η αγορά κατοικιών από μεγάλα επενδυτικά κεφάλαια με σκοπό τη μακροχρόνια εκμίσθωση μένει εκτός του βασικού πεδίου παρέμβασης.
Πώς θα αντιμετωπιστεί αυτή η κατάσταση; Στην Αθήνα που μένω εγώ έχουμε μεγάλη πίεση από κινεζικά κεφάλαια, ισραηλινά κεφάλαια και ελληνικά κεφάλαια που αγοράζουν στέγη. Και μία πρόταση για να προλάβω κιόλας, θέλω να σας πω ότι η προσιτή κατοικία απαιτεί πραγματικά κατά τη γνώμη μας δημόσια παρέμβαση και εδώ χρειάζεται και η ενίσχυση της τοπικής αυτοδιοίκησης και των φορέων και η προστασία των μικροϊδιοκτητών φυσικά αλλά και των ενοικιαστών και η ισχυρή κοινωνική κατοικία.
Έχουμε μια πρόταση που αφορά που αναφέρεται στην υιοθέτηση παραδοσιακών κατοικιών να σας πω στην πόλη μου παραδείγματος χάρη που καταρρέουν επειδή υπάρχει πολυιδιοκτησία. Χάνεται δηλαδή κομμάτι και της κληρονομιάς και εδώ πραγματικά θα μπορούσε να ήταν λαϊκή στέγη, φτηνή στέγη, προσιτή στέγη. Σας ευχαριστώ πάρα πολύ που μας ακούσατε και περιμένουμε ακόμα πιο φιλόδοξη πρόταση από σας.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you. There's nobody for ESN, so we go straight to or is there? No. Then we go straight to the Commissioner.
Dan Jørgensen
Yes, so so we do think that the worries that you raised are actually taken into consideration, but we're more than happy to clarify that also bilaterally. I'm not sure I got all the details of of your question, so maybe we can also do that bilaterally. But for sure we do see in many of the cities that are under pressure from tourism that indeed on one hand there's obviously an economic interest, jobs and everything in having the tourism.
On the other hand, if the people that make a living of tourism are no longer able to live where they lived before and have to move out themselves, then probably that balance is skewed. So I do very much hope that we've found the right balance in our proposal here. Thank you.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you. Now we move to the second round, so catch the eyes. We're shortening the time a bit and if we want to give as many colleagues as possible the time to intervene, it would be nice to respect that. The next three speakers are Ms. Doherty, Ms. Homs Ginel and then Mr. Falcone. Regina, please.
Regina Doherty
Thanks, Chair, and Commissioner, you're very, very welcome. It's nearly 20 months since you received your letter from President von der Leyen, which stressed the urgency that we all know and speak about a lot about Europe's housing crisis. And tomorrow it'll be six months since this Parliament adopted this committee's report, which we spent over a year working on, identifying the real barriers that are preventing homes from being built, which is unlocking investment and addressing what is an enormous supply deficit. So I have to ask you, honest to God, how is this the Commission and your first response to that urgency that we've been speaking about for the last number of years?
Because the Commission itself recognizes that insufficient housing supply is the main underlying cause, not short-term rentals, not vacant houses, but supply. And yet this proposal focuses exclusively on short-term rentals and recommendations. And I think the frustrating thing from my perspective is that given that this is your first response and most of it has absolutely no control under the Commission's remit, it's all about recommendations. The real frustration I have is that everything that's being announced today that will be debated won't build a single new house right across the European Union. So what I want to know is why are we not addressing the major things that we do have responsibility for from a Commission and from a Parliament's perspective?
Why are we not looking at the things today? Why do we have to wait, I think, for another six months before we absolutely talk about the stuff that we do have control and power over that will absolutely move the dial? And so you know what I want to see. You've both started this meeting talking about your muscles. I want to see you flexing your muscles to actually make decisions that will really impact the young people, the older generation, all of the citizens in Europe that we absolutely are here to represent.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you very much. We're now collecting a bit more questions from the colleagues. Ms. Homs Ginel, please, one minute.
Alicia Homs Ginel
Yes, I will do it in Spanish.
