Enrique Santiago (Madrid, 58 years old), dismissed on Friday as Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda, avoids entering into controversy, although he acknowledges that the negotiations to form a left-wing coalition in Andalusia "worn out the space".
The bulk of the following interview was conducted on Tuesday on the occasion of his re-election, at the beginning of the month, as general secretary of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) in a complex vote in which he obtained 54% of the support.
In the conversation, he shows his support for the second vice president's project.
“It is the moment and the political cycle of Yolanda Díaz,” he affirms.
Santiago will now focus on his work in Congress, where he is one of the main negotiators of the
gag law.
Ask.
Did you expect dismissal?
Response.
There have been more or less complex moments in political relations, as everyone knows, but right now I didn't expect it.
In any case, they have told me that they have decided to restructure the ministry [of Social Rights] and that for the remainder of the legislature, they thought it would be better for me to dedicate myself to work in the parliamentary group, to carry out the government program.
It is the explanation they have given and I have to respect it.
I am not into internal fights and, first of all, it is to be appreciated that a minister from one party wanted to count on me, [being me] from another party.
It is not very common.
And secondly, it is to be appreciated that we can all continue working on what lies ahead.
More information
Belarra dismisses the leader of the PCE as Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda and appoints the 'number three' of Podemos
P.
When do you communicate the decision?
A.
The restructuring had been in the works for a long time, but I officially found out about it today [on Friday].
P.
Had the relationship deteriorated after the negotiations in Andalusia?
R.
The personal relationship is good, and politics I think everyone knows how it is.
Q.
So,
Had he lost the minister's confidence?
R.
You have to ask her that.
P.
But those negotiations, did they affect the relationship with Podemos?
R.
They are not forms, they are not methods of working.
Those negotiations greatly eroded the political space and limited the ability to generate hope to start the Andalusian electoral process in good conditions.
We have expressed different points of view.
P.
Are you worried about the loss of positions of influence of the PCE within the Government?
R.
With the current second vice president of the Government [who is a grassroots member of the party], that factor does not worry me much.
I don't think it's a problem of measuring matches.
P.
But the two dismissals in the last month and a half, yours and that of the head of the Equality cabinet, Amanda Meyer, are from the PCE.
R.
That is true, but we are going to continue doing our job.
P.
Do you think it has something to do with your position in favor of the Yolanda Díaz project?
R.
Let me not go into that.
I do not want to go into analysis and speculation about his motivations.
What they have told me is that it is an internal restructuring, and I have no reason not to believe it.
I am very grateful for the trust you have given me for 16 months.
Q.
You have just been re-elected as head of the PCE.
The party even modified the schedule of its XXI congress so that there would be a representation of the formation at the launch of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz's project.
Do you share 100% the vice president's roadmap?
R. We
share that it is essential to generate a process of social mobilization that excites many people who are disillusioned after some very hard years.
We share the need for people to be the protagonists of social change and that we must strengthen the organization of a space where not only these people are integrated, but also social organizations, where unions participate and, of course, in which they have to parties that feel democratic and left-wing can be part of it.
P.
Are you afraid that the PCE will be blurred in this project?
R.
That does not concern us.
The PCE has participated with conviction and has always been the axis of articulation of unity processes.
Our historical experience is that these processes strengthen us.
Enrique Santiago, during the interview. Claudio Alvarez
P.
Should Diaz be the candidate for the presidency?
R.
There is no doubt.
I hope you are willing to be.
Right now he is the person who best represents those aspirations.
P.
And is there another possible candidate or candidate?
R.
I do not know, but we are not closed to evaluating other candidates either.
The current space of United We Can is absolutely democratic.
But I insist, I think that at this moment our candidate, naturally, recognized by all of society, is Yolanda Díaz.
It is the political moment and it is the political cycle of Yolanda Díaz.
P.
What role does the PCE play today, with runaway inflation and in the Government?
R.
The PCE is one of the most useful tools since it was created 100 years ago to defend the rights of workers, especially in times of difficulty like this, with inflation, with a very serious energy crisis or a global pandemic that has had tremendous social, labor and economic consequences.
Thanks to the fact that the PCE and other left-wing forces were part of the government coalition, [this crisis] has been approached in a very different way from that of 2008 and subsequent ones, generating social protection shields for people and guaranteeing safeguarding the economy.
P.
You have been re-elected with 54% of the support in a congress in which there have been accusations of fraud due to accreditations, is the party cohesive?
R.
What has happened is backbiting from sectors that are not capable of accepting reality, because even the few accreditations, 8 out of 500 that were challenged, we removed from the voting.
There is a very critical moment of discussion within the Spanish left, fundamentally about the role in the Government.
There are so many contradictions.
We are in a war, we are in a phase of NATO expansion, which is very irresponsible and is bringing about very tragic consequences.
We are seeing the consequence of the economic sanctions, which are only affecting the countries that have imposed them.
Russia is already, according to the latest studies, in a situation of economic growth.
What is also taking place is an enrichment of the large energy companies and those of arms sales.
All this generates a series of contradictions.
Now, we in Congress have not lost any votes.
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