Sumar accentuates its differences with the PSOE amid pressure from Podemos | Spain

After agree with the PP on two initiatives in CongressSumar toughens his tone against the PSOE and distances himself a little further from the Government partner. After Tuesday’s movement, which has upset the majority party of the coalition, the group led by Vice President Yolanda Díaz has once again distanced itself this Wednesday by being very critical in its response to the appearance of the Minister of HousingIsabel Rodríguez, an appointment marked for them in red on the calendar. At the end of the plenary session, the parliamentary spokesperson, Íñigo Errejón, described Rodríguez’s intervention as “disappointment and a lost opportunity” and announced that his group will open a “reflection on the next steps to be taken”, although he assures that they are not asking for the resignation. “We want to save this Government from its fateful administration,” commons representative Gala Pin reproached in her speech in the chamber. The pressure on the Executive has also intensified from the left. Podemos, which questions Sumar’s weak position, insists on conditioning its support for the Budgets on a 40% drop in rents.

The tension over housing and the announcement that the Government will give more funds to concerted education – something that IU deputy Toni Valero also criticized this Wednesday – complete two complex days for the coalition. In the halls of Congress, the first vice president, María Jesús Montero, described the morning as “incomprehensible.” alliance between the PP and Sumar one day before to give the green light to the procedure of both initiatives, although he wanted to downplay the crisis and attributed the movement to issues of the “space of the left” rather than to the relationship between PSOE and Sumar, alluding to a struggle with Podemos to obtain certain flags. In the plenary session on Tuesday, those of Díaz agreed to abstain from the popular bill to give Congress the last word on defense missions abroad and the shipment of weapons in exchange for the conservatives’ yes to a norm yours to stop abuses in mortgage clauses.

First thing in the morning, Errejón wanted to go out and explain his group’s position. He stressed that it is good to reach broad agreements and dismissed criticism by stating that what has been achieved shows that “there is a legislature for a while.” “When you get your opponents to end up voting for your proposals or getting closer to your ideas, what you are achieving is an ideological victory. “We, ideologically, have not moved a bit,” he defended in reference to the proposal that grants Congress more decision-making power in military matters, a historic demand of the left. “That in politics is a victory,” he added.

The Rodríguez’s appearancehours later, has only fueled the differences in the Executive. Sumar wants to make housing a central issue this term, but it is an issue on which he maintains strong disagreements with the PSOE. Despite not having direct powers in the matter, the objective of those from Díaz is to exert maximum pressure to achieve market intervention that serves to lower prices. In his speech on the platform, deputy Alberto Ibáñez deployed the battery of proposals already announced by Sumar and added a new one to these demands: limiting the purchase exclusively to natural persons. The Valencian parliamentarian ended with a warning to the minister: “If you are not on the right side, I assure you that you have no more time left than a 600-euro apartment published in Idealista.” Rodríguez, in his reply, answered that they had to decide “whether they were with the Government or with the opposition” and in the face of criticism of the socialist management, he described the PSOE as “the older brothers” and “the pragmatic left that resolves.” “We have heard little empathy, little self-criticism and zero proposals. For us this is a missed opportunity and a disappointment,” Errejón later assessed.

Podemos, in constant struggle with Sumar, redoubles its bet and has once again fully recalled that it will assert its four votes to support the 2025 Budgets. Ione Belarra’s party, which has accused Rodríguez of “working for rentiers” and practice policies “indistinguishable” from those of the PP, launched on Tuesday a consults the militancy to condition their support for the Accounts for the Government to accept the breaking of commercial and diplomatic relations with Israel, but also the reduction of rents by 40%. In the organization they assure that the proposal is possible through a reform of the Urban Leases Law (LAU), but socialist sources see it as “unviable” and interpret that Podemos only adopts such a harsh position, also involving the Palestinian cause, because They start from the “wrong” premise that there will be no Budgets. Belarra’s formation, however, assures that they are going to be “firm” and recognize that the consultation with the militancy seeks to “strengthen the negotiation.” Party sources warn that they have “free hands”, point out that the “Government is in low hours”, with “Sumar tied to the PSOE” and warn that they do not feel concerned about its continuity if its demands are not taken into account. .

The tone of the debate has become bitter at times. In her turn, Belarra referred to the three properties that Rodríguez owns and she responded with annoyance. “You are very interested in my properties. With my three properties I don’t even have to pay for half of the Galapagar chalet. “I’m sorry, it doesn’t reach me,” he reacted in reference to the house that former vice president Pablo Iglesias, former leader of Podemos, and MEP Irene Montero bought. Iglesias has responded to him in X. “I want to think that this is just a warm-up in an uncomfortable debate. We can all make mistakes and we have the right to apologize. I hope in your house (which luckily no one has ever mentioned (although Belarra did so this Wednesday)) they don’t do to you and your children what they did to us,” he noted in reference to the harassment suffered for months at the doors. of your home in the middle of the pandemic.