Muchas gracias, presidente, comisario. Hoy yo creo que sí que está siendo un día muy importante y quiero agradecerle esta propuesta porque ha puesto el enfoque en la asequibilidad, que es lo que la ciudadanía estaba pidiendo, en conseguir que esos esfuerzos europeos se dirijan en garantizar la vivienda por debajo del precio del mercado, un mercado que ha demostrado que por sí mismo no se va a regular, y no en la vivienda para aquellos que ya se la pueden permitir. Por lo que esto, como decía, creo que sí que supone un buen punto de partida para que trabajemos desde este Parlamento. Desde el Grupo Socialista, por supuesto, trabajaremos en mejorar la propuesta, viendo que algunos ya se están encargando de empezar a trabajar para empeorarla. Pero bueno, como estamos aquí por los ciudadanos y ciudadanas y como bien ha dicho, una cuestión es la parte teórica y la otra es la parte política, y la ciudadanía nos ha pedido reiteradamente que hagamos algo en materia de vivienda, quería agradecerle dos cuestiones que recoge esta propuesta.
La primera es dar herramientas a las regiones y ciudades para gestionar los alquileres turísticos. Fue una demanda de Mayors for Housing, que son de diferentes partidos políticos, pero creo que las entidades locales lo van a agradecer para dejar de expulsar a residentes y destruir la vitalidad de nuestros barrios.
Y segundo, priorizar las primeras residencias, especialmente en esas zonas tensionadas. Yo creo que la figura de zonas tensionadas es muy importante para poder diferenciar las diferentes partes y creo que refuerza esa ley, en el caso de España, de vivienda que resulta así ser eficaz aunque algunos lo quieran negar. Gracias.
Marco Falcone
Thank you, chair. I am going in Italian. Abbiamo letto, signor Commissario, le proposte della Commissione e purtroppo il primo elemento che emerge è quello che manca. Noi contestiamo questa proposta nel merito e nel metodo. Avevamo chiesto di aumentare l'offerta abitativa, di spingere su rigenerazione urbana e sul recupero del patrimonio esistente.
Avevamo chiesto di agevolare la sinergia degli investimenti pubblici e privati per realizzare nuove costruzioni e per recuperare il patrimonio abbandonato edilizio. Avevamo chiesto anche di detassare gli investimenti in housing. Tutte queste cose erano inserite nel report il cui nostro relatore Jiménez aveva opportunamente realizzato assieme all'intera Commissione. Di questo, signor Commissario, nulla è stato realizzato.
Siamo partiti dalla dalla questione principale. Lei ha detto tra il poco e il tanto ha deciso invece di non fare nulla. E siamo arrivati invece a a presentare una proposta molto minimalista, cioè su un aspetto assolutamente secondario che non va al cuore della proposta. Noi come delegazione di Forza Italia le chiediamo di ritirare questa proposta perché non è assolutamente utile e rischia di creare ulteriori problemi all'emergenza abitativa in Europa.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you very much. Next speaker from the ECR is Nora Junco García. Please.
Nora Junco García
I will speak in in Spanish. Gracias, presidente y comisario, bienvenido. Pero yo también estoy muy decepcionada. Durante meses hemos estado escuchando en las sesiones de esta comisión a expertos, analistas y a principales actores del sector y veo que no ha tomado nota de los datos, sino de los relatos. El Plan Europeo para la Vivienda Asequible parte de un diagnóstico incompleto.
Habla de precios, pero el verdadero problema ya sabemos todos que es el de la oferta y su propio plan lo admite, porque ustedes reconocen que los permisos de construcción han caído un 20% y se fijan una meta de un número de viviendas a construir al año. El diagnóstico es el correcto.
Ahora miremos la receta. Su primera norma vinculante presentada esta misma semana no construye ni una sola vivienda. Regula el alquiler turístico y limita la compra de las segundas residencias, es decir, que vamos para atrás como los cangrejos. Ahí está el sinsentido. El objetivo de construir viviendas no obliga a nadie, es una aspiración sobre el papel.
La restricción sí será obligatoria y tendrá efecto. Y el orden es que la restricción llega en 2027, la simplificación administrativa en 2027. Primero se prohíbe y después se facilita, al revés de como se sale de una escasez. Añado algo que esta cámara debería incomodarle, que es limitar a un europeo la compra de vivienda en otro estado miembro que toca la libre circulación de capitales y ustedes lo saben, llamen a las cosas por su nombre. Porque el precedente existe.
