The latest decisions of the Socialist Party in External and Defense Matters have opened a crisis within the government. Sumar has requested a rectification of the purchase of weapons to Israel valued at more than five million euros, formalized a few days ago by the Interior Ministry and will register in the next few hours a request for appearance of Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. Izquierda Unida has gone a step further and has opened the door to leave the government if the socialists do not rectify with this matter and with the last departure approved to increase military spending.
The government has formalized the purchase of two 9mm caliber ammunition lots from two Israeli companies, worth more than five and a half million euros, despite the fact that last October the Ministry of Interior said that it had initiated a “process to terminate the purchase contract”. This operation was completed last week, on April 16, and its announcement was published on the public sector contracting platform two days later, on Good Friday, festive throughout Spain.
“It is a flagrant violation of the agreements, we demand the rectification and appearance of the minister. It is a violation of the agreements when we are attending a live genocide,” said the second vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, in statements to the media in Barcelona.
This news has caused the reaction of all the adds of adding, who have asked explanations to the socialist part of the government in a statement and have demanded the cancellation of this purchase. Just a few hours ago, the five ministers of that alliance presented observations to the departure of more than 10,500 million euros announced by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, aimed at expenditure in defense, an “exormerged”, “inappropriate” and not “convenient” expense and not “convenient” according to the brief he presented in the Council of Ministers the Second Vice Presidency to explain his rejection of this decision.
But this Wednesday, Izquierda Unida has gone much further in its criticisms of these two decisions of the socialist part of the government, which intimately affect the political red lines of an organization that was born in the heat of the demonstrations against NATO. Its leader, Antonio Maíllo, has assured that the PSOE is opening a crisis within the government, while the spokesman in Congress, Enrique Santiago, has opened the door to an exit from the Executive and has requested a collective reflection within the coalition to add about the next steps. “We do not rule out any scenario,” sources of training on a possible rupture of the government argue.
“We are going to raise the PSOE that, if it continues along that path, the only thing that is opening is the most important government crisis of this legislature,” said Maíllo on Wednesday, in statements to the media in Villalar of the community members, in Castilla y León, asked about the latest movements of Pedro Sánchez, who yesterday announced a game of more than 10.5 billion euros for spending in defense, a amount with which the socialist part can Comply with the commitment acquired with the Atlantic Alliance to reach 2% of GDP in investment in this sector.
“It is an act of irresponsibility that opens a government crisis, obviously,” said Maíllo. “We are concerned that it is a decision that is neither made agreed with the other part of the government, nor is it approved previously, but is exposed without collective deliberation,” he criticized. Shortly after, the IU spokesman in Congress, Enrique Santiago, has opened the door to a possible exit from the government and has claimed to summarize a meeting of the party table to evaluate the next steps to follow. “We do not rule out any scenario,” sources from the party argue, which is part of the plurinational parliamentary group and the Summar coalition in the Government with a ministry, that of youth and childhood, led by Sira Rego.
“It is absolutely unacceptable and involves breaking an agreement of the group of ministers of the Government of Spain. It is unacceptable to allocate a single euro to the purchase of armament of a genocidal state,” said Rego this morning on another of the matters that have been solivianated to the United Left, the news that the Interior Minister formalized a purchase of armament to Israeli companies valued in more than five million euros. “We have demanded that this contract be canceled. We have requested that the minister appear and, of course, we will also ask that there be a complete audit of all kinds of contracts,” said the minister.
Rego has also sent a letter to Marlaska in which he asks for the immediate cancellation of the contract. “It is of extreme gravity that will publicly announce the cancellation of the contract months ago, but that this has finally been formalized without giving any explanation in this regard or in public or within the Government. For all this, it is essential that it proceed immediately to the cancellation of this contract and that an audit that sheds light on other contracts or commercial relations of any other type that could be with Israel is launched. The letter says.
Maíllo has also denounced this purchase. “The Ministry of Interior has breached the order of the Governing Council to cancel the contracts of Israeli companies. We are talking about unilateral decisions that make the government’s strategy very difficult to 2027,” said the IU leader. Enrique Santiago has asked all officials of the ministries involved in this operation. If you do not cancel, you have said, they will have to step aside.
The Executive said almost a month ago that he had no record of the flights with armament that stopped at the Zaragoza airport before leaving Israel, as this newspaper revealed. He also denied no weapons sale to that country from the outbreak of the conflict and attacks on the population of the Gaza Strip.
“I believe that all the responsibilities of the Ministry of Interior, of the officials and of those who have allowed the agreement of the Governing Council, which also said since October 2024 by President Sánchez.
The United Left position has been particularly hard within the Summar coalition. Although yesterday the Second Vice Presidency presented observations to the approval of the millionaire departure on Defense, this Wednesday the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has assured that the legislature will end and that the government “enjoys good health.” The Minister of Health and leader of Más Madrid, Mónica García, spoke of a “healthy” discrepancy with the Socialist Party.
Maíllo has censored that the plan is a decision of great importance that “was not included in the investiture program” or in the government agreement, and that, therefore, it does not compromise IU. “It is a strategy in which Pedro Sánchez aligns with the right -wing governments and extreme right of Europe to which he claims,” he added.
“We are at a complicated moment,” Santiago said at a press conference in Congress. “It is not we who are breaking the agreement of the coalition government,” said Santiago, who has asked the Socialist Party to generate the conditions to continue maintaining the coalition government. Any decision about a possible exit from the government, he said, will have to be taken collectively, although he has expressed his desire to continue avoiding the arrival of an executive on the right with the extreme right. Of course, he said, that they do not rule out “any scenario.”
“When we are in the government we are here to work together. We understand that we are a minority part, but that is not that decisions are imposed unilaterally. MINORIES AND MAJORIES must be able to build agreements and it is evident that none of the parties can impose 100% of their positions. We are entering a very dangerous dynamic,” he warned.
At night, in an interview in Time 25 And in a somewhat softer tone than the one shown this noon by Enrique Santiago, Maíllo has defended that his formation has no interest in breaking the government, but has indicated that they will not miss a break in the coalition agreement. “The Government must rectify a decision that is a clear breach,” he insisted.
“All the scenarios are always on the table. The problem is that on the table of the PSOE it is that the Government Agreement has failed. I do not know why the focus on whether we must leave, who has the responsibility of the Government is the PSOE. Who would have to leave is [el ministro del Interior, Fernando Grande] Marlaska. It is a decision that is not supported by a progressive government ”
Interior relies on the State Advocacy
After the harsh criticism of adding, from the Ministry of Interior they justify its reverse in the decision to break the agreement in which there was no legal margin. “The State Advocacy warned that, in case of canceling, the result would have been to have to pay the price to the company without receiving the contracted material,” they point out from the Marlaska team. From Moncloa they even point to a possible “administrative crime” that would have involved “patrimonial responsibility” of the signatories.
“The Interior Ministry, despite this episode, shares the Spanish government’s commitment not to sell or buy weapons from the Israeli State acquired since the armed conflict broke out in the territory of Gaza,” sources from the department directed by Marlaska.
“It is not a contractual problem, it is a political problem,” Santiago argued in response. “There are sufficient legal arguments so that Spain does not become an accomplice of a genocide. Israel is one of the few states created by a UN resolution and systematically breaches all the resolutions of the United Nations. Neither six million nor six billion can justify that Spain falls into the risk of being complicit in a genocide,” he said.
Source: www.eldiario.es
