We can try to turn the page on the crisis of the only yes is yes. More than two weeks have passed since the fight between the coalition partners broke out due to the deep discrepancies over the changes in the star norm of Irene Montero, the Law of Sexual Freedom. And the purples have made a determination: to score new objectives that allow them to overcome the blockade situation and dilute what has been the biggest confrontation between PSOE and Podemos since the beginning of the legislature.
Sources from the confederate space emphasize that the conflict “it is taking too long” in the Executive, with the consequent wear and tear on the two parties in contention. This same Monday a survey was published in The reason that left the figure of Irene Montero compromised: 66% of the voters of Unidas Podemos themselves were in favor of changing the norm and more than 60% of those surveyed considered that the Minister of Equality should resign if the law was changed without an agreement . The positions on this matter remain the same in the purple ranks: outstretched hand from doors to outsideto divert the blame to the Socialists in the event that there is no agreed solution, but ironclad positions on the content, with no willingness to accept the terms of the PSOE.
This wear and tear has made a move in Podemos, where they are already looking to introduce new elements that mark the political agenda and go from screen after the struggle of the coalition. That is why this same Monday they demanded that the PSOE step on the accelerator in seven laws that are paralyzed in the parliamentary process and that, after Congress gave them the green light at first, continue in the period of amendments without the Socialists giving proceed to final approval. Among these laws, the Stolen Babies Law, the Official Secrets Law, the Mental Health Law, the Freedom of Expression Law, the Patient Safety Law, the ALS Law and the Delinquency Law.
In addition to this legislative battery, Podemos wants reactivate other coalition fronts to change the focus, reopening old controversies, such as Pedro Sánchez’s change of position regarding the Sahara, which will be debated at the request of UP this Tuesday in Parliament; or relive the malaise over Defense spending and Spain’s “warmongering” stance in the war in Ukraine. That is why this weekend Podemos has called a second peace conference Ukraine, after they held the first meeting of this type a year ago, just after the war broke out.
Minimize the crisis
In addition to these new fronts, in the party they have assured in the last hours that the crisis of the yes is yes “it is not a big deal”, thus trying to minimize the importance of the train crash that reached its peak on January 30. That Monday, after a weekend of very strong tensions in which Podemos heavily charged the PSOE for its reform proposal, the Socialists gave an ultimatum: they would change the law with or without Podemos.
The party was left in shockand after a deathly silence for more than six hours, they reacted by abandoning any idea of breaking up and exhibiting a renewed conciliatory spirit. If an agreement was not reached, it was not for them. Or at least, it didn’t seem like it. Thus, a kind of ‘battle of the story’ was opened, for which the appearance of Irene Montero and the public positions of Equality multiplied in the media to make a message sink in: that the PSOE wanted to eliminate from the norm the su main novelty: the concept of consent as a thermometer to determine the existence of sexual assaults. An extreme that the Minister of Justice and author of the proposal, Pilar Llop, flatly denied.
However, as this newspaper advanced, this struggle for the story unleashed concern among the Socialists, fearing that Podemos would end up installing its message in the leftist electorate. the consign that was launched from Moncloa, and that was transferred at the parliamentary level to their public offices, was to improve explanations and arguments, in addition to increasing their presence in the public sphere to try to counteract their coalition partners.
The staging continues in United We Can, which this weekend requested a meeting with the Ministry of Justice to try to find an agreement that today seems highly unlikely. Although the purples try to open the focus towards more issues, the truth is that some and others continue their struggle for shake off responsibility for the lack of agreement and this point is now the main battlefield.
In Podemos, however, in no case rule out abandoning the coalition government. That debate began on that penultimate day of January, when the crisis broke out and the party fell silent. After that, the minority coalition partner ruled out the option of leaving the Council of Ministers. An exit that, if it occurs at some point, will be carried out by Pedro Sánchez and that will lead to a new ‘battle of the story’. It will be he, in the last case, who must give the appropriate explanations.