Leaders of Spanish alternative-left party Podemos have vented their anger at Yolanda Díaz, the head of fellow Spanish left-wingers Sumar, because they hold her responsible for their failure to obtain any representation in the new Spanish government that Pedro Sánchez presented this Monday from the Moncloa government palace, given that in the previous legislature, Podemos's Ione Belarra and Irene Montero were both ministers. This reaction was expressed by the Spanish spokespeople for the party, Pablo Fernández and Isa Serra, who asserted that Díaz, now reappointed to her cabinet positions as second deputy PM and labour minister, is a "necessary collaborator" in the action of "expelling them" from the government which, in their opinion, is intended to make the PSOE feel "comfortable". Faced with this, they have affirmed that they will maintain their parliamentary autonomy in relation to Sumar and that they will act in the Congress of Deputies in accordance with their road map.
Hoy se confirma la decisión de Pedro Sánchez y Yolanda Díaz de vetar a Podemosos en el gobierno. Una decisión no sólo injusta sino ante todo un grave error político porque en el bloque progresista nos necesitamos todas, especialmente el motor de las transformaciones más ambiciosas. https://t.co/621lCOZgHb
— Ione Belarra (@ionebelarra) November 20, 2023
In addition, the general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, has stated, in a post on social media X, that the decision to veto them is "unfair" and "a serious political error", since she considers that the progressive bloc led by the Socialists requires the participation of "everyone, especially the motor of the most ambitious transformations", in reference to the work done by Podemos in the previous Pedro Sánchez governments.
In any case, the disagreement with Sumar has become more intense since last Friday, when it became known that the Podemos economic secretary Nacho Álvarez had resigned from the party asserting that he no longer had its confidence. Álvarez was the man in the middle of a Sumar offer under which he was to be made social rights minister, thus giving Podemos a ministry, on condition that the party's attacks against Sumar would cease. Podemos sources have described this Sumar move as a "trick" and an "absurd manoeuvre", given that party members had endorsed in a consultation that their choice was for Irene Montero to remain at the head of the equality ministry.
Podemos currently has five MPs in the Spanish lower house, all of them indispensable for the formation of majorities in the Sánchez government bloc. Faced with the question of whether the veto will lead to the alternative left parliamentarians leaving the Sumar parliamentary group or expressing their displeasure in the voting, spokeswoman Isa Serra replied that her party has a mandate endorsed by its members which involves "reinforcing political autonomy".
"This is what we will do in parliament", argued Serra, who justified her attitude by the need for a "really transformative" left. Thus, she did not close the door to exercising the party's freedom to vote in Congress either. In addition, the spokesperson Pablo Fernández assured that with the renewed structure of the coalition government the more "conservative" positions of the PSOE are winning, calling it "regrettable" that Fernando Grande-Marlaska continues as minister of interior and Margarita Robles in defence. Neither of the till-now Podemos ministers Ione Belarra nor Irene Montero will be in the cabinet. For Sumar, Ernest Urtasun will occupy culture, Pablo Bustinduy, social rights (replacing Ione Belarra), Mónica García, health (replacing José Miñones) and Sira Riego, youth and children (a new ministry), as well as Yolanda Díaz, who repeats as second deputy PM and minister of labour.