Antoni Bassas' analysis: "One year before the elections, there's still a lot to do."

It is impossible not to start today by congratulating Barça, who won the women's league of football and is on the way to the treble, and for the 4 to 3 for the boys in Madrid, after a hectic first half, which went from the usual 0-2 to 4-2 at halftime. In short, Barça can win La Liga the day after tomorrow, on Wednesday, if Madrid doesn't beat Mallorca, on Thursday if the Catalans beat Espanyol in Cornellà, or on Sunday if Villarreal win in Montjuïc. Yesterday, Barça won after enduring such biased refereeing on the pitch and in the VAR that it justifies the tweet we're reproducing:

"The arbitration we just saw is the best reflection of what happens every day: in investments, in the courts, in budgets, in Congress, in the Official State Gazette, and everywhere. The robbery is constant. We have to change leagues!"

But this Monday, May 12, we must also remember that today marks one year since the elections that ultimately handed the government to the Socialists. President Aragonés brought forward the elections, and it didn't go well: Esquerra lost 13 seats, Aragonès assumed all the responsibilities—his own and those that weren't—and withdrew from the political frontline. And Salvador Illa, the man on whom the State, both visible and profound, and the Spanish-Catalan powers that be placed their hopes of turning the page on the independence movement, emerged as the new president.

A year later, Madrid sees Catalonia as "normalized," meaning the king can visit with relative peace of mind, Illa has raised the Spanish flag in the Hall of the Virgin of Montserrat, and the headquarters of Banco Sabadell, Criteria, and the la Caixa Foundation have returned. Those who haven't returned are Puigdemont and Junqueras—who is not authorized—because the Supreme Court doesn't want to apply the amnesty approved by Congress.

A year after the elections, the Government's flagship projects have been a program to regain economic leadership and the promise of 50,000 social rental homes. Regaining economic leadership fails to take into account that the current leader is playing on drugs and that this hasn't changed and isn't going to change. This could be mitigated by one-off financing, which couldn't be rapid but is slow, as is the transfer of commuter rail services with the creation of a joint venture. Regarding language, the National Pact will be signed tomorrow, with the the notable absence of Junts and the CUP, for reasons they'll have to explain very carefully, because it's a very important pact. In any case, like the doping we mentioned, until Catalan is as mandatory as Spanish, pacts will be short-lived. The individual responsibility of Catalan speakers is another matter, but the legal framework is what it is, no matter how many pacts they sign.

For a year now, the independence movement has been divided and declining in the polls. And the question is: a year later, are we better off?

Good morning.