It is usual for King Felipe VI to participate in the annual meetings of the Cercle d'Economia and to stay for lunch, in a private room, with the organizers. It is also usual for the monarch to go afterwards to greet the majority of the businessmen participating in the meetings and to have a snack. There, the businessmen take the opportunity to take photographs with Felipe VI and exchange a few words.
ERC
Riding the Ruffian wave
The ERC leadership opts to buy time in the face of the escalation of tensions between Junqueras and Rufián in Congress
07/06/2026
2 min
BarcelonaIt is not a new conflict. In the ERC parliamentary group in Madrid, things have not been calm for some time. The coexistence between Gabriel Rufián and a part of the group has reached an almost unsustainable point. And the party leadership has known this for a long time. The confrontation has intensified in recent months and has exceeded the limits of Congress since the Republicans' spokesperson launched his proposal for a left-wing front – which the Republican leadership rejects – and has threatened not to run again as an ERC candidate if the leadership does not accept his conditions: surrounding himself with a trusted team and having more decision-making power in Madrid. How does Oriol Junqueras's leadership plan to address this conflict?
on June 19th will share the stage in Valencia with Mònica OltraThe conflict within the parliamentary group, however, will not disappear. Proof of this is this week's message on X from deputy Jordi Salvador, who decided to air his discontent with the group's spokesperson. "Patience has a limit," he warned after ARA published the conditions Rufiàn is setting to continue as a candidate. And it is likely that the tension with the leadership will also not disappear. In fact, the Republican spokesperson plans to continue holding events to defend a left-wing front in the State: after those in Madrid and Barcelona, on June 19 he will share a stage in Valencia with Mònica Oltra.
The regulations of the state-level parties
This Saturday, the national council of Esquerra has approved the regulations for the state elections amid fears that the Spanish legislature will end prematurely due to the increasing judicial cases targeting the PSOE. If Sánchez presses the red button for an early election, the leadership will have to confront, then yes, Rufián's role in the elections and who his traveling companions will be. The party maintains that its spokesperson in Madrid remains its choice to lead the list in the next general elections.
Will Junqueras grant powers to Rufián to place people he trusts on the list? If the leadership does not accept the republican leader's conditions, will Rufián go home or change his shirt to lead the left-wing front he himself proposes? All this will depend on how the conflict within the parliamentary group in Madrid evolves and if the rope tightens further between Rufián and Junqueras.
The week's details
King Felipe VI, among businessmen
Rosemary, budget with bronchitis
Thursday was an important day for the Minister of Economy: the budgets passed the first stage in Parliament to see the light of day. Alícia Romero, however, had to defend the accounts with bronchitis that forced her to go to the Catalan chamber's dispensary. In the afternoon, she still defended the bill of accompanying measures for the budgets.
