Spain’s far-left Podemos will stop supporting the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez if his government does not sever diplomatic and trade relations with Israel, the party’s secretary general, Ione Belarra, has warned.
On Saturday, Belarra made her party’s support for the Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) government conditional on Madrid breaking diplomatic relations with Israel, taking steps to reduce very high rents, especially in large cities, and strengthening social policies.
“We say to the government, and I say it very clearly, that if they (the executive) want Podemos’ support, they are going to have to break off trade relations with Israel, and they are going to have to lower rents by law and (they will have to) put an end to housing speculation”, Belarra warned in her speech at Podemos’autumn university.
On the other hand, Belarra insisted that the current political tensions demand more effort from the left in the EU because “together we can change everything, even stop”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This weekend, the Podemos event in Madrid brought together more than fifty national and international guests under the theme ‘Change everything we cannot accept’.
The far-left party has four deputies in the Spanish parliament out of 350, while the radical left formation has two seats in the European Parliament, one of them held by the controversial former Equality Minister Irene Montero, recently elected vice-president of The Left.
Podemos, like its former ally Sumar, a junior member of the coalition, has always been highly critical of Israel’s military offensive following the Hamas terrorist attacks of 7 October 2023.
Both Belarra and Montero, as well as other Podemos leaders, have described Israel’s retaliation as ‘genocide’ against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The PP and the PSOE are not so different?
Podemos and the left-wing platform Sumar finalised their ‘political divorce’ in December 2023 due in part to deep disagreements between Belarra and Sumar’s then-leader and current Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz.
Since then, Podemos has become increasingly critical of some of the government’s decisions, which it considers unambitious regarding social objectives.
Also speaking at the event was Montero, who warned that the PSOE and the right-wing Partido Popular (EPP) were “not that different” while criticising Sanchez for supporting what she called a “war” and “racist” Europe.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)
Source: euractiv.com
