Spanish Left accentuates the decomposition of Sanchism

The new political formation Izquierda Española, born under the storm that is shaking political life throughout the country, will make its baptism of fire in the European Elections next June. Its secretary general, the young lawyer Guillermo del Valle, is aware that the new party will not be able to unseat or compete with the two major Spanish parties in the Strasbourg Chamber of Deputies, the Partido Popular and the PSOE. Nor will it be able to replace other Spanish parties, left or right, that already have seats in Strasbourg. What it does aspire to is to be present in Europe, and to bring there the voice of the discontented who feel excluded because they are simply Spanish. 

Guillermo del Valle confessed to ATALAYAR, openly. "We will start with the European elections. We believe that this is the ideal moment for a new political formation to offer its alternative to the Spanish people as a whole". Why the European elections? "Because they are national elections with a single constituency. I recognise that we have a lot at stake. It would be a mistake to rush and let the irresponsibility of a government blackmailed by its nationalist partners set our agenda". A first step, indeed. "Exactly, from there, we are here to stay, not for the contingency of a specific election. The orphanhood of millions of people is the raison d'être of our political project".  

The young party has a minimum programme that has the quality of uniting the immense majority of Spaniards, because although these minimums form part of the themes defended by the other major parties that are fighting to be in the European Parliament, it is quite obvious that when it comes to putting them into practice, they suffer and distort them.  

"This is a structural need for politics in our country, for a left that defends equality at all levels and opposes social, economic, political and territorial privileges. Which, according to you, this government does not do. "It does not. It has crossed red lines and is handing the key to governability to those whose sole objective is to break with the commons and fracture the state, which is the instrument for redistribution and social justice. That is why, now, the need is even more pressing". 

Why do you say now? What's new? "That we have amnesty, but no State Budget. It is here where we must prioritise the defence of decent work, the protection of public services, a progressive tax reform, sufficient investment in R&D (now it is 1.44% and we must reach 3% of GDP) to transform and reindustrialise our production model in the face of the neoliberal policies of the most individualistic every man for himself. Do you think that this cannot be done now? "With the secessionist nationalists, racist and unsupportive formations of the extreme right, such a social agenda is unfeasible". 

In short, the Spanish Left defends, according to its promoters: the equality of all Spaniards before the Law; the hope of the most vulnerable in the face of the Spain of tribes or taifas; returning to the State the competences that concern everyone, such as Education, Health, Security, Justice, Taxation and Environmental policy. In a word, to halt what many consider to be the decomposition of Sanchismo. 

The new party, which defines itself as an unequivocally left-wing project, affirms that "we are not born to enable neoliberal or conservative governments, but certainly not so that the key to governability continues to be held by the racist and xenophobic extreme right (Junts, PNV, the case of ERC demanding a Catalan quota that would definitively destroy equality and redistribution)".  

Guillermo del Valle and the group of politicians from the socialist family, from Ciudadanos, from democratic and liberal positions, defends the universalism of progress against the identitarianism of the retrograde nationalists. "We want left-wing governments that advance rights and social justice, but based on the idea of equality and the common good, and clearly defending a strong state without asymmetries or confederal privileges". 

Will citizens listen to them? The European elections will be a test for all.