The newly appointed co-coordinators of Movimiento Sumar, Verónica Martínez Barbero and Rosa Martínez, have urged this Saturday to go "on the offensive", to raise a broad front along with other progressive forces and to continue expanding the catalog of rights in the face of the "reactionary and barbaric" project of PP and Vox and against "playing in the sewers", in reference to the corruption cases affecting the PSOE.
At the closing of the organization's extraordinary assembly, where they were ratified as the new heads of the leadership, Barbero defended a political space that takes care of its membership, respects its internal decision-making mechanisms and advances hand in hand with its bases.
The parliamentary spokesperson stressed that the political document endorsed this Saturday outlines a Spain where employment guarantees a dignified life, housing is an effective right, the ecological transition serves to reduce inequalities, and feminism, LGTBIQ+ rights, anti-racism, diversity, and democratic memory are fully integrated into democratic life.
Barbero accused the PP of governing "like Vox" and criticized the qualification of labor absenteeism as a "cancer". She also reproached them for using the suffering of fire victims as a "throwing weapon" and for attributing emergencies to the central government whose competence corresponds to the autonomous communities. After emphasizing that the popular party is "tied down by the climate denialism of the far-right", she concluded: "And that is not moderation, that is barbarism".
The new co-coordinator stressed that governing means protecting tenants from speculation, prosecuting unpaid overtime, safeguarding children's rights in digital environments, strengthening public healthcare, and assuming culture as a basic right.
"Exemplarity is not proclaimed, it is demonstrated"
Likewise, she defended a common front that is not limited to "a sum of acronyms or a distribution of spaces", but rather a shared project among organizations capable of putting their differences at the service of the general interest. As an example, she mentioned the parliamentary group of Sumar and its ability to reach consensus despite its plurality.
Barbero warned that the last stretch of the legislature cannot be transformed into "a waiting room" and demanded a political reaction from the PSOE to the "drip of processes and suspicions" that weigh on the party.
"Exemplarity is not proclaimed, it is demonstrated", she has stressed before demanding "more courage" to deepen institutional democratization, address the housing problem and continue expanding rights: "This is about making laws. It's about the BOE, BOE and BOE".
Labor Ecosocialism and New Social Pact
For her part, Rosa Martínez has detailed that the assembly sets three major "clear" mandates for the new leadership: one internal, another of political orientation, and a third on alliances. On the organizational level, she has prioritized strengthening territorial implantation and sectoral groups in a cycle in which, in addition to the Government of Spain, ten regional executives and all city councils will be decided.
The new coordinator has argued that these sectoral spaces must debate and formulate proposals that specify what kind of country Sumar aspires to build when it wins elections and enters governments. That horizon, she has added, must respond to current challenges from a "labor ecosocialism" or an "ecosocialist laborism".
Martínez has described the climate crisis as the main threat to well-being, rights, and the very viability of society, and has called for all policies to incorporate this perspective to attack its causes and protect the working class from its effects through social justice and institutional leadership.
In this framework, she has proposed a new democratic and social pact based on a green economy, territorial balance, labor rights, universal social protection, care, and housing, along with an international project of peace, feminism, and anti-racism "in which there is no room for genocide" and which allows for a solution for Western Sahara.
"It is time to go for more, not to settle, and to clearly confront the reactionary project of the PP and Vox," has proclaimed Martínez, who has accused both parties of being "professionals of collapse and demolition" and of not having a project for the country.
The Secretary of State for Social Rights has reproached the PP for opposing the reform of disability and dependency laws, despite including state funding. In this vein, she has assured that the reform will see the light of day and has added that Sumar will also promote the royal decree on housing and universal child-rearing benefit in the General State Budgets of 2027.
Regarding the new mandate, Martínez has opted to explore all avenues to build a broad front based on joint work with Comunes, Más Madrid, and IU -- with representation in the assembly --, open to dialogue with other like-minded forces and aimed at achieving a plurinational and progressive majority. "We are going out to win and we are not going out defeated," he stressed.
Pressure on the PSOE and union support for Sumar
At the close of the assembly, held at the COEM space, Sumar MEP Estrella Galán announced that they will pressure the PSOE for Spain to file an annulment action before the Court of Justice of the European Union against the European return regulation, considering that it violates the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
In turn, the confederal secretary for Women and Equality of CCOO, Carolina Vidal, has supported the new stage of Movimiento Sumar and has advocated for the unity of progressive and union forces against the right and the far-right. She also defended free, gratuitous, universal abortion within public healthcare, called for a state pact for care, an end to the wage gap, and changes to unfair dismissal.
Afterwards, the general secretary of UGT, Pepe Álvarez, acknowledged the work of the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, in labor matters and stressed that in recent years the system of labor relations has been transformed and more people have been protected than in past decades. Likewise, he asked Movimiento Sumar and the entire left to coordinate to articulate an alternative capable of stopping the right and the far-right.
Internal renewal with Díaz and Urtasun as references
The closing brought an end to an extraordinary assembly in which the new coordinators were elected with 95.92% of the votes cast in favor of their single candidacy, 'Sumar para gobernar'. The political-organizational report, for its part, had the support of 98.96% of the slightly more than 300 delegates gathered in Madrid.
Present at the event, amid applause and cheers, were both Yolanda Díaz, now removed from organic leadership and an electoral candidacy, and Ernest Urtasun, integrated into the list of the new executive.
The meeting also gave the green light to a new internal architecture, with a decentralized Territorial Council and a quarterly Territorial Conference whose agreements may be submitted bindingly to the state bodies.
The election of both leaders culminates the change initiated after Yolanda Díaz's departure from coordination and a period marked by various internal crises and the subsequent departure of Lara Hernández. The new leadership must now implement the approved roadmap, strengthen the organization's territorial presence, and face the designation of a future electoral candidacy for the next general elections.