Sílvia Orriols is considering running in the elections again. But she will not do so for Aliança Catalana. No, we are not talking about the leader of the Islamophobic party, who has already made it clear that she wants to revalidate the mayorship of Ripoll with the formation she created after breaking with the Front. We are talking about another Sílvia Orriols, the one who was mayoress of Llívia from 2011 to 2015 and who retired from politics in 2021."There is one year left until the elections and I do not rule out taking the step again at some point, because I did not like how I left," advances the Cerdaña politician in conversation with ARA, who reiterates that "it is not a definitively closed chapter." As for offers, there is no shortage. "Here we all talk to each other," she points out without specifying if she has any firm proposals. And if she received an offer from Aliança Catalana, would she accept it? "I would not accept it, I am more open and I do not like their discourse against immigration; here in the town we have always had immigration, and as a site manager, I work with people from all countries throughout the region."

Surprise in capital letters at the helm of the ANC. Lluís Llach is no longer the president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC). After two years in office, the singer-songwriter has decided to step aside and hand over the presidency to Josep Vila, but he will remain in the entity's leadership to exercise representation. Llach will be the vice-president and Vila, who had been the ANC coordinator in the city of Girona and was now the coordinator of the Political Incidence Commission, will be the new president, in a agreed handover that was formalized this Saturday at the constituent plenary of the new secretariat, held in Igualada.

President Salvador Illa is known for being a punctual person. And this Sant Jordi day, he even arrived a quarter of an hour early. The head of the executive arrived at quarter past four at the PSC stall when journalists had been summoned for half past four and made a lightning tour of the intersection of Rambla Catalunya with Diputació street. There, Illa took the first photos with some supporters and exchanged a few words with the second vice-president of the Parliament's board, David Pérez, and also with the Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler.

"Today Lithuania, tomorrow Catalonia". Paintings with this slogan appeared all over Catalonia Aliança Catalana now introduces a new player: Rhodesia. What is now Zimbabwe was an unrecognized state, governed by a white minority, which emerged when it unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1965 to avoid a black majority government, with the end of colonization. The independence, which was effective from 1965 to 1979, aimed to perpetuate the power of the 240,000 white people who lived there versus the 4.5 million Africans, who did not have the right to vote and from whom they took their land, which caused a bloody conflict that lasted a decade.

The two councilors of the PSC of Ripoll who allowed Sílvia Orriols to approve the budgets thanks to their abstention were leaving office on Monday amid reproaches and with a clear warning to the party. "We want to state that the local branch does not share this decision in any case; what's more, it is in absolute disagreement. There is no member of the list who has shown any predisposition to take over from our councilors. This is a decision made unilaterally by the national leadership of the PSC," stated Enric Pérez and Anna Belén Avilés in a joint statement. In summary, the two councilors warned that no one from the candidacy would take over from them. Orriols resorted to irony in Wednesday's control session in the Parliament, thanking the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, for what the socialists are doing in Ripoll: "Thank you for the budgets, but above all for having dismantled the PSC, which has been a masterstroke," he snapped.

Enric Pérez and Anna Belén Avilés are no longer representatives of the PSC in the Ripoll City Council. Nor does the local socialist group exist anymore in the capital of Ripoll. The PSC Federation of the Girona regions agreed this Tuesday to liquidate the Ripoll executive and create a management committee. The leadership has made this decision after the local group closed ranks with the two councilors, who had warned that no one from the candidacy wanted to replace them because they disagree with the decision to expel them. Both resigned on Monday after the party censured them for abstaining from voting on the budgets and allowing Aliança Catalana to approve them. Their resignation has opened an unprecedented crisis in the PSC of Ripoll. The two councilors have left with reproaches to the PSC, and now the leadership will have to find people willing to take over the seat for the remaining year of the term.

With the municipal elections of 2027 on the horizon, Alianza Catalana has been activating its machinery for months to find candidates, including a takeover bid for Junts officials and from the convergent space with the aim of incorporating them into their lists. But amidst meetings and calls left and right, there was an operation that was cooked up last year that aimed to take away the mayor of an entire county capital. As ARA has been able to learn, Alianza Catalana tried to sign the mayor of Figueres, Jordi Masquef, without success. An intermediary, Miquel, a grassroots militant of the far-right party in Empordà, got in touch with the Junts mayor, with whom they already knew each other. The mayor responded to his messages in November, stalled him, and finally rejected the offer, according to knowledgeable sources.

Ripoll's politics has acquired national relevance, with media overexposure of its councilors due to the arrival of Aliança Catalana. This week, the municipal spokesperson for the PSC, Enric Pérez (Ripoll, 1980), has experienced this. After his group abstained and allowed Silvia Orriols' budget approval, the indignant socialist leadership summoned the two councilors, and they put their positions at the party's disposal.

Earthquake in the PSC. The socialist municipal group of Ripoll acknowledges "the error that the abstention in the City Council's budget plenary session represents" which allowed Aliança Catalana to approve them, and the two councilors of the group have placed their positions at the party's disposal. They did so after meeting with the PSC federation of the Girona regions, which had previously issued a statement distancing itself from the decision made by the municipal group. "This decision does not have the endorsement or prior knowledge of this federation," stated the federation, which had summoned the two councilors "immediately" to "demand explanations and act accordingly.

The Student Union of the Catalan Countries (SEPC) has called to repaint the pro-independence mural in Plaça Cívica of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) next Tuesday, April 14, at 12 p.m., after the university decided, at judicial request, to erase it during the absence of activity on campus for Easter. "We will not let them get away with it and we will repaint the mural as many times as necessary," warned the spokespersons of the pro-independence union. The two members of the union who spoke at the press conference stated that defending the mural is defending "collective memory, student organization, and the politicization of campuses to fight for a better future." In this regard, the SEPC justifies the "struggle from the classrooms" for independent, socialist, and feminist Catalan Countries.

