Yesterday, Sumar’s parliamentary group met in the Congress of Deputies in a meeting chaired by its ministers in the Government. The reason for the meeting was not very specific beyond “analyzing the political situation in the State.” However, as the minutes passed, the unknowns began to clear up: those of Yolanda Diaz They claimed themselves as a useful and necessary political force. And the surprising thing is not that they positioned themselves in opposition to the PP, which they did, but rather that they especially insisted on positioning themselves in opposition to their older brother in the coalition, the PSOE.
Sumar’s ministers were proud of having gotten the Government to also approve a housing decree, among the two that were approved last Friday to alleviate the effects of the crisis derived from the war in the Middle East. The second vice president acknowledged that the battle against the PSOE to carry out this decree “was heavy” and insisted that the only way for these measures to be promoted by the Executive is with them in it. With its presence now and with the existence of the space in the nearest electoral future.
This show of muscle and attitude occurs after the elections in Castilla y León indicated that a concentration of the useful left vote around the PSOE. The elections ended with the space losing the seat that Unidas Podemos had won in 2022 and the numbers suggest that they would not even have been able to maintain it if IU-Sumar and Podemos had participated in the elections together. So that this is not a general trend in future electoral calls, Sumar has to demonstrate its usefulness.
Díaz was responsible for opening the colloquium and assured that Housing “is the big problem that Spain has” and was pleased to have “placed a fundamental right called housing at the center of the debate.” The vice president assured that the PSOE agrees with them in the diagnosis, that housing is a problem, “but we do not agree in the outcome, in the reading that is made of progressive electoral interests.”
It was his first appearance after the tense meeting held by the Council of Ministers last Friday, when the ministers of Sumar delayed its celebration because the socialist side had refused to include housing measures in the decree to alleviate the effects of the crisis derived from the war in the Middle East. Although he celebrated this political victory, he acknowledged being aware that there is still much to do, since the decree has to be validated by the Congress of Deputies within a maximum period of one month.
Right now, everything indicates that the decree will be overturned by the right-wing parties in the Chamber, because it includes measures that they reject. This was the main argument of the PSOE for not approving the decree, but from Sumar they ask not to fall into “self-censorship” and now they outline a strategy so that the parties that vote against have to assume the social cost. It is a strategy that they often resort to, but it does not change the minds of agents like Junts.
Despite this, Díaz has asked his parliamentary group to get to work to put pressure on society and, if not, so that those who vote against end up assuming the consequences. He asked his deputies to mobilize “as necessary, everyone.” According to their analysis, the measure has been in force since the Council of Ministers approved it and those who vote against will be responsible for lifting it. “Whoever knocks it down, whether called Junts, PP or Vox, is going to have to account for what they are doing,” he said.
The vice president was very insistent on making “a call for our country to mobilize,” because “when people mobilize, rights are won,” she said. “The next elections are resolved here”he acknowledged.
Díaz also analyzed that the left has to be able to respond to citizen anger, one of the reasons why Vox is growing. “The social unrest that exists cannot be interpreted by the extreme right, we have to go out and win the country and give hope to the people,” he added.