It is common 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 common for the monarch to go afterwards to greet the majority of the businessmen participating in the meetings and have a snack. There, businessmen take the opportunity to take photographs with Felipe VI and exchange a few words.
Surfing the Ruffian wave
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 gone beyond the limits of Congress since the spokesperson for the Republicans 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: to surround himself with a trusted team and have more decision-making power in Madrid. How does Oriol Junqueras' leadership plan to address this conflict?
on June 19th he will share the stage in Valencia with Mònica OltraHowever, the conflict within the parliamentary group will not disappear. Proof of this is the message on X this week 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 Rufián 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 entities
This Saturday, Esquerra's national council approved the regulations for the state elections amid fears that the Spanish legislature could end prematurely due to the increasing judicial cases targeting the PSOE. If Sánchez presses the red button for early elections, the leadership will have to confront, then indeed, Rufián's role in the elections and who his traveling companions will be. The party maintains that its spokesperson in Madrid remains their choice to lead the list in the next general elections.
Will Junqueras grant powers to Rufián to place trusted individuals on the list? If the leadership does not accept the conditions of the republican leader, 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 even further between Rufián and Junqueras.
The week's details
King Felipe VI, among businessmen
Rosemary, budgets 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.
