Social security at risk
For Barley, Airbnb is a “bad habit”
April 8, 2024, 7:10 p.m
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The SPD top candidate Katharina Barley wants to campaign for a social Europe in the European elections. The social democrat also has the housing market in her sights. Among other things, limiting Airbnb and similar providers is on their agenda.
The SPD’s top candidate for the European elections, Katarina Barley, has spoken out in favor of limiting the conversion of apartments into holiday apartments, for example for the online platform Airbnb. Barley spoke of a bad habit “that in many areas, especially in the contested living spaces, a lot of living space is converted into Airbnb and similar offers.”
The Social Democrat said: “We want the European Union to come up with a regulation to limit this so that the normal population, the normal, the hard-working people have the chance to find affordable housing in sought-after cities.”
In Germany, the Berlin district office made headlines in mid-February. The authority achieved a success before the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court, as a result of which holiday apartments can be converted back into rental apartments. The basis is the state’s law prohibiting misappropriation.
topic in the upcoming European elections
Barley placed the announcement in a series of the European election campaign, which will focus more on security. “For us, above all, this means social security,” said Barley – not just internal and external security, as she explained.
Barley says he hopes that the European elections in June will strengthen the European Parliament. The leader of the Group of Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament, Iratxe García Pérez, said: “These are crucial elections.” The Socialists and Social Democrats would never enter into alliances with right-wing extremists – unlike what the conservative EPP might do.