Yolanda Díaz: "My decision to be a candidate does not depend on the municipal ones"

The beginning of the course of the Vice President of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, is marked by two scenarios, the joint action of the government with the PSOE and the coming out of Sumar, which has been presented by the committee of wise men.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
25 September 2022 Sunday 19:34
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Yolanda Díaz: "My decision to be a candidate does not depend on the municipal ones"

The beginning of the course of the Vice President of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, is marked by two scenarios, the joint action of the government with the PSOE and the coming out of Sumar, which has been presented by the committee of wise men. And over both, dark clouds: the possibility of a recession caused by the invasion of Ukraine, and the bad expectations of the municipal and regional governments for the parties in their political space.

Is the "country project" that the experts will elaborate a political program of the highest?

It is not an electoral program, it is a country project to dispute hopes, and there we have to redefine the model of society that we want. I'll give you an example: when a worker goes on strike, he doesn't do it because he's angry, he does it because he hopes to advance his rights. This is an approach to the great issues of our country that must be faced in the next decade. Inequality, the climate emergency or the mental health of young people cannot be addressed from the perspective of electoral times.

In Sumar's acts, he has rehired people who were active in the "space of change" and who had left politics.

I like to surround myself with people who are specialists in their field. These groups will be open and everyone will contribute, from their perspective. I think there's a paradox that a lot of these people hate partisan conflict in politics, so they stay away from it. There are many good people who are going to Add. They already know the people who coordinate, but little by little they will also get to know those who participate and collaborate and will be able to draw their conclusions.

What do you think of the hoax that ran this week about the Minister for Equality and the political reactions it has provoked?

You have to be a very bad person to take Minister Montero's words about comprehensive sex education for our sons and daughters out of context. It is a right of children. Irene Montero's words are those of the Government and the majority of the country. The reactions of the extreme right to cover up their miseries qualify themselves and cannot be tolerated.

Before the municipal and regional ones, the relations of Podemos and IU, of their bases and cadres, are very tense. How does it affect you?

I have launched Add. It is a verb in which I feel comfortable because it is what I have done all my life, even against the current of my own political organization, in which I have been asked to resign many times for defending what I defend today. Politics is about solving people's problems, and this is what Sumar is about, without other distractions. It is a proposal in favor. And when I say "in favor" it is because it is no longer the period of the challenge, in which the left feels comfortable. Impugnation is easier than construction and I respect all diagnoses and partisan positions equally. But I'm going to add up and I'm going to walk, I don't think politics should focus on heroes or saviors. I'm not going to save anyone. I am one more, I don't believe in messianic leaderships, I don't like them. What I am going to try throughout this year and 2023 is to contribute a small drop in favor of hope, and I would like us to walk together.

He hasn't answered me.

I will respect everything they do, but it is not my project. I have been clear: Add will not be on time for the municipal and regional ones.

But a bad result of the space would have a demobilizing effect that affects your project.

I suppose that the leaders who present themselves to the municipal and regional elections will have valued it. But I insist, our proposal is citizen, it is a proposal in favor and of course you will always see me working for a better country. Mr. Feijóo and the extreme right are not going to reach Moncloa. They will never see me feeding, not even by chance, the certain possibility that they win.

She says that she will decide if she is a candidate for the presidency if the platform is constituted and asks for it. Could bad forecasts in the polls or a blow from the left in May make him resign?

No. I was a candidate for IU in Galicia with a representation of 0.9%, that is, it was an impossible mission. I am not characterized by defending things based on whether they are successful, I come from a different personal and political culture. I have campaigned in Galicia under these conditions and I have financed the campaigns from my office with my car. For me, there is only one starting motor, which is to believe in what I do and a stimulus, which is to change my country. I don't need success stimuli.

Are you afraid that depending on how the winter goes, the president will dissolve the Cortes and blow up Sumar's calendar?

The decision of course is yours, but I know that the Prime Minister is going to exhaust the legislature. And I also say it here: I am going to walk in a European project, in the formation of a progressive and green cross-border movement. I am launching this idea for Europe while I am going to do it here in Spain. In other words, there is going to be a progressive government again, despite the bad news that this is for the right and the extreme right in our country.

The evolution of the war feeds again the fear of escalation. Is this going to condition relations within the Government?

No, I think we are in a new phase in Putin's war in Ukraine, which I also think was not anticipated, that is, it is being disruptive. I have always defended international legality, which Russia has violated and, therefore, the Ukrainian people have the right to defend themselves. On this occasion, there is a new step, also violating international law. I am referring to the referendums that have been called. I think it is time for Putin to step down. That said, it seems to me that all efforts must be focused on diplomatic solutions and the search for peace. And this is inalienable. I feel very comfortable with the position of Pope Francis and Mr. Guterres and I believe that this is the way forward. The concern I have had since the NATO summit in Madrid has to do with the non-debate on the strategic concept and the completely autonomous European security model. I would like to advance with a pro-European spirit, to have a position of my own, because I ask again, should we submit to the position of the United States, a country in which Trump could win in 2024?

