• Podemos Coalition definitively breaks with Sumar and moves to the Mixed Group
  • Congreso Podemos would receive more money and have more time if it breaks with Sumar and ends up in the Mixed Group

Podemos definitively breaks with Yolanda Díaz and leaves the parliamentary group of Sumar to join the Mixed Group. The door had been slammed for days, gained strength in the investiture debate of Pedro Sánchez and was practically sentenced when it was confirmed that no member of the purple formation would have a seat in the new Council of Ministers.

With their decision, of the utmost importance, the five deputies led by Ione Belarra become one more interlocutor, essential for the President of the Government, because they will autonomously manage their votes, will have the ability to raise their voices in Congress and will be able to present their own initiatives; all a first-rate political work that they completely lacked under the umbrella of Sumar.

"Now they don't have our five votes and they will have to fight them. They will have to negotiate with us as with the rest of the groups," warn sources in the purple leadership. "Sanchez and Diaz have had no skill or political intelligence. They didn't want to take care of Podemos. They will know," they add.

Podemos has taken the definitive step and broken ties with Díaz's platform - which they now leave with only 26 seats - in which they felt cornered and which, to a large extent, they blamed for having been "expelled" from Moncloa. In the Joint Group, they will have a greater parliamentary subsidy and, above all, they will have the time and channels to present and defend their proposals.

The purples had been dragging for weeks the frustration of not being able to make their voice heard, blocked by the decisions of Díaz, who had already opted to leave them without an assistant spokesperson in Congress and nullify their possibility of presenting initiatives in the House. This annihilation of their protagonism was clearly made clear yesterday when they were not allowed to speak in the plenary session in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, defended Spain's position in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a confrontation in which the purples demand the rupture of diplomatic relations with Israel and the accusation of the Jewish government of perpetrating genocide against the population of Gaza. That was, according to sources in the party, "the straw that broke the camel's back".

However, the deep reasons for the clash with Sumar go much further and go back in time. Podemos reproaches Sumar for having "blocked" all the initiatives they have tried to champion and even for having torpedoed the possibility of distributing the speaking time in the Chamber so that, led by Belarra, they could participate in the most important debate of the new legislature, that of the investiture as president of the Government of Pedro Sánchez.

Sanchez and Diaz have had no political intelligence. They didn't want to take care of Podemos. They will know

"This was not the starting point, but the situation has become tense. We couldn't even present a non-legislative proposal," they justify in the purple party, where they indicated that there had been a conversation between their secretary general and Díaz, but that it was previously communicated to both Sumar and the PSOE and the members of the Mixed Group.

In the vice president's party, on the other hand, they claim that they found out about the rupture through Diario Red, the communication channel created by Pablo Iglesias, and suggested that it would be a case of textbook transfuguism. Nor did they hide their disappointment with their former partners, whom they consider to have shown that they do not know how to engage in self-criticism, and framed their decision in a "pure political and strategic calculation".

With its inclusion in the Mixed Group, Podemos not only makes a potential hole of five seats to the left-wing, pro-independence and nationalist majority that supports Sánchez, but also acquires its own voice to defend its postulates and becomes an actor with whom the Executive will have to negotiate on a one-to-one basis in the same way as it does with the PNV. Bildu, ERC, Junts, Coalición Canaria or the BNG.

Spokesperson for the Joint Group

As the majority force of the Mixed Group, the deputies of Podemos are guaranteed prominence when it comes to making themselves heard from the rostrum of Congress and, in addition, they will act as spokesperson for the group for two thirds of the legislature, which will allow them to present initiatives that, in the case of having remained integrated into the Sumar Group, they would not have been able to carry out.

In the Mixto, they will also have the possibility of making a pact with the BNG, which has a deputy in Congress, which could increase its influence by up to six seats, one more than those currently held by the PNV and the same as those held by another of Sánchez's preferred partners. EH Bildu.

With its hands free to act and establish a position, Podemos will be able to work on the formation of an important group of influence before the Executive of PSOE and Sumar, given the close relations it has always maintained with ERC.

Letting go of Yolanda Díaz's moorings, they become a loose element that may represent a danger for Sánchez to the extent that they will not miss the opportunity to be very demanding when it comes to giving a radical left-wing touch to the Executive's initiatives. Yesterday, Deputy Javier SánchezSerna put in black and white the intentions of his party: to make their votes count in policies that benefit the people. And do it with a free hand and without tutelage.

Within the Mixed Group, Podemos will enjoy a higher parliamentary allowance – approximately 8,000 euros extra per month; as the predominant force in the Mixed Group, they will be able to monopolize a good part of the quota of initiatives that correspond to them - questions in the control session of the Government, interpellations and proposals of law and not of law - they will also have room to intervene in the debates without depending on the interests and affinities of Yolanda Díaz and the leadership of Sumar. For example, in an investiture debate or on the state of the nation, they could occupy the rostrum for 10 minutes, the maximum time that the Rules of Procedure contemplate for an integrated formation in the Mixed, and, in the most common cases of totality on a legislative initiative, their speaking time will be up to five minutes.

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  • Yolanda Diaz
  • Ione Belarra
  • Irene Montero
  • Pablo Iglesias