The rulers often complain that the political noise does not let their work reach the citizens. The truth is that conflict is sometimes the way in which some parties capture the attention of their voters. When we receive dozens of news impacts daily, only through the clash does a political position seem to make its way. As comforting as covenants are, they are also very short-lived. These days we are experiencing two exercises in self-interest at the hands of the extremes of the political spectrum, Unidas Podemos and Vox.
Let's first look at the noise that surrounds the government coalition. In reality, it is not so much a confrontation between the two partners, PSOE and UP, but rather the internal struggle in this second formation. A clash embodied in the ministers and leaders of Podemos, Ione Belarra and Irene Montero (with Pablo Iglesias in the back room) in front of Yolanda Díaz. Both parties are immersed in the negotiation on the electoral weight of Podemos in the electoral lists. Montero's position against reforming the "only yes is yes" law, as the PSOE claims, has helped him gain political weight in Podemos, while Díaz, actually in favor of agreeing to the modification with the Socialists, has had to support Montero so as not to get sheared. It has been shown that her authority in the space that she seeks to lead was not enough to break the will of Podemos.
It has not been a struggle between the PSOE and UP, but between the spaces that Díaz represents on the one hand (from Más Madrid to En Comú Podem) and Montero on the other. It is a confrontation for a share of power, but it is also the confrontation of two political styles. Díaz stressed on Friday in an act with Íñigo Errejón that "politics is not about noise or pressure." The vice president embodies an empathetic leadership and not sour as imposed by the indelible imprint of Iglesias in Podemos, convinced that only with a tough speech and marking distances with the PSOE it is possible to grow to the left of it.
But not only a part of the left is fully used to get partisan profit from the conflict. Vox also resorts to a propaganda motion of censure to put the PP in trouble. The operation consists of trying to cross the current limits of the ultra-right to enter neighboring lands that until now have resisted the formation of Santiago Abascal. Vox searched exhaustion for several months for an independent candidate. The strategy is not far from that used by his reference in Italy, Giorgia Meloni, who this week appeared at the congress of the left-wing union CGIL, seeking the popular vote. In this desire for alleged transversality, Vox has come across Ramón Tamames, a member of the PCE in the 70s.
Next week we will see if the experiment turns out to be a frog for Vox or not. For the moment, it forces the PP to define itself again with respect to the ultra-right. Pablo Casado marked distances, gave Abascal a beating, voted no to the motion and garnered applause but did not recover votes from Vox. Alberto Núñez Feijóo has announced an abstention, a symptom of some discomfort. The version of Tamames' speech published by eldiario.es emphasizes that "Spain resembles an absorbing autocracy." It is an evolution of the motto "freedom or communism" that brought so much success to Isabel Díaz Ayuso. Or the "leave good people alone" that Feijóo released in the Senate. It is a more sophisticated version of that sentence by Aznar against the DGT: "Who told you the glasses of wine that I have or not to drink...?".
Here is the mantra of an annoying government, which scolds and meddles in people's lives. It can make its way because it is more difficult to explain that the rules, in a democracy, restrict freedoms so that not only the strong can enjoy them, but also those who are not so strong. Meanwhile, Podemos has decided to transfer its internal pulse to the motion of censure as well. Belarra has asked that only women answer Tamames, with the intention of her and Montero intervening, thus reducing Díaz's role. More noise.