But do you anticipate that this change in the scale of the conflict will cause new tensions within the Government?

No. On Thursday I had a meeting with representatives of the European green parties, and I think the great contradiction is that we are experiencing debates in the first third of the 21st century that we thought would never happen. It is that we have a war at the gates of Europe, we have countries like Sweden that ask to join NATO, logically, because they are not, like us, 5,000 kilometers from the war. I speak with my German counterpart and it is not the same to be there. It is an extremely complex issue in which there are different positions, all very respectable and understandable, but I am a lawyer and I defend human rights above all else. And this action, Putin's invasion, violates international law. Rights cannot be relativized, they apply everywhere and at the same level.

Are there ways to increase the defense budget acceptable to you?

Without a doubt, and I think it's the smart way out that we've given these budgets. The president is going to fulfill his international obligations and commitments. He has to determine the percentage by which he wants to advance this year, but it is also clear that we have agreed on a spending ceiling in which that budget increase is not incorporated.

With the tax reductions of the PP, suddenly, we have heard the Minister of Finance propose improving fiscal progressivity and taxing large fortunes.

I think that Mr. Feijóo is making a mistake because he has no proposal for our country. The proposal is the past. So much so that he has been dislocated. He has no country project and this is a huge failure. The proposal made by Mr. Feijóo is extremely dangerous. Spain cannot become a competition, a fiscal dumping of gifts to the hyper-rich. They tell us that the Moreno Bonilla model affects very few people. If not how much. It is that with these public resources, 1,700 teachers or 1,300 doctors could be hired in Andalusia, which is what taxes are. This is what taxes are for. And this tax proposal made by Mr. Feijoo does break Spain. This really breaks it, the fracture.

With these proposals, the PP has focused the political agenda on an issue in which it is comfortable, such as lowering taxes.

Absolutely. I agree. Only that they are proposals from the past because Mr. Feijóo has an agenda from the 1990s, which is when he started in politics, which is to lower taxes in a general way. There is no European party in its conservative orbit that defends this. He is in an anti-European position and lacks rigor. Furthermore, when they ruled they did the opposite.

With this tax competition there is a risk of exacerbating relations between the autonomous communities.

There is a risk of turning some communities into paradises and there is another risk of turning autonomous communities into hells. And this is not democratic. It is not a fair model and a democrat and a person committed to his country must have a proposal for the country, regardless of where he governs. The proposal is enormously risky. We cannot defend fiscal dumping between autonomous communities in any way.

The wealth tax has a limited collection capacity.

I am in favor of this tax and of a structural fiscal reform. It is time to do it above all because there is an enormous sensation of fiscal injustice, which is real. 80% of income tax is supported by the payroll of workers. In addition, we have a gap with taxation. We are an anomalous country and this anomaly must be corrected. Those who have more, have more to contribute. And that perception that there are a few hyper-rich who are excluded from social commitments cannot be in a democratic country.

Why has the political course started charging against the CEOE and Mr. Garamendi?

Simply because they have not been at the AENC negotiating table since May 5. Nobody knew about it in Spain and it seems to me that it is essential that they reach an agreement and I am sure that they will sit down again. When Mr. Garamendi has been right, I have given it to him, and when the unions have been right, I have given it to him, sometimes being very controversial. But on this occasion, the unions are defending the general interest of our country and they are right. And Garamendi knows it. So what I ask of you is what I have always done, that you return to the AENC table.

The labor market has had a surprise bad July and a bad August as usual. Has the trend of job creation been truncated?

No, we are in the ordinary trend, of normality. We are going to have ordinary employment and unemployment data for the month in which we are. That is to say, unemployment is going to grow a little, it is going to grow less than what it has been growing in recent years. Employment will grow a little more than it has been growing in recent years.

Is the fine against Glovo a warning to the sector?

When we negotiated the rider law, which was one of the most difficult, one of the main reasons was that there was unfair competition. And it is that many Spanish companies use digital platforms and apply the collective agreement; In short, they fulfill what serious companies do. And there were a very few that were excluded from this legislative framework. Today, the entire sector is complying with the standard, except Glovo. Hence this performance, and more will come out, I anticipate it. We are all obliged to comply with the law. And of course, Globe.

His proposal for an agreement with distributors to cap prices for the shopping basket has been rejected by distributors and some ministers. Does it make sense to continue with the idea?

We are continuing, this week we have had many conversations with the companies. And I think we're going to move forward on this proposal. I was touched by a Valencian merchant who said "this minister is right and I want to bet on my country and I am going to have a shopping basket so that people can favor each other". I think that our country is more that Valencian merchant than other positions that we see. Before the holidays I asked my team to work on this issue because I knew it was very serious. And on the way back, it was the first conversation I had with the Prime Minister.