The tug of war between Sumar and Podemos continues for the distribution of ministerial portfolios. The latest news is now the explicit rejection of the purples to Sumar’s offer for Nacho Álvarez to be the minister representing Podemos in the next progressive coalition Executive. Along with this proposal, Sumar demands other political considerations, such as an explicit commitment to stop the “attacks” and “insults” against its leader Yolanda Díaz by the Ione Belarra party and that Podemos not compete against Sumar’s parties in the European elections in June. The response of the purple ones is also negative in these aspects.
Sources from the purple formation complain about Sumar’s way of acting in this negotiation. They regret that Yolanda Díaz’s treatment when talking about the composition of the new government is not the same as with the rest of the coalition members. “The corresponding minister of IU is chosen by IU, but in our case there is an imposition,” they point out in reference to Nacho Álvarez.
Belarra’s number two in the Ministry of Social Rights is a member of Podemos, but since he embarked on the Sumar project, in the last electoral appointments, his distance from the Podemos leadership has been pronounced. This distancing makes it impossible for the Belarra party to accept Álvarez as its related minister, because “we cannot accept that the offer already comes with names and surnames,” they denounce.
“We can choose Podemos ministers,” they claim, clarifying that they do not veto Nacho Álvarez, but rather they want to have the opportunity to at least negotiate who represents them in the new Government.
In this sense, Podemos launched a government proposal to Sumar months ago with five proposals, four program proposals and the fifth, placing Irene Montero as its priority for the Ministry of Equality. However, Podemos is aware that this ministry will most likely change hands (predictably it will be for the PSOE), so they demand at least being able to negotiate a name. “There has been no response or negotiation” to that proposal, therefore, the proposal “is still there,” they say.
Through a series of tweets, Belarra has exposed Podemos’s position and has again criticized Sumar. “The formation of a government is something very serious. (…) In the democratic bloc we all need each other, without vetoes,” she stressed.
Immediately afterwards, Belarra reproaches Pedro Sánchez and Yolanda Díaz for having “leaked” the news at the same time that Sumar communicated the latest offer to them, which, in her opinion, “seems more like a media strategy to justify kicking us out of the government than a proposal to govern in coalition”. And he concludes with a new defense of Montero’s permanence at the head of Equality: “Like the rest of the political formations, starting with the PSOE, Podemos’s ministers are elected by Podemos. Podemos continues to think that the best it can contribute to the coalition Government is to deepen the feminist transformations at the head of the Ministry of Equality”.
