The Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has announced that “soon” she will make her decision in relation to running in the general elections scheduled for the end of the year with Sumar, the citizen movement that she is promoting outside of Podemos , and has asked the party of Ione Belarra and Irene Montero to “rise to the occasion” to join the project outside the lists.
In an interview on Cadena Ser, Díaz was “very excited and surprised” with Sumar and recalled that at the time she promised to carry out a country project with 35 teams of which she said she was “not proud, I next” and added that “as soon as this project for the country is finished I am going to make a decision that directly concerns me, it is the only one that I will probably make personally, and that will be soon”.
However, the vice president did not want to specify more and took advantage of the interview to promote the project, asserting that Sumar is about “hope” and that it is “the guarantee of the progressive coalition in Spain” and predicting that her movement “is going to be the surprise”. “I see it in each of the acts,” she added.
Regarding the involvement of Podemos in the project, a party that wants to run in the elections in coalition with Sumar and not be diluted in it, the head of Labor has asked respect for all the political formations that make up the space that she wants to bring together, not only Podemos but also Compromís, Más País, Més, la Chunta… pointing out that “this goes by territories”.
In any case, he has asked to “let Sumar work” and has considered it “suicidal” to reveal something about how the talks are going but has guaranteed that “we are all going to live up to the circumstances of our country.” At this point he has asked to compare the political projects and put aside the lists, which, according to what he has said, do not “interest him too much.” “Sometimes by negotiating and losing a little you win, this is my way of doing things”, added the vice president after thanking Podemos for having “changed this country” and recognizing that “they are essential for projects of change”. “But I think that we must all rise to the occasion,” she reiterated.
During the interview, Díaz also warned, in a recommendation that seemed directed at the PSOE, that “fear of the right and the extreme right paralyzes, it does not mobilize” and has advocated “posing the issues positively, not negatively”.
In line with this, he has also warned that the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo “is a great adversary.” “He doesn’t need Vox, he is already very radical”, he blurted out to remember that “in Galicia he was the biggest austericide in the world” and “he wanted to impose some rates for the use of emergencies”.
On the possibility of reaching an agreement between Unidas Podemos and the PSOE for the reform of the law of only yes is yes before the vote on Tuesday in the Congress of Deputies, Díaz has been confident. “There is no impossible agreement, they are going to tell me,” the minister replied. “Honestly, that’s what I would like,” she insisted.
In the event that this agreement does not take place, he explained that the vote on the admission to processing of the socialist law proposal, “will be decided by Unidas Podemos and the PSOE group”, and has defended the need to “normalize the different approaches”. When asked if she will vote the same as United We Can if an agreement is not reached, Díaz has assured: “I am a democratic person, I give the debates and then I am quite disciplined.”