The councilwoman of Perafort Elisabet Albujar (Vilafranca del Penedès, 1982), who was number 2 for Junts, on Monday supported the motion of no confidence by ERC to oust the mayor from her party, who had been in power for almost 27 years. The councilwoman did so by displaying a t-shirt that read "Me la bufa" (I don't care), something that the outgoing mayor, Joan Martí, reproached her for. In conversation with ARA, the also president of the Consell Comarcal del Tarragonès reiterates: "It is deplorable and shameful to wear this t-shirt because the Town Hall is the most important institution in the town and it was a plenary session that will go down in history".

Earthquake in l'Ametlla de Mar. Junts and the PSC had agreed to share the mayoralty after ousting ERC from the municipal government with a pact between the two formations after the elections. The Junts had obtained five councilors, the same as the Republicans, but the Socialists (2) invested the former and entered the executive. The quid pro quo was that the PSC would assume the mayoralty at the end of the term. So far, so normal. What is not so usual is that the socialist councilor now does not want to invest the head of her party's list. And this has led to a crisis not only in the PSC, but has reached the government itself and will result in an unagreed-upon handover of the mayoralty.

The Arran of Les Corts branch claimed last January the destruction of an Aliança Catalana tent in Plaça Comas, Barcelona. During the attack, a far-right party militant fell to the ground from a push by an independentist left-wing member and was evacuated to Sagrat Cor Hospital with a severe head injury. The Mossos would arrest three people a couple of months later who are awaiting trial.

During the peak years of the Process, the Assemblea Nacional Catalana (ANC) was able to bring millions of people to the streets and became a decisive player in setting the roadmap for the pro-independence governments. The paralysis of the Process, however, has affected it like the rest of the pro-independence entities and formations that worked to make the 1-O referendum possible. This is demonstrated by the number of candidacies submitted to the ANC leadership. For the first time,the number of candidates for the national secretariat is lower than the number of available positions. Thus, 64 aspirants have been presented to occupy the 77 positions that will form the entity's leadership, as established by the statutes. This is the lowest figure in its history.

The proposal by ERC spokesperson Gabriel Rufián to form a broad left-wing and pro-independence front in the Spanish elections does not have the backing of the ERC leadership, which has distanced itself from it from the outset, and can only boast of having on its side to his comrade in arms, Joan TardàHowever, at the municipal level, their approach is viewed favorably by the Republican leadership, especially if the parties run under their electoral umbrella. This is what will happen in Igualada. The municipal groups of ERC, CUP, and Comuns announced a preliminary agreement this Monday to run jointly in the 2027 municipal elections.

The Orriols surname has become increasingly popular in Catalan politics since the mayor of Ripoll came to power with a fiery speech against immigration and against other pro-independence parties. She is one of the founders of Aliança Catalana, the far-right party that is gaining the most in polls, especially at the expense of Junts. But there is also an Orriols who precisely represents Carles Puigdemont's formation: Irina Orriols, the sister. She is a councilor in Sora, a small town of just over 200 inhabitants in the Osona region, bordering Ripollès. The political origin of the two sisters is the same, the Front Nacional de Catalunya. In fact, they ran together in 2019 in Ripoll, with Sílvia as the lead candidate and Irina in a symbolic number 9, to accompany her sister. But in 2023 they chose different paths and, in Sora, Irina Orriols was the fourth most voted councilor when she represented Junts with the open list system.

After the blow to the left in the Castille and Leo elections, where Podem and Sumar were left out of the regional chamber, ERC spokesperson, Gabriel Rufián, stated: "Seats to the left of the PSOE. Doing nothing (or the same old thing) is pure negligence." Given the proliferation of regional governments with a PP and Vox majority and the more than possible alliance of these two forces in the next general elections, the Esquerra leader does not tire of demanding a united left-wing front in Spain.

First stop, Madrid, and now it's Barcelona's turn. Gabriel Rufián will return to the campaign trail on April 9th ​​to defend his proposal for a national left-wing front. He will do so alongside Podemos MEP Irene Montero, at an event in Barcelona moderated by former Comuns leader Xavier Domènech. feeling The relationship between Rufián and Montero is well-known, and, as happened with Emilio Delgado in Madrid, similar speeches will likely be heard. This Thursday, in fact, Podemos's next candidate for the general elections considered it "a very good idea" to team up with Rufián in the elections. In an interview with RTVE, Montero stressed the importance of citizens knowing that there are people "willing to play and win the game" against the far right. The general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, also celebrated the alliance between Montero and Rufián: "I can't think of a better team to give people hope that we can govern from the left," she also told RTVE. Rufián's views, however, are not so well received within his party. The ERC leadership has repeatedly distanced itself from the left-wing unity project, and internal criticism is mounting, to the point that some members are demanding that the "disobedience" of the party's spokesperson in Madrid be addressed by the party's disciplinary committee.

The budgets of the Generalitat are not the only ones that attract the interest of parties and the media. A hundred kilometers north of Plaça Sant Jaume in Barcelona, there are other accounts that also mark Catalan politics. In Ripoll, the municipal government plans to put this year's budgets, which have not yet been approved, to a vote on March 31, in the middle of Holy Week, as ARA has learned. The last and only ones approved by Sílvia Orriols since she became mayor, those of 2025, caused a real earthquake both locally and nationally. If this year's are not approved, the mayor threatens to face a vote of confidence again.