The breakup of Can and Add has been consummated. The training led by Ione Belarra announced this Tuesday that it is leaving the Sumar parliamentary group and that its five deputies will join the ranks of the mixed group. After months of tensions that have worsened in recent weeks due to the refusal of the leader of Sumar, Yolanda Diazto give them positions in the coalition government and its continuous attempts to remove them from the spotlight, Podemos has taken the definitive step.
“We have tried to do everything possible from the Sumar parliamentary group, but it has proven impossible. Therefore, I announce that from now on, the Podemos deputies will move to the mixed group to guarantee our ability to do politics in Congress and to continue promoting the brave measures that the people of our country need,” stated the purple spokesperson, Javier Sánchez Serna.
The decision came after Díaz prevented Belarra herself from speaking on behalf of Sumar in the debate that took place this afternoon in Congress with the appearance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Jose Manuel Albares, about the war between Israel and Hamas. “You cannot do politics in the Sumar parliamentary group. The rules are not the same for all members of that coalition and Podemos has not been allowed to do politics in the form of interventions or in the form of presenting its own law proposals,” he said. denounced Sánchez Serna from the desk of Congress.
The autonomy
After the announcement, Belarra published a message on the social network “Today, with renewed strength and convictions intact, we take a difficult decision but essential to continue transforming our country,” he continues. Sources from the party explain that with such “adjusted” parliamentary arithmetic, their votes will be essential and they will make them count. That is, they will negotiate individually with the PSOE, as ERC does now, EH Bildu, PNV or Junts.
Podemos came to Spanish politics to change everything. Today, with renewed strength and convictions intact, we make a difficult but essential decision to continue transforming our country. We need a feminist, ecological and transformative left. If possible.
— Ione Belarra (@ionebelarra) December 5, 2023
Thus, Podemos will join the mixed group, where until now there were only three deputies, one from the BNG, another from the Canarian Coalition and the last one from UPN. With this step, the purples will lose the money they received in Sumar’s parliamentary group, 23% of the total subsidies, although party sources affirm that the difference will be practically nil. What they will retain is the presidency of the Social Rights Commission, held by Belarra and which in recent months has been Díaz’s only gesture toward the purples.
The disagreements
“A few weeks ago PSOE and Sumar decided to kick Podemos out of the Government. Our response was that we accepted the coup and that we turned the page, but that we would continue promoting brave policies and transformations from Congress,” said the purple co-spokesperson. The leadership of the formation had been demanding for months that Irene Montero continue to head the Ministry of Equality, but neither Pedro Sánchez nor Díaz accepted it, leaving the purple ones without representation in the Executive, while IU, En Comú Podem and Más Madrid do have .
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This has not been the only rudeness that Díaz has made to the purples. After two years in which the second vice president has been distancing herself from the formation led by Pablo Iglesias – the same one who designated her as the new leader – there were already signs that the seams would end up breaking when the leader of Sumar vetoed Montero and other purple leaders on the lists. Furthermore, at the start of the legislature, the Minister of Labor also did not want to give them a spokesperson, preventing them from registering bills, amendments or any other initiative.
However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was his veto in Albares’ appearance. “Listening to outrageous words about Palestine has limits,” says another leader of the purples, who admits that the tension with this issue has been a trigger that adds to the “veto on the lists”, to being left out of the Government, to “not have a signature to be able to present their own laws” and no longer have spokespersons, Sara González reports. “We want to do politics, not be subservient to the regime,” she concludes.