Despite having made the leap into national politics just eight months ago, Marta Lois (Vigo, 1969) has decided to abandon the spokesperson for the Sumar parliamentary group in the Congress of Deputies to return to her homeland and lead the space candidacy. confederation to the Xunta de Galicia, controlled for 14 years by a PP that the Viguesa sees as “nervous” because “it doesn't work out.”
Why has he returned to Galicia so quickly?
More than a way back, because from the Congress of Deputies I have not stopped defending the interests of Galician men and women, it is an exercise in commitment. The PP brought forward the elections to try to make them go unnoticed between the end of Christmas and Carnival, which in Galicia is very powerful. So that they were a procedure. But at Sumar we are going all out in these elections that are decisive for a change of direction that is perceived on the street.
What will it depend on?
From the mobilization of the progressive vote, as occurred in the general elections in July and in the municipal elections in May. The voter has become aware of the 14 years of abandonment of health and public services that the PP has carried out and is going to come out and express themselves.
But the PP continues to lead the polls.
If Sumar enters the Galician Parliament, as the polls also predict, the PP loses its absolute majority. That is why Alfonso Rueda (the popular candidate) is nervous. He doesn't have the money and he would prefer the campaign to be short. But he's going to take a long time.
Do you fear a muddy playing field?
I see Rueda with little desire to debate. He does not want to see himself reflected in the lack of diligence and the manipulation that he has carried out from the Xunta with the pellet crisis. The Popular Party of Galicia is the clearest sign of the instrumentalization of public media for political propaganda. This is how the Electoral Board made it clear a few days ago by ordering the withdrawal of a campaign.
For the sake of this mobilization, wouldn't a unitary candidacy of the left have been better?
Not necessarily. Rather than concentrating the progressive vote, what needs to be done is to expand it. But we are not confused as adversaries. The adversary is the Popular Party.
And what does Sumar offer, that the BNG or the PSOE do not do, to the demobilized voter?
Although Sumar is a new political force, it is a useful tool that has experience and solvency in the State Government as evidenced by the increase in the minimum wage, the improvement of unemployment benefits or the reduction of the working day that we hope to undertake shortly. And now we want to put all that into practice in Galicia. Because Sumar does not want to enter Parliament simply to be there, but he wants to govern. And for that, what we put on the table are fundamental policies to give a 180-degree turn to the abandonment and paralysis of the PP.
Are you referring to public services?
Indeed. The unelected president of the everyone has been able to verify that it is a simple chimera.
Give me some example.
One of the main problems that young people, working families and all those who want to start a life project and become emancipated have is housing. This Popular Party has not done anything in 14 years. He has not even wanted to use the state law that allowed him to limit the price of rent. Well, Sumar carries in its program the commitment that, after Catalonia, Galicia will be the second community to put a cap on rent, to limit housing for tourist use and to commit to the construction of public housing.
Cuts in Health yesterday brought thousands of people onto the streets in Santiago de Compostela. What solutions does Sumar propose?
Healthcare is, at this moment, in a regrettable state of abandonment. You have to invest bravely. That is why we propose a 25% increase in the health budget, but not to go to pharmaceutical companies or privatization, but to execute a rescue plan for primary care. First to reduce the wait for an appointment to a maximum of 48 hours and to another 24 hours for an emergency. But also to take care of health professionals who are being mistreated and forced to work in a very precarious manner and with unaffordable work rates.
The flight of talent does not stop and the number of young people with a university degree who leave Galicia to work has grown by 15% in two years. Do you see the future in Galicia as dark?
The inaction of the Xunta has led to the closure of many industries in Ferrol or the Mariña of Lugo, to give just two examples. And no conversion has occurred. That is why Sumar has closed with the rector of the University of Santiago de Compostela the Recovery Talent plan to facilitate the return of 1,000 Galician researchers in the next four years. Galicia is, potentially, one of the best places for the promotion of renewable energies and the green industry. This country does have a future.
