The exchange of support that took place this Tuesday in Congress between Sumar and PP has not gone down well within the Government. Yolanda Díaz’s coalition has been increasing pressure against the PSOE for weeks on issues such as housing and in the last week with a Budget negotiation that promises to be complicated. But his support this week for processing a law from Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party has especially bothered the socialist ranks.
It was punctual support and of little relevance. The PP law seeks to increase parliamentary control of Spanish military operations abroad and also the shipment of weapons to conflicts. A sensitive issue for the Government’s partners that even Podemos ended up supporting. Sumar abstained and made it easier for the text to begin processing in Congress in exchange for the votes of the right for a law to end a type of abusive mortgage clauses.
Sumar dropped during the day that the two votes were linked and that there were contacts with the PP in that regard. Finally, the law presented by the plurinational group came out with plenty of support, with the vote in favor of the PSOE, Junts and the rest of the investiture bloc, making the agreement with Feijóo’s party unnecessary. The support of Podemos and the abstention of other groups such as the BNG also made it easier for the PP to carry out its own initiative without the need for the abstention of Yolanda Díaz’s coalition.
But the movements took place and the exchange of support was consolidated due to the indignation of the PSOE, which this Wednesday showed its anger both in public and in private.
“It seems incomprehensible to me and I don’t think there was any reason to do it,” said the first vice president of the Government, María Jesús Montero, this Wednesday, in the corridors of Congress, from where she reproached Yolanda Díaz’s people for lying to her before confirmed that both forces had agreed to support each other. “They told me that what was being published in certain media was not true and was later confirmed,” he said.
Sources from the socialist part of the Government later specified that perhaps whoever conveyed this information was not aware of conversations that took place within the parliamentary group. In any case, the minister denied a “rift” within the Government as a result of this matter. “Not at all,” he said, later adding that he sees it more related to a fight within the left. “I suppose it has more to do with the space on the left than with relations with the PSOE,” he concluded.
But the PSOE’s discomfort was also felt during this Wednesday’s session in Congress. The Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, appeared at the request of several groups to explain the measures she is taking to contain rental prices. His intervention received numerous criticisms from the partners and also from Sumar. The Compromís deputy, Alberto Ibáñez, who defended the group’s position, presented a dilemma between Airbnb and vulture funds or people who are having problems with housing. “I have no doubt that you will know which side you are on, because if not, you have less time left than a 600-euro apartment published in Idealista,” he told her.
“There was a moment when he asked me: who are you with?” Rodríguez responded. “Your Honor, doubt offends. Who are you with? With the Government or with the opposition?” he added. “They apologize, but the PSOE is to blame. When things go well, a medal. And if they don’t go well, it’s the PSOE’s fault. “We are the responsible older brothers, those who have maintained the welfare state and those who are going to continue leading the pragmatic left that resolves,” he insisted, in an unusually harsh tone against Sumar.
The socialist spokesperson in Congress, Patxi López, also took the opportunity to launch a message full of intention. “We can shout a lot, be very vocal, but what we have to do is roll up our sleeves and seek agreements with all the sectors involved. So sign up for the agreement and don’t make the wrong partner again,” López told the Sumar deputies.
In statements to the media in the halls of Congress, Sumar’s parliamentary spokesperson, Íñigo Errejón, tried to unlink the two initiatives that were voted on on Tuesday. On the one hand, he celebrated that the law on abusive mortgage clauses was passed on Tuesday and recalled that the PSOE also supported it. “Yesterday we brought out something that was very important and that also shows that things can come out in this Congress and that shows that the social agenda can advance. And that means that there is a legislature for a while. And that is the best way to defend the Government,” he defended.
And, on the other hand, he maintained that what the PP proposed in its bill was reasonable. “The law has sloppy things and it will have to be discussed here if we don’t do theater. But when faced with the proposal of whether Congress should have more control over the sending of troops abroad, yes, of course. “We have always agreed,” he argued.
Privately, members of the plurinational group assure that the Socialists have conveyed their displeasure over Tuesday’s vote. But they remember all the times that the PSOE has voted with the PP in Congress. “With whom were you about to approve the land law?” they ask. This case is also different, these sources argue, since when Sumar criticized the PSOE support for the PP he did so for the content and not for joining his votes to the right.
Housing and budgets
The PSOE’s anger over this movement cannot be separated from the pressure that Sumar has been exerting for some time over the housing issue and the friction that both parties are experiencing within the negotiation for the General State Budgets. The coalition has already publicly expressed that it is far from an agreement with the socialists due to its ambition to introduce a comprehensive tax reform into these public accounts, which includes making special taxes on energy companies and banks permanent and also introducing other figures such as a inheritance tax.
The clash over housing between both forces crystallized this Wednesday in Congress. Sumar had put pressure on the PSOE in the days prior to the demonstration that took place in Madrid two weeks ago and facilitated the minister’s appearance this Wednesday. “We cannot make ‘the economy is going like a rocket’ our ‘green shoots’,” Ibáñez told him in the reply to draw a parallel between this government and that of José Luis Zapatero.
“We have heard very little self-criticism and we have heard zero proposals and for us this is a lost opportunity and a disappointment,” Errejón summarized in statements to the press after the minister’s appearance. Sumar’s spokesperson warned that they will study their next steps to increase the pressure on their partner a few more degrees, although he ruled out asking for Rodríguez’s resignation, as Ibáñez suggested or as coalition parties such as Izquierda Unida requested weeks ago.
“The Ministry has to find the direction and today there are only two possible directions. Either you are with speculation or you are with the right to housing. There is not a government crisis, there is a housing crisis,” Errejón summarized.
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