En alguna ciudad de España se lleva años topando alquileres y el resultado es menos oferta, precios más altos y el mercado negro. Así que, en fin, Europa no resolverá la crisis repartiendo una escasez cada vez mayor, sino aumentando la oferta. Gracias.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you.
Last one in the round, Martin Hojsík, and Commissioner has indicated that he does need to leave unfortunately after this next response and he's offered to come back soon, but this will cut short some of the speaking time in the rest of the meeting. Mr. Hojsík.
Georgios Aftias
Θα επιτρέψετε και σε μένα, κύριε Επίτροπε, γιατί δεν σταματάμε εδώ, κύριε Επίτροπε. Τα ερωτήματα των Ευρωπαίων πολιτών είναι περισσότερα από τις δικές σας ανάγκες.
Martin Hojsík
Mr. Hojsík.
Thank you very much and let me start with one thing, colleagues. No, I'm not happy with entirely with what we've seen. But come on, is it the European Union to blame for Member State responsibility? Housing is a Member State responsibility. It's the government of our Member States that have failed over the years.
So yes, while we should want more from the Commission, I agree with that, to hear on how the insufficient housing is going to be built, and where have been your governments? Where have been our governments? They've been failing. And yes, I think we need a framework for short-term rentals to provide the certainty for the municipalities to be able to act and not to be frightened. And yes, it needs to be not just less complicated framework but also more agile framework, because we need action faster.
And yes, I hope that we will be able to pass dedicated funding within the next MFF for housing with the Regional Development Fund. But I'm also hoping that we will see some reactions from the member states. So I'm wondering, Commissioner, will you be coming back also if the member states came up with any responses to the recommendations? And if the member states are not responding, will the Commission be more agile in its actions and legislative proposals? Because sorry, yes, member states have failed.
We have to step up, including the Commission. Thank you.
Dirk Gotink
So then in the interest of time, you can stay a bit longer, but then I just continue with collecting and you round up in the end. Okay, Mr. Buda.
Daniel Buda
Da, foarte pe scurt, domnule comisar. Eu am înțeles care este propunerea Comisiei. Sigur, vom lucra la ea odată ajunsă în Parlament, însă nu vom putea rezolva problema aceasta a locuințelor dacă nu vom găsi o soluție pentru ceea ce înseamnă reducerea birocrației. Am fost în statele membre cu Comisia în misiuni. Câtă vreme avem patru ani de zile pentru eliberarea unei autorizații de construire, n-ai cum să ai o fond locativă adecvată.
Doi, mai este o altă chestiune la care Comisia poate să lucreze vizavi de finanțarea comunităților locale pentru a dezvolta acele parteneriate publice-private acolo unde primăriile au terenuri, dar nu au bani pentru a-și viabiliza terenurile în mod adecvat în vederea construirii de locuințe. Dacă vom reuși să facem acest lucru, atunci vom avea și un fond de locativ adecvat. Câtă vreme însă vom tot cârpi locuințele care sunt în Airbnb și așa mai departe, nu vom rezolva această problemă. Mulțumesc.
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin
Thank you very much. You spoke, Commissioner, about your priorities, your three priorities. But for me, living in Dublin, it's been housing, housing, housing for the last two years. In Dublin, tourists live in homes while families live in hotels that are acting as emergency accommodation. In my city where I live, 4,000 children are homeless.
One tenth of the homes in the south inner city are let out to Airbnb, and a Dublin property only needs to be let eight to ten days a month to match a full month's private rental income. So these measures are actually about supply. I welcome your comments on homelessness and the MFF. Can I get a commitment for the hosting of a housing summit before the end of this year? Thank you.
Georgios Aftias
Ευχαριστώ. Dear colleagues, I will talk to Greek. Καλά κάνετε και μένετε, κύριε Επίτροπε.
Θέλω να ακούσετε μια πρόταση. Χιλιάδες νέοι σε όλη την Ευρώπη και ιδίως σε παραμεθόριες περιοχές έχουν οικόπεδα, αλλά η Ευρώπη δεν χρηματοδοτεί την κατασκευή κατοικίας, ενώ ψάχνουν να βρουν σπίτι και δεν βρίσκουν. Δώστε τη δυνατότητα στα νέα ζευγάρια, ιδίως σε παραμεθόριες περιοχές. Κάνω έκκληση. Έχω επιστολές από τους δημάρχους Καστελλόριζου, Σύμης, Χάλκης, Τήλου της πατρίδας μου, δίπλα στην Τουρκία είναι όλοι αυτοί.
