The Spanish legislature is running out and the left is not prepared. Whether in the summer, when four years will have passed since the last elections, or at the end of November in case Pedro Sánchez presses the electoral button this Monday, Comuns, Sumar, IU and Més Madrid have not yet defined the structure or the candidate. The failure of the housing decrees has shaken the political board and this Saturday Ada Colau activated the electoral mode with an urgent call. "It is the moment for great alliances. The citizenry would not understand if everyone went their own way," she exclaimed at the inauguration of a conference of the School of Political Imagination organized by the Sentit Comú Foundation, which is presided over by Colau herself.

The debate surrounding the two housing decrees that were voted on this Friday in the Congress of Deputies has left some parties so disoriented that in recent days rumors have multiplied, in parliamentary circles, about an imminent election call in the State. For the second time in recent years, Pedro Sánchez has begun a period of reflection, now to decide if the moment has arrived to advance the elections. Various sources connected to the Moncloa and consulted by ARA acknowledge that it is a scenario that is on the table. The first available Sunday would be November 29th.

They tried it in 2010 with a socialist government – back then with Àngel Ros as mayor – and it is now the PSC once again pushing for the ban on full-face veils on the streets of Lleida. It is one of the novelties incorporated into the civic ordinance that the Paeria approved this Friday, thanks to the pact between the socialists and Junts. "With the same foundation of guaranteeing social interaction in the terms usual and typical of a free and democratic society, it is prohibited to wear any piece of clothing, garment or other attire that conceals the face in public spaces," specifies Article 12. It will be considered a minor offense and will entail fines of between 400 and 750 euros, although before fining, women who wear, among others, a burqa or niqab, which has been banned in the city, will be warned.

Roger Español (Tarragona, 1974) was one of the thousands of activists who, on October 1, 2017, defended the ballot boxes and polling stations where the independence referendum was being held. He suffered the worst of it when one of the rubber bullets fired by the National Police in Barcelona blinded his right eye. Today, nine years later, he is still seeking justice and has managed to bring four of the police officers who participated in those charges to the defendants' bench, including the riot officer who shot him. They will be the only officers tried for the police violence of October 1st.

Between 1984 and 2024, invariably, the independence movement (or, rather, the sovereignty movement) always held a majority in the Parliament of Catalonia. But the end of the 'Procés' sank the electoral prospects of the parties that had driven it and cleared the way for Salvador Illa to enter the Palau de la Generalitat. The third socialist president also arrived with all the cards to break the curse of one-term presidents and, with practically no opposition, it was expected that he could consolidate his leadership.

Although it was not seen on television, the estelades filled the stands of the Camp Nou in the match two weeks ago against Athletic Club. An image that had not been seen in the blue and garnet stadium for some time and that the independence movement has claimed as one of the green shoots of a new beginning that some of its ideologues are beginning to glimpse in the short term. The latest barometer from the Center for Opinion Studies (CEO), published in June, broke a worrying dynamic for the yes vote: it marked the best percentage (45%) since March 2019, six points more than a few months ago. And this same week, all the presidents of the ANC have put aside their disagreements to be photographed together, claiming a Diada of unity.

"If I preside over the Generalitat, the Minister of the Interior will be Núria Parlon, who has been excellent in security policies, and, since I want to professionalize management in Catalonia, the Director General of the Police will be Josep Lluís Trapero, who is an example of a public servant." The star announcement of the then-candidate Salvador Illa in the last debate of the 2024 electoral campaign was to place the Parlon-Trapero tandem at the head of security decisions. Illa (and also Trapero) was warned of the contraindications of placing a police officer to act as a politician, but, already as president, the message he wanted to convey was one of full confidence in a decorated expert –a media protagonist and, today also a cinematic one, of the pursuit of the La Rambla terrorists– and, incidentally, to repair the injustice he perceived that the Aragonès government had committed by dismissing him as head of the Mossos.

The new financing model has passed the first vote in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) with the support of Catalonia and the Canary Islands (in addition to the Spanish government) and the vote against it from all the autonomous regions governed by the PP and the PSOE. The Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero (Caldes d'Estrac, 1976), is satisfied.What future awaits the new model now?

It has been almost two months since the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) endorsed the amnesty, but, for the moment, nothing has been done. Spanish courts keep numerous cases blocked, even those directly affected by the CJEU's decision, such as that of the CDR and the Court of Auditors. The latest decision, this Thursday, comes from the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC), which keeps the case against Josep Maria Jové and Lluís Salvadó, two of the officials of the sub-government of October 1st, suspended. The TSJC presented a preliminary ruling to European justice in 2024 asking whether embezzlement could be amnestied. Since the CJEU has not yet responded to this question, the magistrates Fernando Lacaba, Jesús María Barrientos and Carlos Ramos –who signed the interlocutory order–, reaffirm their decision to continue waiting.

Between May 17 and 18, 2021, 10,000 people entered Ceuta from Morocco in the last major migration crisis—up to the present—in the autonomous city. Coinciding with those dates, the mobile phone of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, was infected with the Pegasus spyware. So were those of the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles; the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska; and the Minister of Agriculture and former Spanish ambassador to Morocco, Luis Planas. Who spied on them? As with the mass entry this summer in Ceuta, the Spanish government claims it has no certainty, but from the first minute, internal investigations (and common sense) have pointed to the Moroccan secret services. This Thursday, from Congress, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, took the opportunity to recall it: "What document or clue was on your phone for you to behave this way? Why are you afraid of Morocco? What does Morocco know about you?".

