"Politics is for things that matter"

It is the first photograph of Yolanda Díaz and Íñigo Errejón together in a public act. It occurs on the verge of beginning the process of "listening" to the second vice president for a hypothetical political project with which to contest the 2023 elections and shows the good political harmony between the two. It happened this Thursday, in the presentation of the commission of experts on the impact of job insecurity on mental health and has served to highlight a “magnificent” relationship in the face of “the reactionary offensive that fills politics with fear ”. "I hope I don't get her into trouble if I say that I wish she was like that with the entire government," joked the spokesman for More Country.

The commission that was presented this Thursday "part of the meeting with Más País, in the intense debate on the Labor Reform," said Díaz, for whom this agreement "shows that politics is useful for things that matter to citizens." "I want to expressly thank Íñigo", highlighted the leader of United We Can in the Executive, who has not denied the good harmony with Errejón. The deputy was pleased that this project "is the result of an agreement." “We said that we were going to support the Labor Reform because we think it is good, and that we did not want anything in return. The Ministry of Labor asked us what we wanted to add and we said that one of the things that had to be given more scope was mental health, ”he explained.

"This agreement is possible because we share that a stubborn and stubborn effort is needed to return politics to everyday life", said Errejón, who assured that "it is political hope that I think can allow us to look forward". During his intervention, the leader of Más País has highlighted that "good harmony" with the vice president, although he has not made any reference to that process that Díaz is going to initiate and for which he intends to form a great platform to the left of the PSOE.

This is not the first approach of the vice president to the circle of Errejón's party. In November, Díaz organized an event in Valencia together with other left-wing politicians, which he defined as "the beginning of something that is going to be wonderful." No Podemos minister was invited, but the leader of Más Madrid, Mónica García, was, who indicated that "a new cycle" was opening that day in which women are the "protagonists."

In recent months, the vice president has shown her intention to initiate a “listening” process with different civil society actors, in order to promote a hypothetical candidacy for the presidency of the Government in the next general elections, scheduled for 2023. A candidacy that Díaz, for the moment, has avoided revealing if he would lead, but for which he shies away from acronyms and that, for the moment , has left parked to focus on his work in the Executive in the face of the crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. “If it wasn't for the situation, I was going to release it now,” he confirmed at the end of March.

Although from the environment of Díaz they have avoided on several occasions to pronounce on possible electoral confluences, many eyes are on Errejón in the face of the configuration of that "country project". He said in December 2021 that the idea of ​​the vice president "sounds very good", although he saw it as "premature" to talk about convergences and from United We Can indicate that she is the one who could best recover the co-founder of Podemos, who left the formation in 2019 to do tandem with Manuel Carmena for the regional and municipal elections that year in Madrid. In October, the Minister for Equality, Irene Montero, opened the door to sharing a list with Errejón again and stated that “If there is someone who can achieve this, it is Yolanda Díaz”.

In the act, Díaz and Errejón have coincided in pointing out mental health as one of the problems that grips society. The second vice president has assured that this commission will conclude with some tasks for the Government of Spain“. "From the Ministry of Labor we comply and we will comply again", she has claimed before acknowledging that "the culture of risk prevention at work can be improved".

Errejón has indicated that this commission comes to show that "politics needs to deal with things that are evident in society." "That people's stomach hurts from having to face their boss the next day, because the company does not meet the forecasts and they are thrown out on the street or because they cannot sleep," he listed. In addition, he has highlighted that "the second wave of mental health stigma" is needed, which makes these problems visible in society, beyond well-known personalities. And he has insisted that, at a time of "bifurcation of the legislature in which it is going to decide how the burdens are distributed", we must also look at the mental health burdens.

The commission on job insecurity and mental health will be coordinated by the Professor of Public Health at Pompeu Fabra University, Joan Benach, and will be made up of twelve professionals and academics from the fields of labor law, public health, psychology, psychiatry , critical thinking and culture. The presentation was also attended by the writer and essayist Remedios Zafra and the specialist in clinical psychiatry from the Madrid Mental Health Association Belén González Callado and the director of the National Institute of Safety and Health (INSST), Carlos Arranz.