Irene de Miguel (Madrid, 1981) has been a deputy in the Assembly of Extremadura for nine years and four as coordinator of Podemos in the community. Now she will renew that responsibility as the only candidate for the leadership of a party that claims to be recovering people who had abandoned it.
De Miguel is also the spokesperson for the parliamentary group Unidas por Extremadura, which has already run in two regional elections and which, to date, remains solid. Perhaps for that reason, when the problems between Podemos and Sumar were worsening in Madrid, she threatened to throw in the towel. Now she is critical of Yolanda Díaz and values that the Government can be pressured “from outside.”
What is the situation in which Podemos finds itself in Extremadura?
We are facing a new primary process and I think we are in a very good situation, demonstrating that we are a political space that has known how to weave our differences and that has known how to bring together the diversity of opinions that we have in the space. In this sense, we must highlight that only one candidacy is presented and that, in the current context, is a strength that shows that we are all united, that what interests us is the project we have for Extremadura. I am very grateful to the colleagues who accompany me in the candidacy, some have already gone through a thousand battles with me and others are new. It is also very important that new people come in with new ideas and fresh air to adapt to the new situations that arise.
Yolanda [Díaz] has squandered enormous political capital and many hopes
Have the results of the 2023 regional and general elections taken their toll on the formation?
Well look, coincidentally we have had an increase in militant people in recent months and that is good news because there are people who are realizing that they have to pitch in. Furthermore, in the candidacy there are people who had left the project and who have returned. That is really important, recovering people who at a given moment left because, perhaps, they did not agree with certain positions, it is a sign that it is a moment in which we all have to row together and leave our differences behind. to focus on what is important, on what unites us.
Since he is talking about disagreements, he now wants to renew his organic responsibility in Podemos, but in September 2023 he made his position available to the party that did not share his national strategy due to how the relationship with Sumar was being faced at the time. Now there is total agreement?
At that moment, what I told my colleagues was that I was clear that we had to continue working for unity. It was a difficult moment for Podemos that led to the departure of the Sumar coalition. But right now we are playing a very important card in Congress to show the PSOE that things can be done differently. Sumar is not fighting the necessary battle to counteract a drift that is making the Government look amortized. That is why it is important to continue pressing, from outside in this case, to raise the urgency of issues such as the housing emergency or a clear position against the genocide in Palestine. These are clear issues that the colleagues who are in state are doing very strongly.
“Yolanda Díaz is the future of Podemos and the great hope of this country.” It is a statement of yours from 2022. Two and a half years after this statement, it is not the first, but is it not the second?
A lot has happened since that moment. Yolanda [Díaz] In all this time she has squandered enormous political capital and a lot of hopes that the progressive people of this country had placed in her. She has not known how to knit, she has not known how to sew and she has not known how to lead and that is why she has had to abandon the management of Sumar. I still believe that she is an excellent Minister of Labor, but she has not known how to lead the left-wing space.
Guardiola has shown a lot of arrogance with the budgets, if they don’t work out he will be the only one responsible
Why do you think that this confluence of the left that has been operating since 2019 has been possible in Extremadura?
It works when you look at your navel very little and think more about what unites us than what separates us. The secret is to act with respect and generosity. I believe that these are basic ingredients for confluences to start and be maintained. In my case I only have words of gratitude for my colleagues from Izquierda Unida, Alianza Verde and also for my colleagues from Extremeños when they accompanied us in the last legislature. It is about respect, generosity and knowing how to understand the moment we are in and where we have to go, putting the interests of the earth before individual interests.
A year and a half ago, when the PP was not yet in government and Vox had no place in the Assembly, he said that the main challenge was to face the drought. Since then it has rained in every way. What is the main challenge for the left now?
Our main challenge right now is to fight against the weakening of public services and also, obviously, to fight against the climate emergency. Although we are not experiencing a drought right now, we are increasingly aware of what we are exposing ourselves to. We need to make policies that mitigate climate change, that prevent us from it and that keep us prepared for what may come, and the only way to be prepared is with strong public services, with strong healthcare, with strong emergency services. and strong public education. But the PP here and where it governs always demonstrates its leitmotiv It is privatizing the public to do business with it and we cannot allow that.
The PSOE becomes podemized when it is in the opposition, it is more left-wing
Is Guardiola’s PP in the minority better than the PP-Vox tandem at the beginning of the legislature?
Don’t believe it, there hasn’t been a big difference, not to say that it hasn’t been noticed at all, not even in budget negotiations in which we understood that they had to be more generous and have reached out to the opposition. At Unidas por Extremadura we were told from the first moment that they were not going to move a single point from their fiscal proposal knowing that it was the big difference they had with us and on the same day of the meeting Mrs. Guardiola announced 20 million for the irrigation of Land of Barros. That was an exclusive nod to Vox because it knows that we defend that false expectations towards the farmers of Tierra de Barros must end now. Mrs. Guardiola has shown too much arrogance towards the opposition because she only wanted Vox as traveling companions. Therefore, obviously, if the accounts do not work out, she will be the only one responsible.
It seems that now PSOE and Unidas por Extremadura, both in the opposition, understand each other more than before.
Well, the thing is that the PSOE in the opposition is becoming very politically motivated and now there are issues that are unthinkable that they could defend when they were governing. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised to see how their speeches have changed and their positions have modulated compared to when they were in the Junta de Extremadura. The PSOE becomes more left-wing when it is in opposition.
Well, the left is sometimes accused of fighting for ideals and not talking about things to eat.
That’s not true. We talk about the energy model and that is talking about things to eat. We talk about healthcare, waiting lists, ambulances, and that is talking about things to eat. We talk about what truly affects Extremadurans because Unidas por Extremadura is very attached to the territory, therefore, so is Podemos. We talk about what interests citizens and we do not get involved in cultural debates or debates that are too identity-based for the left, but that perhaps are not a priority for citizens right now. We are focused on the real pains and problems that Extremadura has, which are many.
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