Spain’s Sánchez ‘cannot govern alone’, Sumar leader warns

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) is “mistaken” if he thinks he can govern alone in defiance of the political line of the progressive Sumar platform led by Díaz, the junior member of the governing coalition, Sumar leader, Labour Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz warned on Saturday.

“People want us to govern together”, stressed the leader of the left-wing platform, who was elected by a majority vote on Saturday to lead Sumar.

Speaking at the closing ceremony in Madrid of Sumar’s founding assembly, which brings together heterogeneous progressive parties, Díaz stressed that the formation is “a project for the whole country” and not just “a parenthesis” as some of its critics claim, Euractiv’s partner EFE reported.

The platform currently has five portfolios in the coalition government with the PSOE: culture, labour (Díaz), health, social rights and children and youth.

The Sumar Assembly was also the setting for the official presentation of the head of the party’s list for the European elections, Estrella Galán, the current secretary general of the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR), who promised to work against the threat of regression posed by the advance of the far-right in the EU.

Her aim is to build “the international (alliance) of hope, of human rights, of diversity, of equality, feminism”, as opposed to “the international of hatred of (Marine) Le Pen, (Javier) Milei, (Donald) Trump, (Giorgia) Meloni (…)”.

In a direct message to Sánchez, with whom Díaz signed a government pact in October 2023, the former member of the left-wing Podemos party stated on Saturday that the Spanish prime minister would be making a “mistake” if he thought he could achieve his government goals without Sumar.

Her candidacy to lead Sumar received 81.5% of the votes of those registered (6,671), in a process in which only 11.6% of the members of the fourteen parties that make up the left-wing platform voted.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)