The vice president hardens the tone and enters the dynamics of the conflict with military spending as an argument
Something broke this week in the Government and the change is not minor. Until now, Yolanda Díaz had been willing to disdain Podemos to muffle the internal noise in the coalition. Her arrival at the vice presidency, by direct appointment of Pablo Iglesias, was in fact a relief for the socialists; it was always evident that she would not follow the strategy of perpetual fueling of conflict cultivated by her predecessor. But that internal balance was blown up last Monday. Díaz took out his nails after knowing, according to what he assured, through the media that the Council of Ministers the following day would already approve an extraordinary credit of 1,000 million euros for Defense without attending to the objections that his political space had been for days, since the end of the summit of NATO, demonstrating.
It is not the first increase in military spending that has been approved this year charged to the Budget contingency fund; a formula that makes it possible to avoid the debate in Congress and that, as they remember in Moncloa, is very common, among other things, because the expense that Defense has to incur is usually at the mercy of the duration and evolution of the international missions in which Spain participates and it is not always easy to determine in advance. The difference, on this occasion, was the moment chosen and the publicity that the socialist wing wanted to give to the matter, just a few days after upsetting its partners with the announcement of the commitment made to NATO to increase military spending to 2 % of GDP (today it is 1.01%) between now and 2029. Podemos and Díaz herself experienced it like a stab wound.
Nor did the fact that the Minister of Defense, who is in a chronic struggle with the general secretary of the purple party and Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, directly take issue with the Minister of Labor, who until then had been more very cautious when remembering that it is not in favor, as a principle, of increasing the items dedicated to the Army. Robles also pointed to where he knew he could do the most damage by urging Díaz to explain in his region, Ferrol, that he wants Navantia to stop building frigates for the Navy. In Moncloa they assure that this type of provocations are not measured at all.
The two partners of the Government now have a pending meeting, requested on Tuesday by Diaz herself, to settle this new crisis. In recent days, both have made an effort to make it clear that what is in no way in danger is the coalition and that they remain determined to conclude the legislature, as always. It is not the first time that the PSOE and Podemos have shown their differences on substantial issues. They are separated by the position on the Monarchy, the right of self-determination, immigration policy, the relationship with Morocco… But now there is a new element on the table. The countdown to a new electoral cycle has begun.
own profile
This Friday, Yolanda Díaz finally launched Sumar, her project for the general elections that should take place, if there is no advance, at the end of 2023. Galician politics has made it clear on more than one occasion that in her “listening process” she will not it seeks to attract only the electorate located to the left of the PSOE but its aspiration is much more transversal. The Socialists fear that from now on they seek both a kind of reconciliation with the leaders of Podemos, with whom a gap had been opened in the last year, and to mark their own profile, which could translate into more episodes like the one experienced this week. .
The coalition has reached the summer of 2022, ten months before the regional and municipal elections next year, in a very complex context. Pedro Sánchez did not foresee this scenario when, just a year ago, on July 10, 2021, he surprised locals and strangers in the middle of the weekend with a much more profound remodeling of his Government than had been predicted until then. The explanation he gave for that internal revolution, in which three pillars of the Executive fell – his chief of staff, Iván Redondo; the vice president, Carmen Calvo; and the head of Transport and Secretary of Organization of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos– was that after the pandemic a new phase of prosperity was entering and that other faces, less burned, should be the ones who piloted the “fair recovery”. But inflation, that machine for generating discontent that already made its appearance before the war in Ukraine and has worsened since, has thrown all his calculations to the ground.
Sánchez made that crisis to gain momentum after the electoral disaster of May 4 in Madrid. In February of this year, the Socialists and the Purples lost the elections in Castilla y León and received another severe defeat, even more painful, on June 19 in Andalusia. According to the CIS, up to 17.6% of former PSOE voters opted for the popular Juanma Moreno, who also attracted 4.5% of former voters from Adelante Andalucía.
In Podemos they argue that the way to take flight is to undertake a clear turn to the left and accuse the socialists of timidity. The PSOE defends that it has proven to govern for a “social majority” and blames its partners who insist on generating noise that only interests the right and eclipses measures that both could take advantage of, such as the free dentist for children under 14 years or the stabilization of 67,000 toilet seats.
Díaz affirmed on Wednesday that between her and Sánchez they would explore all the “imaginative formulas” to reach an agreement not only on the defense budget but also on measures to alleviate the “suffering” of the people. The negotiation of public accounts is presented steep.
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