The CUP councilwoman in Moià, Lakshmi Roset Sala (Moià, 1995), took a stand last Friday when the video in which she criticized the expansion of the slaughterhouse accumulated hundreds of sexist messages about her physical appearance and her political affiliation.

The President of the Generalitat begins an official trip this Wednesday that will take him to spend 48 hours in Ukraine, accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jaume Duch, and he will also meet with the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni. Illa will arrive in Kyiv at a particularly complicated moment, as missiles have been falling on the city for six consecutive days, where at least 12 people died this Tuesday in a Russian attack on railway infrastructure.

Pedro Sánchez believes that Felipe VI should travel to Ceuta and Melilla. Pedro Sánchez notes that Felipe VI has never been to Ceuta or Melilla. Pedro Sánchez announces that Felipe VI will go to Ceuta and Melilla. And Pedro Sánchez asks that the Royal Household respond if Felipe VI agrees to go to Ceuta and Melilla. Four responses during the interview on Cadena SER this Monday that highlight the tensions between Moncloa and Zarzuela in managing the Ceuta crisis. The President of the Spanish government could have limited himself to deflecting – as he does on many other issues – but he has preferred to make his executive's position crystal clear. He has already decided that the king will make the visit and it is only under discussion when it will be: "When the conditions are met".

The humanitarian crisis in Ceuta has become entrenched a month after the massive arrival of immigrants. Thousands of people continue to live in precarious conditions on the streets, and tension is growing as the days go by. Neither a way out for the immigrants – either to Spain or back to Morocco – has been guaranteed, nor has the situation been normalized as the residents demand. This is despite the fact that the Spanish Prime Minister and many of his ministers have visited Ceuta, and it has also become a place of pilgrimage for the opposition. The right and far-right, in fact, have settled there, clinging to Ceuta as the possible trigger that could bring down Pedro Sánchez definitively. The competition among their totems, who vie to be recognized as the moral compasses of the right, increasingly resembles the ridiculous aura battles that are going viral on social media.

"We want to call you all to a permanent mobilization", said the then president of Òmnium, Jordi Cuixart, perched on the roof of a Civil Guard car on September 20, 2017. His words were incorporated into the police report that served as the basis for his imprisonment and that of Jordi Sànchez (ANC) a few weeks later. According to the police, the two of them controlled the thousands of people who were gathered in front of the Ministry of Economy to protest against the first arrests of the Procés and "never" used this control to call off the demonstration. The police report omitted that, moments later, perched on the same car and with the same megaphone in hand, Cuixart asked to end the demonstration: "We ask you, as far as possible, in a calm manner, to disperse this call in a few moments". The images, recorded by protesters, were shown during the trial at the Supreme Court.

The magistrate Joaquim Bosch (Cullera, 1965) speaks to ARA to explain the special protection of immigrant minors who are in Ceuta under the care of the Spanish authorities.

Although she had been one of its drivers, the Process caught Solidaritat off guard. In 2012, the party that had made a name for itself two years earlier by proclaiming itself heir to the popular consultations, failed to enter Parliament. Alfons López Tena (Sagunt, 1957) was its candidate. This notary, son of a notary, who spent seven years (2001-2008) on the CGPJ at the proposal of CiU, continued to be active in the movement until 2015, waiting to see where Catalan independence was heading. But in 2014, with the 9-N consultation, he became clear. In conversation with ARA, he explains how what happened from then on convinced him that it was all "a farce." In fact, on that very day, together with a group of people, they began to popularize the concept of "processism": that movement that claims to yearn for independence but, in reality, never wants it to arrive. Distant from "processist" parties, he has accumulated criticism, for example, for participating in a Societat Civil Catalana symposium in 2018 ("I went there to defend my thesis on authoritarian populisms that I also detect in the Process") or for saying in 2023 that he would vote for the PSOE to prevent the far-right from coming to power in Spain.

Although the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has validated the amnesty, there are courts that still refuse to apply it. From ERC, the deputy general secretary of organization, finance, and anti-repression, Pau Morales (Vilassar de Dalt, 1994) explains to us what his party's roadmap is to continue pressing.

The first sign that the application of the amnesty will not be easy despite the endorsement of the European justice system has been given by the Court of Auditors, which has refused to apply it from the outset, despite being one of those directly named in last week's ruling. The lawyer for Carles Puigdemont, Gonzalo Boye, has filed a brief with the European Commission denouncing Spain for non-compliance with the amnesty and warning of the Court of Auditors' maneuver. In a brief first reported by Vilaweb and to which ARA has had access, he denounces that the deadline for issuing the amnesty has been suspended de facto and that a procedure for allegations has been opened which he not only considers unnecessary, but also asserts that it contravenes the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

Mònica Martínez Bravo is the first minister to jump from Salvador Illa's executive. For some time she was one of those who were on everyone's lips, because for some time the president has been preparing a government reshuffling to face the decisive last phase of the legislature. Many sources pointed to an imminent government crisis, although it is surprising that it is limited only to the Minister of Social Rights.