Podem's economy secretary, Nacho Álvarez, is leaving politics after his party vetoed him to take up a ministry in the new coalition government. The coalition forces in Sumar offered Podemos early yesterday a ministerial portfolio and proposed the name of Nacho Álvarez, Ione Belarra's number two in the Ministry of Social Rights and the 2030 Agenda, in exchange for the lilacs committing to coordinate the his communicative action with the rest of the allies, to stop his criticism and insults to the rest of the partners and not to present a candidacy in the European elections in June against Sumar. At the meeting, Podemos rejected the agreement and again demanded that Irene Montero be in charge of the Ministry of Equality.
"I will not accept to be a minister if the organization of which I am a part neither shares nor approves", says Álvarez in his letter, after explaining that yesterday he received Yolanda Díaz's proposal to be part of the council of ministers. "It is clear that the current management of Podemos has lost the trust it placed in me when it appointed me as a member of the executive", a reason that prompts it to take "a step to the side".
After vetoing the appointment of Álvarez, Belarra regretted his resignation on social networks and blamed Sumar for the resignation: "Podem does not deserve these stratagems that put our people between the horses' legs".
The eight points of the agreement offered to Podemos, which the organizations integrated in Sumar subscribe to, include supporting the initiatives that emanate from the coalition government in the votes in Congress and accepting the conflict resolution mechanisms that are established in the government of coalition, abide by the decisions of the multi-national parliamentary group of Sumar in which they are integrated, including voting discipline, cease public attacks and insults to members of Sumar, including Yolanda Díaz, "establish a cordial and cooperation with all the space" and maintain the alliance in the next electoral cycle by renouncing to present its own candidacy in the European elections.
In exchange, Podemos would participate in the coalition government with a ministry, for which Sumar proposed the Secretary of State for Social Rights, Nacho Álvarez, to be the member of the Podemos executive who maintains the best relationship with the whole of members of the Sumar coalition, but also for having led, during these four years, all the negotiations of Unides Podemos with the PSOE, from the budget projects to the Housing law, through the various measures of the social shield or the government's anti-inflation plans.
At the meeting of Sumar and Podemos, the lilas rejected out of hand the possibility of Álvarez taking on a ministerial portfolio and claimed the autonomy of the party to choose ministers. Podemos defended Irene Montero as Minister of Equality again, a possibility that was ruled out by Pedro Sánchez months ago, disgusted with the ministry's handling of the crisis of the "only yes is yes" law. Sumar's partners hoped that Podemos would offer alternative names, but the purple party did not even defend the continuity in the government of its general secretary, Ione Belarra, Minister of Social Rights.
The negotiations with the PSOE, in any case, were open in a fluid way, more depending on the fact that each of the two parties squared their own internal crossing than on the mutual difficulties in the final climb of the two organizations. Sumar aspires to five ministerial portfolios and, aside from the Labor one for Yolanda Díaz, the one for Culture, for the current spokesperson of Sumar and member of the commons, Ernest Urtasun, was also considered resolved. The other aspirations of the left-wing coalition were the Ministry of Health, which would be headed by the leader of More Madrid, Mónica García, and a portfolio for the MEP of IU Sira Rego, an even more significant appointment, since the current coordinator of Esquerra Unida and Acting Minister of Consumer Affairs, Alberto Garzón, announced yesterday his decision to also leave the coalition. The fifth name in dispute is that of Podem's ex-secretary of international politics Pablo Bustinduy, who had left active politics in the spring of 2019 after the break between Pablo Iglesias and Íñigo Errejón was consolidated.
