The European Plan for Affordable Housing, which will be presented tomorrow by the European Commission, will include "indications" and a "framework of action" for platforms like Airbnb in tense areas. Community sources confirm this to EL MUNDO, emphasizing that there is no intention to prohibit these companies or short-stay rentals, but to provide guidelines on what should and should not be done.
Brussels emphasizes that its actions will be fully compatible with local regulations and will leave room for national regulations. In fact, housing competencies belong to the states, which is why many doubt that the Commission's Plan will actually provide solutions. However, the Commission insists that the text will include legislative measures. Not now, not immediately, but in a second phase of action.
What is not expected to be included in the document by Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jorgensen is a total price intervention in tense areas, as the Government intended. At the European Council meeting last October, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez proposed imposing limits on rents, but the Commission will not address this issue. In fact, it would be difficult for them to do so.
The document, in any case, has generated great expectations in Brussels in recent weeks. Housing is a serious problem in many EU countries, each with its own peculiarities. And that is precisely one of the great challenges of Jorgensen's Plan: being able to provide, at least in part, answers to situations as diverse as those that can occur in Madrid, Athens, or Amsterdam.
But even more than this challenge is the need for the work to have a real impact. Not just remain a roadmap or a compilation of intentions, which is what usually happens in Brussels with complicated and thorny issues. The EU needs to start acting, making decisions, and doing so much more quickly. In this area and in many others. The world is moving at a speed to which Brussels is not accustomed but must adapt to survive.
The need to make new decisions is compounded by the obligation to review others: a clear example is the future of combustion vehicles. The Von der Leyen I Commission wanted to lead the green transition and end car emissions, but it has been shown that neither the automotive sector nor citizens are ready to take that path. At least not at the pace Brussels intended.
Therefore, the Von der Leyen II Commission has been forced to review many of its premises, and this week it will likely announce the relaxation of the end of combustion cars. The President of the European People's Party, Manfred Weber, stated in this newspaper in September that these vehicles will not be banned in Europe from 2035, as planned. And last week he reiterated the same message.
"The technological ban on combustion engines is ruled out. Therefore, all engines currently being manufactured in Germany and the rest of Europe can continue to be produced and sold," Weber said in statements to the German newspaper Bild. The sector is also pushing for this, and there is a certainty in Brussels that there will indeed be a relaxation. The measure is expected to be presented on Wednesday, one day after the Housing Plan and one day before the European Council meeting where the rescue loan for Ukraine must be approved. A very important week begins in the EU.