Sánchez and Díaz take care of the coalition

The very tough Madrid campaign has left in the background what was the central issue of Spanish politics in the first weeks of the year: the stability of the coalition and the internal battles in the Executive.

However, this is a central issue that continues to concern the Government.

This week there have been important news.

Both the PSOE, through its leader, Pedro Sánchez, and Unidas Podemos, with its new visible face in the Executive, Vice President Yolanda Díaz, have launched very clear messages, both internal and external, that now they are going to dedicate themselves to “Take care” of the coalition to reduce friction and seek a balance that allows them even to exhaust the legislature, something that the two groups see as beneficial for all.

The PNV, a group always well informed, is committed to an electoral advance in 2022. But both Sánchez and Díaz have shown this week that they are working to remove that scenario.

Several ministers consulted clearly perceived these messages in the Council on Tuesday, where Yolanda Díaz premiered as the highest representative of United We Can after the departure of Pablo Iglesias.

“My main objective will be to take care of the coalition.

The PSOE and United We can are two vectors in the same direction, joining forces, ”said Díaz in that Council, appealing to physics, according to several of those present.

The idea that Díaz defended, and that later he has also expressed in public in an interview on eldiario.es, is that the two parties think differently on very relevant issues - right now there are several key open discussions on housing law, labor reform, pensions , trans law and many more— and it is normal that this is the case, but they have to reach agreements and above all try to reduce the internal tension because that is what the progressive citizens who supported the coalition are demanding.

Sánchez listened to this speech by Díaz with interest and joined in on this idea.

Several socialist ministers consulted got the impression that Díaz, a very tough negotiator that some of them know well, especially those in the economic area, comes to the vice-presidency with the intention of weaving some of the seams of the coalition that have been broken in recent months .

These socialist ministers point out that Díaz said both things, on the one hand that he would take care of the coalition and on the other that they would have a strong position in defending the government agreement, which is what United We can always claim.

That is where some in the PSOE want to wait to see how the negotiation with Díaz works and what real role Pablo Iglesias has in it now that he is out of government.

In the PSOE, the position of Ione Belarra, now promoted to minister, and who is the leader, with Irene Montero, who has had tougher clashes in private and even in public in all the negotiations in which she has participated, generates much concern. there have been several.

Belarra had all the coordination with the socialist Félix Bolaños, a key man in Sánchez's environment, and now everything has to be reorganized.

Sánchez is also focused on this idea that the coalition has to last and we must try to reduce internal tension.

And he has also discussed it with Iglesias and now he will do so with Díaz.

In fact, in the Madrid campaign there is a kind of distribution of roles between the candidate of United We Can and that of the PSOE, Ángel Gabilondo, which according to several leaders is much more talked about than it might seem.

While the Catalan campaign encouraged tensions between the PSOE and United We Can, especially with the housing issue in the foreground, this time the Madrilenian does not seem to focus there but on the battle of both, with different lines, to mobilize progressive votes against Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

The readjustment of the coalition with the departure of Iglesias from the Executive seems to be aimed at reinforcing it, although no one can trust it until the Madrid elections are over and the scene is rebuilt.

And that is where both Sánchez and Díaz and Iglesias seem to have a clear objective: to ensure that the result, whatever it may be, does not affect the Government.

The Executive is working to get the most out of the reconstruction fund - this week Sánchez presents the main lines of the reform plan that he will send to Brussels - and the Budgets.

Although the PP achieved great success in Madrid, as some polls predict, Sánchez and Díaz seem determined to keep the coalition together and try to reduce tension to guarantee a stability that they believe benefits everyone, not just citizens and the environment. economic to start the recovery, but also to the two political groups.

They will both have more time to develop their program and reach the elections at a better economic time and with more positive results.

Sánchez does not believe that a success of Díaz Ayuso in Madrid can serve to reinforce the opposition and regroup the right around Pablo Casado. On the contrary, in La Moncloa they believe that a great result from Ayuso is a problem for Casado because it weakens his internal leadership and also forces him to right, because he will depend even more on Vox. Everything is going well, or at least that is how they see it in the PSOE and United We Can, to consolidate the legislature.