MADRID, Spain – PSOE spokeswoman Montse Mínguez, who was to head the party’s list for Congress for Lleida, announced on Friday that she is “stepping back” following the controversy over her partner’s real estate holdings, implying that she is resigning and giving up the chance to return as a member of Congress. Artículo14 reported this week that Sergi Vélez, Mínguez’s boyfriend, owns dozens of rental flats from which he has evicted tenants, while El Debate exclusively revealed that Vélez’s company has gone five years without paying taxes.
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“I have taken the decision to step back, convinced that it is the best for the collective project to which I have dedicated my effort, my commitment and my best energy. We are living a decisive moment. A crucial moment for our country and for the values we defend. When the far right is knocking at the door and seeks to question social advances, rights and consensus that have taken years to build, our responsibility must be above any personal consideration. I want to deeply thank the trust, support and affection received during this time,” says the message she posted on her social media, published in both Spanish and Catalan.
The same Friday, the spokesman of the Socialist Parliamentary Group in Congress, Patxi López, backed Mínguez and indicated that “what I know is that she has never, never, never taken a step or defended a position, nor voted in favour of the possible interests of her partner, rather we could say the opposite.” In the same vein, the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, referred to the controversy over the boyfriend of the until now PSOE spokeswoman and stressed that these are matters that “are of absolutely no importance to the vast majority of people,” highlighting that “she has an impeccable track record.”
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On Tuesday, Mínguez acknowledged in an interview on Antena3 that her boyfriend is “a large landlord,” though she argued that the company is a “family business” that pays taxes. “It is a family business dedicated to renting and complies with the law. It complies with the housing law, which is being applied in Catalonia. We are not going against companies or against owners. In fact, the decree is there. What we are going to do is limit the rise, which seems to be infinite, in rental prices,” she stressed, also expressing that for the PSOE, “if there is a tenant who does not pay, they are evicted,” but “if there is a tenant who is a vulnerable family and has no housing alternative, they are protected.”
