Pedro Sánchez was installed in what Moncloa defined as "a winning frame". With new taxes on banks, energy corporations and large fortunes that have broad social support in the face of the energy and inflationary crisis. With a fiscal battle for tax cuts unleashed with the PP, which he confronts a neoliberal political model and another social democrat in defense of the pillars of the welfare state: health, education and public pensions. In addition, with the white tide that was resurrected last Sunday in Madrid against the health management of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. And with the previous rupture by Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the agreement to unblock the Judiciary.
All of this, with full throttle, heading towards municipal and regional elections in six months -also very decisive as a prelude to the general elections scheduled for December of next year- in which the PSOE exhibited the unity staged with Felipe González in the commemoration in Seville of the 40th anniversary of the electoral triumph of 1982.
But the winds of politics are blowing hard, transforming the landscape in a matter of days, if not hours. The breakdown of negotiations with the PP to renew the General Council of the Judiciary accelerated the agreement between the PSOE and Esquerra Republicana to promote the suppression of the crime of sedition, for which the procés pro-independence leaders were convicted. And even before Congress approves the consideration of this reform of the Penal Code next week, Sánchez himself also opened the door to a review of the crime of embezzlement during this parliamentary process. At the same time, another intense legal controversy broke out, with the cascade of reductions in sentences for sexual offenders in application of the new law of "only yes is yes." The consequence, according to some socialist cadres, is a deviation from the focus in the strategic framework established in Moncloa and Ferraz, with a government once again forced to be on the defensive to face the unleashed storm. And an evident accentuation of the internal division, already in three souls, in the coalition Executive between the PSOE and United We Can, in the face of the recurring friction between Yolanda Díaz and the purple formation.
In Moncloa and in Ferraz they had already been warning of the open "tension" in the space to the left of the PSOE, "for a long time", between Vice President Díaz and Podemos. "We already saw the differences clearly during the preparation of the budget project for 2023 or in the negotiation for the renewal of the General Council of the Judiciary," they warn. It should be remembered that when Félix Bolaños and Esteban González Pons were finalizing the names of the new members proposed for the governing body of judges, Podemos wanted to publicly impose the appointment of Victoria Rosell, as they think, to try to blow up the negotiation between the Government and the PP, where it had already been agreed to avoid proposals with a clear political profile. Yolanda Díaz used other alternative names, precisely, to avoid a veto from the popular ones. Feijóo finally dynamited the ongoing talks, but the clash between the vice president and the purple formation was evident.
With their sights set not only on the action of the Executive, but also on the new electoral cycle, while Yolanda Díaz builds her Sumar project for the general elections and Podemos faces very bad expectations for the municipal and regional elections, the Socialists summoned both to “resolve their discrepancies”. Above all, they argued, "it is important that there is no distraction from the vote." The most recent example that they used is that of the regional elections in Andalusia: the division in space to the left of the PSOE only served to facilitate a solid absolute majority of the PP. Although, from their own experience, the socialists warned: "Civil wars are very difficult to suture."
The debate on a possible reform of the crime of embezzlement in the Penal Code once again alerted some socialist sectors that already disagreed with the suppression of the crime of sedition. But it also again showed differentiated positions in the space to the left of the PSOE. From Podemos, Pablo Echenique warned of a review with "edges", which could affect the fight against corruption, and did not compromise the support of the purple formation, despite Jaume Asens, from the commons, or Enrique Santiago, from the Left United, they defended him.
And the reaction to the unwanted effects of the new law on Sexual Freedom also accentuates the division in the government coalition. From Podemos, the ministers Irene Montero and Ione Belarra, in addition to Victoria Rosell, government delegate against gender violence, came out in a rush in defense of their star law, in which they do not recognize any "error" of legal technique, and to accuse the judges of “machismo”, due to an erroneous interpretation of the norm. But socialist ministers such as María Jesús Montero and Pilar Alegría warned that if this law has any gap to fulfill its main objective, which is to strengthen the protection of victims of sexist violence, it will have to be corrected: "If the law has to be improved, it will have to be what to do," they said. However, the accusation of "machismo" by Podemos, which incites judges and prosecutors, is being forcefully responded to by the PSOE. "The way is never to disqualify the judges," warned Minister Margarita Robles. "We must always maintain absolute respect for the action of the judges," the spokesperson for the Executive, the socialist Isabel Rodríguez, settled on Thursday. And she underlined it on behalf of the entire Government. Again, in any case, Yolanda Díaz did not align herself in this controversy with Podemos.