Κάτοικοι δεν βρίσκουν σπίτι. Δώστε τους τη δυνατότητα μέσω οικοπέδου που έχουν να χτίσουν σπίτι και θα γλιτώσετε και χρήματα, να το ξέρετε. Και θα μείνετε και στην ιστορία. Σας ευχαριστώ θερμά. Δεν μπορεί ο Έλληνας να μην μπορεί να χτίσει και ο Τούρκος από απέναντι, που απειλεί την Ελλάδα, να μπορεί να έχει σπίτι και να κάνει ό,τι θέλει.
Ευχαριστώ πολύ.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you. Iro Amendia? Not here? Good, we move on. Marine Ohisalo for the Greens.
Maria Ohisalo
Thank you very much, Chair. Dear Commissioner Jørgensen, thank you for coming here.
A large group of European researchers have approached you and the Commission on the reality of the financialization of the housing market going on. And on your opening speech, you referred to the fact that you'll prepare an analysis on the financialization, but however, we already have the acts on the table here, and I think the, I assume the analysis will not serve this act anymore. Because the measure on vacant housing you have made is going to make possible for corporate landlords and institutional investors to continue financialize housing for speculative purposes. Because the list you have provided is not exhaustive one, they can actually use any sort of justification to keep their own housing vacant. And given that the crisis is from the past, many colleagues here have stated that, your proposal to make it impossible to regulate land and property acquired before the adoption of the measure by Member States drastically restricts its effectiveness.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you very much. I will cede my own speaking time and the last one is then Maria Zacharia. One minute, please.
Maria Zacharia
Thank you. Κύριε Επίτροπε, σήμερα στην Ευρώπη συμβαίνει κάτι βαθιά άδικο.
Άνθρωποι δουλεύουν και δεν μπορούν να πληρώσουν το νοίκι τους. Νέοι άνθρωποι δουλεύουν και δεν μπορούν να κάνουν το δικό τους σπίτι, οικογένειες ζουν με το φόβο ότι θα χάσουν την πρώτη κατοικία τους. Και την ίδια ώρα σπίτια συγκεντρώνονται σε funds και η κατοικία μετατρέπεται από κοινωνικό αγαθό σε επενδυτικό προϊόν που κάποιοι συσσωρεύουν στα χαρτοφυλάκια. Δίνει και έγκριση η Κομισιόν στην περίπτωση της Ελλάδας να πάρουν τα κοράκια τα σπίτια των φτωχών Ελλήνων που αδυνατούν να πληρώσουν τα δάνειά τους. Ε λοιπόν, εδώ πρέπει να πάρουμε θέση.
Δεν μπορεί το δικαίωμα στην ιδιοκτησία και στο κέρδος να είναι, να είναι ισχυρότερο από το δικαίωμα του ανθρώπου να έχει ένα σπίτι. Η λογική σας συνεχίζει να είναι σε λάθος κατεύθυνση. Είναι η στέγη χαρτοφυλάκιο; Είναι εμπόρευμα; Όχι, γιατί η ζωή του ανθρώπου είναι πάνω από τα κέρδη.
Στις 25 τροπολογίες που κατέθεσα ζήτησα προστασία της πρώτης κατοικίας, δημόσια και κοινωνική στέγη και πραγματικά όρια στην κερδοσκοπία, αυτά που λείπουν από την έκθεσή σας. Σας ευχαριστώ.
Dirk Gotink
Thank you very much for the timekeeping. Mr. Commissioner, to round up and any open questions will be, we can come back to, but please.
Dan Jørgensen
Yes, so actually most of the questions about things that are not in this act we will come back to because most of these things are things that we also intend to do something about. And I'm sure you've all read and know the affordable housing plan. We published this before this house's plan and report. They are similar, but they're not completely similar. So there's also things that we propose that some in this house will see as more ambitious, others will see as unnecessary.
But this is of course the way, the way it is. But I do agree with those of you who say this will not be enough. Of course not. This, this does not, this does not give us more money for investment, for public investments in social housing or affordable housing. Of course it doesn't.
