Podemos members are called this Wednesday to a vote to see if they support the agreement signed with the PSOE to join the government of the Cabildo of Lanzarote. Pending the result of that consultation, the councilors of the purple formation have not yet formally occupied the positions they will hold under that agreement.
“If by chance the members of Podemos Lanzarote changed their minds or did not agree, the only thing left for us to do would be to support the government from outside,” said councilor Myriam Barros. However, she believes that “the militancy is happy with everything included in the agreement” and that it is “very good not only for Podemos, but for Lanzarote and the island.”
The consultation has been convened by Podemos Canarias, which was the one who led the negotiations, and states that the “proposals and requirements” that were previously set by the island assembly of the party “have been largely exceeded”. “In addition to giving stability to the island's government, it represents a progressive pact that dislodges the right from the institution,” they emphasize in the presentation of the consultation.
Paula Corujo's departure: "It's not a personal thing"
The telematic vote, through the website participa.podemos.info, will begin at 10 a.m. this Wednesday and will end at the same time the following day, Thursday the 23rd. If the agreement is ratified, the president of the Cabildo will sign the decrees with the new delegations, which also imply the departure of the non-elected councilor of Somos Lanzarote, Paula Corujo.
On the one hand, because the position of non-elected councilor will go to Elena Solís, at the proposal of Podemos. On the other hand, because the areas held by Corujo will be in the hands of Myriam Barros. “It is not a Podemos thing, nor a personal one. We are very grateful, and we have expressed this in many plenary sessions, for the work she has done. This is politics, and the negotiations have gone that way,” said Barros.
In addition, she pointed out that this same Tuesday they had a meeting “to try to give continuity to her projects”, thus taking for granted that the agreement will be supported by the Podemos bases.
Regarding the role that Somos Lanzarote will continue to play, which at the beginning of the mandate signed the pact with the PSOE and the PP for the Arrecife City Council and the Cabildo, Myriam Barros has avoided commenting. “Somos and PSOE will have to decide, who are the ones who spoke at the time,” she said.
In the case of Arrecife, the councilor of the formation, Elisabeth Merino, continues to govern together with the PP, now with Coalición Canaria. In the Cabildo, where the party did not obtain representation, Paula Corujo had continued until now with the PSOE, as a non-elected councilor, until this new alliance with Podemos was signed. Now, after her dismissal, she could be appointed to another position.
“I have not been at that table and I have no knowledge of anything. The only thing I can tell you is that we appreciate the work of Somos and we will try to give continuity to their projects. I cannot tell you what they have in their pact with the PSOE,” added Barros.
"We will not allow a motion of censure against a left-wing government"
Regarding the possibility that the consultation to be held this Wednesday among its bases would yield a negative result, the Podemos councilor has made it clear that in no case are they going to “allow” a motion of censure “against a left-wing government or a left-wing party.”
In this regard, she recalled that both the PSOE and Podemos defended in the past campaign the need to “kick out Coalición Canaria, because it was already good.”
“What prevails here is to maintain a progressive government in the institutions that can be, and then prevent the right from putting even a single finger on the money that comes from European funds and that continues to punish the people of this island as it has been doing for the last ten years,” concluded Barros.