There is good news coming out of Spain. On the eve of the parliamentary session to inaugurate Pedro Sánchez as President of the Spanish Government this Wednesday and Thursday, the members of the Spanish parties affiliated to the European Green Party, Verdes Equo and Catalunya En Comú, have voted with a large majority in favour of the new government, which will be the most green and progressive Spanish government ever.
91% of the members of Verdes Equo (Greens Equo, member party of the European Green Party (EGP) since 2016) supported the investiture on Monday. 95,2% of the members of Catalunya En Comú (Catalonia in Common, a member party of the European Green Party since 2021) voted in favour on 7 November. Following the agreement of 24 October between Sumar - the coalition to which Verdes Equo and Catalunya En Comú belong - and the PSOE, the Green parties had asked their members whether they agreed to support the PSOE-Sumar coalition government. A large majority voted in favour.
European Green Party co-chairs Mélanie Vogel and Thomas Waitz comment: "It is very good news for Spain and Europe that Spain will be governed by a progressive and Green government. Our Spanish Green member parties played a crucial role in making this happen. In the face of an aggressive right and far right, the progressives and Greens, united in Sumar, ran a positive campaign. Spanish civil society rose up, Spanish citizens went to the polls, leading to this historic moment. In Spain the people fended off the right-wing government, in Poland the voters threw out the hard PiS government. Let's hope that this wave will continue next Wednesday in the Dutch elections, where there is also the threat of a harsh right-wing government".
The Partido Popular (affiliated to the European People's Party - EPP) and the far-right party Vox called for demonstrations. Last week, the demonstrations turned violent. Thomas Waitz and Mélanie Vogel comment: "Spain has had democratic elections. These were followed by democratic negotiations. And these negotiations led to a democratic majority in the Spanish parliament. It is legitimate to organise demonstrations; but to incite violence and use inflammatory language, as Vox and some of the PP are doing, is dangerous, potentially criminal and very immature. This is not the behaviour of a democratic opposition”.
The background
Prime Minister Sanchez called a snap election on 29 May. The European Green’s member parties Verdes Equo and Catalunya En Comú joined the Sumar alliance of Spanish Deputy Minister Yolanda Diaz.
The Partido Popular (affiliated to the European People's Party, EPP) wanted to form a coalition with the far-right Vox. But thanks to the mobilisation of progressives and the Greens, this threat was averted in the Spanish elections on 23 July.
King Felipe VI gave the initiative to Alberto Núñez Feijóo of the Partido Popular to try to find a majority in parliament. A majority of Spanish lawmakers rejected Feijóo's candidacy, and King Felipe VI then gave the initiative to Pedro Sanchez (PSOE) to try to find a majority in Congress. The PSOE and Sumar, the coalition that includes Verdes Equo and Catalunya En Comú, reached an agreement on 24 October that paved the way for the new Sanchez III government.
