Spain’s far-left Podemos criticise Sánchez for increasing defence spending

7 months ago 32

Deputy leader of the far-left Podemos party Irene Montero on Wednesday lashed out at the Socialist Party (PSOE/S&D) government and its ally, the Sumar platform, for increasing defence spending by over €1 billion.

Montero struck a harsh tone with Spain’s socialist government, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE), and its ally, the Sumar platform. Montero said Sánchez has shown “hypocrisy” for defending peace in the Middle East, while bowing to NATO’s demands to increase defence spending to 2% of national GDP.

“With this money (the €1.129 billion) that the government is spending on the war, we could hire thousands of doctors,” Montero commented, referring to the extra defence spending that the government approved on Tuesday in the Council of Ministers. Montero is also claiming this money will go to escalating the war between Israel and Gaza-based terrorist organisation Hamas.

Montero’s anti-war tone — which she has reiterated since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and after Israel’s attacks in Gaza — comes a day after news broke that the Spanish health system has reached a worrying point, with 850,000 people on the waiting list for surgery.

The latest draft of the Spanish national budget for 2024 foresees an increase to 1.3% of GDP for defence spending, while Sánchez pledged to reach the 2% of GDP requested by NATO by 2029, in line with non-binding member pledges.

The most recent government forecasts project defence spending to exceed €13.4 billion this year.

Split among the left

Montero, who is her far-left party’s main candidate for the European elections in June, is at odds over this issue with her former Podemos colleague and current leader of the Sumar platform, Deputy Prime Minister and Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz.

Since December 2023, Podemos — which has five deputies in parliament — is no longer a member of the hard-left Sumar faction, following the parties’ controversial “political divorce” due to strong differences between Díaz and the Secretary General of Podemos, Ione Belarra, a personal friend of Montero.

The backlash from Podemos over the left-leaning coalition’s defence budget decisions highlights the rift in the Spanish left.

According to those close to the government, Sánchez himself would have pressured Díaz, who signed a government pact with the PM in October 2023, to exclude Montero from the current executive for her role regarding the left’s vote on the controversial “Only yes means yes” law.

Some on the left did not toe the party line, however, and were also critical of the government’s decision: Sumar’s parliamentary spokesman, Íñigo Errejón, joined in the criticism, although in a less aggressive tone than Montero. Errejón wrote on X, “No sacrifice for the war industry.”

Despite criticism from the radical left-wing camp, Defense Minister Margarita Robles (PSOE/S&D) defended the move.

“We believe in peace, in our armed forces as the first guarantors of peace. Investing in defence is investing in peace with capital letters, in deterrence policies and in job creation. That is why it is so important, and it must be stated clearly and without complexes,” the minister told a conference in Madrid.

Robles stressed the government’s “very important” commitment to the Spanish defence industry, which in 2022 contributed more than € 17.3 billion to the national GDP, 1.31% of it, an “extremely important” contribution.

(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.Euractiv.es)