Montero maintains her grip on Esquerra: she will remain as vice president and candidate for Andalusia for as long as she deems "necessary."

Conflent MeadowNegotiations on the implementation of one-time funding are not progressing, at least not at the pace that ERC would like. For weeks, the Republicans have They blame the poor course of the talks Spanish Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, who is accused of stalling negotiations to avoid harming her future as a candidate for the Andalusian Regional Government. However, everything indicates that the ERC interlocutors will continue to see Minister Montero on the other side of the negotiating table for some time to come. The Spanish Vice President will continue to combine this position with the campaign of events she has launched (and continues to do, in the middle of summer) since becoming leader of the PSOE-A party and candidate to challenge Juanma Moreno (PP) for the presidency of the Andalusian Regional Government.

She herself confirmed this on Monday, in statements from Rota (Cádiz), where she visited the town hall. "For now, I will remain focused on this dual role of supporting Andalusia from the Spanish government and also carrying out opposition work as Secretary General of the PSOE in Andalusia," she said, taking the opportunity to boast about the millions the region has received from Pedro Sánchez's government since she took office: an average of 8.5 billion more annually. The minister hasn't set a date for when she will leave the Council of Ministers—she says she will remain as long as "necessary"—and, in any case, asks to discuss it when the Andalusian president calls elections. The forecast is for them to be next year.

In any case, and looking ahead to the fall, Montoro's work is shifting within her ministry. Before leaving for vacation, Sánchez announced his intention to approve a draft budget this year, at a particularly delicate time for the Socialists following the outbreak of the Cerdán corruption case, which will test the strength of the parliamentary alliance that invested in him, at the end of 2023. He warned that if there is no progress with the one-off financing, Sánchez will not be able to count on them. "Catalonia needs to collect its taxes, and the Socialists must decide whether they are in favor of the rights of all Catalans or whether they want to continue putting the most personal and selfish interests of some of their candidates first," maintained the president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, from the Catalan Summer University in Prada de Conflent. Junqueras makes no distinctions: the warning applies to both Sánchez and Salvador Illa, who has completed his first year in government by failing to fulfill his commitment to present a budget, in the face of the ERC's slamming the door.

Internal consultation?

This isn't the first time the Republicans have issued this warning to the Socialists, attempting to spur them on with the unique financing. However, the threat's virtuality is beginning to gain momentum given the Republicans' discontent with the state of the negotiations. The Republicans already had to deal with a first setback when a report commissioned by the Generalitat (Catalan government) delayed to 2028 the date from which the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) could fully manage personal income tax, both due to a lack of personnel and infrastructure. According to the investiture agreement, full collection of personal income tax was to occur in 2026. In addition to the entity's growth, the Socialists and Republicans will have to seek support in Congress to reform the LOFCA and other tax management laws to make this possible. ERC is considering filing a bill on its own to pave the way.

However, the lack of progress is worrying some sectors of ERC critical of the Socialists, a year after the referendum on whether to invest Isla, which divided the party. and in which the yes won by a very narrow marginLast week, the October 1st collective called for a consultation on whether the Republicans should withdraw their support for Salvador Illa. It doesn't appear that the ERC president's plans include heeding that request. "We are in favor of always consulting everyone, but our position is clear: there will be no new agreements with the Socialist Party, for example on budgetary matters, until they comply with agreements on financing or revenue collection," he reiterated. The ERC leadership hasn't set a deadline for opening these talks, either in Catalonia or in Spain.

Professor Junqueras

Junqueras participated this Monday at the Catalan Summer University as a speaker in one of the early morning sessions: a lecture on the effects of the Nueva Planta Decrees in the Catalan Countries after the War of the Spanish Succession. Over the course of two hours, around 100 students (some young, others already veterans) listened to the ERC leader in a role he has been unable to perform since the Supreme Court ruling that disqualified him: that of university history professor. In the lecture, the Republican recalled the years when Catalans "were the most constitutionalists": that is, when they decided to support Archduke Charles of Austria as heir to the Spanish monarchy, in an attempt to defend their commercial interests, but also the medieval, but now representative, system of the Catalan Parliament. "Once you know a little history, you realize that what's happening is not unique, that there have been very complicated times. And, for us Catalans, very complicated!" he exclaimed.

The lesson ended with a coda on demography and geography, with a warning to sailors. The data, Junqueras concluded, are clear: from Portugal to China, via Japan and Russia (with the exception of France), native births are insufficient to offset the net population loss that will occur in the next decade due to the decline in the birth rate, because centuries are behind us. The word immigration has not yet appeared. But the reflection was, within the framework of The left's battle to find an alternative narrative to the far right. This is one of the independence movement's main battlegrounds in the face of the rise of the Catalan Alliance.