The new Executive of Podemos ratifies Irene Montero as 'number two' and increases its structure

Ione Belarra, last Sunday after being elected new secretary general of Podemos, in Alcorcón.Fernando Alvarado / EFE

The Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, has been ratified as

number two

of Podemos and will return to occupy the Secretariat of Government Action in the new direction of the party without Pablo Iglesias, which expands its structure and gives entry to a dozen names that until now were not part of the Executive. The first Citizen Council of Ione Belarra, elected last Sunday to take the reins of training for the next four years, approved this Friday at its first meeting the appointment of the members of the Coordination Council. With the general secretariat, this body includes 29 areas compared to 21 of the last address, and 15 of them will be occupied by women. Former Madrid deputy Isa Serra will continue as party spokesperson and will share the position with Pablo Fernández, coordinator of Podemos in Castilla y León.

In her opening speech, Belarra called for "redoubling efforts" in this new stage "to go much further."

The secretary general has promised to continue using all the "force" of the training "to enforce each letter of the government agreement."

Belarra has also set as the party's next objectives the general budgets for 2022, the municipal and autonomous elections of 2023 and to become the first political force of the government.

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In addition to the political scientist Lilith Verstrynge, whose appointment as Secretary of Organization and

number three

of the training had already transcended at the beginning of the week, the Council of the Coordination Council, among others, the counselor of the Canary Islands Government Noemí Santana (Rights Social), the regional deputies Alejandra Jacinto (Right to Housing) and Serigne Mbayé (Anti-racism); and up to four regional coordinators: Irene de Miguel, from Extremadura (Green Horizon and revitalization of the rural environment); Javier Sánchez, from Murcia (Education, Science and Research); Antón Gómez-Reino, from Galicia (Industry and Latin America); and Jesús Santos, from Madrid (Municipal Policies).

Among those who repeat at the head of the Podemos secretariats are the MEP Idoia Villanueva (International and relationship with other forces);

the Secretaries of State Noelia Vera (Feminisms) and Nacho Álvarez (Economy and new country project);

the parliamentary spokesman, Pablo Echenique (Program);

the president of the United We Can parliamentary group, Jaume Asens (Human Rights);

the deputy Rafa Mayoral (Republican horizon and democratic deepening);

or the strategist Juanma del Olmo (Director of the School of Communication).

The Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, speaks at the IV State Citizen Assembly of Podemos, on June 13 at the Parque de Lucía de Alcorcón Auditorium. Ricardo Rubio / Europa Press

The minister has urged her entire team to work "from now on, with a long look", to "fine-tune" the party for the electoral process to be held in two years, in order to "grow" and achieve greater "Force" in the municipalities and autonomous communities. Belarra is committed to this by taking root in the territories - as evidenced by the presence of up to six regional coordinators in the Executive -, "continuing to add people" and walking "hand in hand with social movements and unions." He also recalled that it will be "essential to take care of the alliance" with the United Left and with other territorial forces.

The secretary general of Podemos has indicated that this new stage "is going to be humble" and "aware" of what can be changed from the institutions and the Government and "of what not yet." "There are changes that take longer than it would be necessary," he acknowledged, referring to the difficulties in approving some measures in the coalition Executive.

In a kind of return to the origins of the party and with the intention of becoming the political force that “leads the Executive”, Belarra has called on each member of Podemos to act as a “social activist and communicator”. "It has to train and train other people, it has to promote debates and transform its closest reality," he pointed out. The minister has called for Podemos to be "in many more places" than in the Government. "In social movements, in labor conflicts, communicating, creating popular radio and television, thinking, weaving alliances with other forces and movements at the international level," he enumerated in his speech.

Isa Serra will also be in charge of Training, as in the previous Coordination Council, and adds the Secretariat of Speech to her responsibilities. The position had been occupied in the previous direction by the philologist Manu Levin, one of the fundamental strategists of Podemos in recent years, an advisor to Iglesias and responsible for his campaign in the regional elections of May 4.