A lot of talk from the right and a bit of action from the left in the Cortes

THE LAST few days have seen some developments as far as the government of Spain is concerned with some agreements and some quite serious disagreements which suggest that not all is happy, particularly with the new boys in Podemos.

On March 15, it was announced that Podemos had sacked Sergio Pascual, the party’s Coordination Council Organisation Secretary, and effectively number three in the hierarchy saying “We are grateful for the good work carried out but events lately are proof of deficient management whose consequences have seriously damaged Podemos at such a delicate moment as the negotiation process to put together a government of change.”

Obviously this didn’t go down very well with Mr Pascual who felt that he had spent a hard two years getting the party into shape, but he will continue to sit with Podemos in the Cortes. Subsequent to this on March 18 at a press conference, Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias announced that Pablo Echenique would take over from Sergio Pascual and that he was not prepared to allow the party to be split into factions supporting different senior leaders. 

Whether this was a direct snipe at his number two Iñigo Errejon who was not at the press conference is not known, but he was said to be close to the sacked Pascual and has not been heard from over the last few days.

Whilst Podemos was adjusting itself, both the PP and Ciudadanos were pushing through bills concerning the need for the government and parliament to control the national unity of Spain which was clearly aimed at the call for Catalan independence.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing between the other parties however as the PP repeatedly made it clear that according to its understanding of the constitution, it had no need to answer to the Cortes which infuriated Pedro Sanchez leader of the PSOE who declared them in contempt of Congress.

Away from parliament, Mariano Rajoy told the ‘New Generation’, the PP youth movement that he would never give up whilst Deputy PM Soraya Saenz de Santamaría said that her party “is the government that has won the elections and is trying to form a government with the essential support of the Socialist Party”.  

So the story continues with an interim government and no immediate news of any workable alliance likely to result in a majority coalition.