This does not from one day till the next help on the more structural problems, although we do try to also address these via recommendations, but we certainly don't exclude also taking other regulatory means into consideration later. And then there's things that we know that we will propose, for instance, a simplification package.
We're doing the analysis now broadly in the whole acquis, where is it that we have rules and regulations that are hindering fast building of new houses and refurbishing and renovation of already existing houses? And so you asked about the permitting, I can assure you we're very much on that. And this also goes to your question that of course it's a paradox that we have people wanting to build but cannot build and it takes too long because of bureaucracy. So we do need to do something about that while of course still taking into consideration the need to protect environment and conservation and those things we will not forget. So that is very, very important.
Now on the future negotiations, listen, this is the position of the Commission, but we acknowledge that there are trade-offs and dilemmas, and this means that we will also listen to arguments. And when you sit with the co-legislators, let's see where are the Member States. We will, as we always are, be as creative as we can when it comes to finding the compromises. And we also are very willing to listen to ideas that we may not have had that can make things easier, because it would be of course counterproductive and certainly not what we want if we ended up creating more bureaucracy and making things more difficult. That's not what we intend.
On the contrary, we intend to make things easier and more streamlined. So I'm always happy to discuss these issues with you. Many of us meet in smaller groups or bilaterally. Let's continue to do that. But I also love coming here in this committee, so please just invite me and I'll always find time.
And thank you also so much for... I did realize, though, that the guy who was most angry at me, he didn't listen to my answer, which is I'm a little bit offended about that. But apart from that, thank you so much for a good discussion.
Dirk Gotink
Mr. Commissioner, I will pass the message. Now, there are closing remarks here. Thank you for being here. Thank you for answering questions. This parliamentary debate is extremely important and that's why I was also a bit lenient when it came to time.
But there are serious questions in the room on subsidiarity, on proportionality, and I think we can deal with them in the future. So thanks again and good luck with your other endeavors.
So formally speaking, this does not mean the end of the meeting, dear colleagues, but I do have just some chair's announcements regarding the coordinators' meeting. Coordinators agreed that the conclusions, so this was the 13th of July, long time ago, coordinators agreed that the conclusions referred to in the house revised mandate shall take the form of a letter to the Conference of Presidents. Coordinators agreed not to object to the request from the DROI subcommittee to draft an initiative report and bilateral contact between the two chairs are taking place to technically adapt the report's title. Sounds very exciting. Coordinators agreed to send a letter to Commissioner Dan Jørgensen and to request additional information on the governance of the Housing Alliance, including the involvement of Parliament as an institution, the level of participation of members of the European Parliament, and ask clarification of the participation membership of local NGOs in the field of housing.
How many pages of coordinators'? Can we not send this around? I mean, this is just...
Okay, I'm going to read all this stuff then. Coordinators endorsed the following exchange of views to be inserted in the work program for the second semester of 2026. The Affordable Housing Act, the follow-up of the Commission Affordable Housing Plan, housing investment from the Pan-European platform to cohesion funds, recovery and resilient plans, national and regional partnership plans. The Construction Services Act and simplification package, the upcoming Commission initiative on sustainable tourism strategy. Coordinators further agreed to organize the following public hearings: homelessness and the anti-poverty strategy, the innovative methods of construction and renovation and how the Union funds can promote them, impact of short-term rentals on housing affordability, housing markets without speculation, public tools to restore housing affordability for first-time buyers.
Then coordinators, they were very busy on the 13th of July, decided to request authorization to the COP for the below-mentioned missions to Bucharest during week 44, which is in Romania, and Hamburg, week 52, which is in Germany. Coordinators endorsed the following list of studies to the policy department: how housing policies are financed by Member States, case studies across the Union, and ensuring affordable and energy-efficient housing in the Union. Coordinators endorsed the calendar for the second half of 2026 and January 2027. Thank God. This closes our meeting, colleagues.
Speaker 25
I know what everybody wants. He wants to speak about the housing crisis. Yeah, and how it looks like. So, so, yeah, yeah, okay. Okay.
Of course, and then the proposal. And so, so, okay. Okay, so I can try. Yeah, but I don't know how it's easier for, for them, I mean, just from, because it's better. Okay.
Okay. Okay, I don't understand. Okay, anyway, so, okay, alright. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay.
Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay.
Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay.
Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay. Okay, so, okay.
Okay, so, okay.
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