The Prosecutor's Office is "obstructing" the judicial investigations opened into the Pegasus espionage of several Catalan pro-independence leaders. This is the conclusion reached by Amnesty International after studying the public ministry's actions in the ten ongoing judicial cases. Specifically, the organization denounces that the Prosecutor's Office has been hindering these investigations for six years. "The public ministry should support the victims, it has a vital role in protecting their rights," said Virginia Álvarez, head of investigation and domestic policy at Amnesty International in Spain.

While the Spanish legislature is alive, the Spanish government maintains steps to try to bring the new regional financing model to light. What timeline is it working with? Once the Andalusian elections are overcome – in which the former vice-president and former Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, ran as a candidate – the state executive has reactivated the machinery and has set a new meeting of the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy (CPFF) for Wednesday, July 29, which should serve to put on the table the new financing system that the socialists agreed with ERC (and presented in January). Previously, on July 14, the Spanish government will hold a preparatory technical meeting with all the autonomous communities and this week it will distribute the specific proposal to all communities. The next step will be for the Council of Ministers to approve the proposal and then send it to Congress, probably in September. And there, it still has to win the necessary support for this new model to see the light.

Salvador Illa will reach the midpoint of the legislature with the political stability he sought. This Thursday, Parliament has definitively approved the budgets that he agreed upon a few weeks ago with Esquerra and Comuns, the two investiture partners, who this morning added their votes to validate the first accounts of the socialist government – Junts deputy Noemí Nieto also voted in favor by mistake. Accounts that will reach almost 50,000 million euros, 22% more than those of 2023, the last project still approved under the presidency of Pere Aragonès. This Thursday's plenary session also validated the budget accompanying law, which includes, among other things, increasing the tourist tax to 30 euros per day for cruise ships calling at Barcelona and creating the Catalan Airport Authority. Illa thus guarantees himself to reach the end of the legislature with updated budgets and a parliamentary majority that requires the Government to continue for its agreements to be fulfilled.

June began in Parliament with a heated control session in which the opposition tried to surround the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, for the cases of alleged corruption affecting the PSOE and Pedro Sánchez's circle. And the first control session of this July has started the same way, with one more step from the Junts politicians. The president of the Junts group in the Catalan chamber, Mònica Sales, demanded this Wednesday that Illa ask for "forgiveness" for the judicial cases and stop "hiding himself". "When Catalonia has a problem, you disappear; when the PSOE has one, you are always there," she said. "This weekend you had the opportunity to ask for forgiveness on behalf of your party," she retorted, referring to the PSOE federal committee, in which the president said that socialists have "no fear" of anything. Illa, in turn, reiterated that he fears nothing and that he has already given the necessary "explanations".

Gabriel Rufián said on Thursday that the PSOE had already contacted them to discuss next year's budgets. However, he did not reveal whether the Republicans were willing to negotiate them or if they had already decided on the conditions they would set. He simply said he hoped the Spanish government would present the accounts to "negotiate and approve them," meaning they should not be "an excuse or a lever for other things," in reference to a possible early election. Is ERC really willing to negotiate the budgets?

Jordi Pujol reappeared this Monday to put a face to the donation that the party he founded, Convergència, has made to the National Archive of Catalonia. The formation has donated its documentary collection in an act presided over by the head of the Catalan executive, Salvador Illa. In fact, the socialist president has once again heaped praise on Pujol: he has acknowledged his "work and political passion in the service of the country." Praise that he also extended to Convergència: "Catalonia owes a lot to Convergència and Catalonia, without Convergència, it would not have been the country it is today." The president has described the 150 linear meters of documents, posters, and merchandise of the party as a "collective treasure."

Jordi Martí Galbis wins Junts primaries in Barcelona and will be the party's mayoral candidate in the Catalan capital. Martí has won by 253 votes (40.29%) against the other candidates. Pilar Calvo came in second place with 184 votes (29.30%), while Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas came in third, with 117 votes (18.63%). In last place, Glòria Freixa, who obtained 70 votes (11.15%). In total, 934 militants were called to participate, of whom 628 voted, representing a 67.24% turnout. Jordi Martí was not the candidate Carles Puigdemont's leadership was backing, but the current leader of the municipal group in Barcelona decided to step forward regardless. His victory is, therefore, a warning to the Junts leadership.

For months, the case being investigated by Judge Juan Carlos Peinado against Begoña Gómez, wife of the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, has been causing unease within socialist ranks: they consider it "persecution" against Gómez for being the wife of the head of the state executive. This weekend, however, Peinado has also managed to outrage the police and part of the judiciary with the argument he used to justify the withdrawal of Gómez's passport, a precautionary measure requested by the popular prosecution led by the ultra entity Hazte Oír. The magistrate considered there was a flight risk because her escorts could help her in a possible escape. An argument that angered the police force and also put the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) on alert. So much so that this Monday the permanent commission of this body will study whether to open disciplinary proceedings against Peinado.

Judge Juan Carlos Peinado sends Begoña Gómez, wife of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, to trial and revokes her passport. The magistrate resolved this Saturday the request for precautionary measures made by the popular accusers in Monday's hearing. Thus, Gómez will not be able to accompany Sánchez on international trips. In addition to the passport revocation, he also prohibits her from leaving the State and obliges her to report to the court every fifteen days. These are the measures requested by Hazte Oír, the ultra entity that groups the popular accusers, because they considered there was a risk of flight. However, they did not request preventive detention. Peinado also accepts the same precautionary measures for Begoña Gómez's advisor, Cristina Álvarez.

On June 18, twenty years ago today, Catalonia voted on the Statute in a referendum. Without many queues —only 49% of Catalans eligible to vote participated—, but with a broad majority of 73.9% —20.76% voted against and 5.34% abstained—, the country's basic law was ratified, already cut back from its birth in Parliament and which would still suffer a hard blow four years later in the Constitutional Court.

In the midst of a conflict with Gabriel Rufián, Oriol Junqueras met with the parliamentary group in Madrid this Wednesday. The meeting lasted about two hours and, according to consulted sources, the open battle within the parliamentary group in Madrid due to the lack of harmony between the Republican spokesperson and the majority of his party colleagues was not brought up. The leadership shared the party's strategy for the end of the Spanish legislature with the parliamentary group. However, as the party explained in a statement, Junqueras also asked the deputies for "coordination" to face "the challenges" of this legislature. Thus, he conveyed to them the "need to face this stage with the utmost demand, determination, and coordination". "The decisions that will have to be made in the coming months will be decisive in guaranteeing more resources, more decision-making power, and more well-being for the country as a whole," adds the party. Until now, the leadership had prescribed patience to the parliamentary group in Madrid.

Gabriel Rufián has been insisting for months on forming a sovereignist left-wing front in the State and, at the same time, has an open battle within his parliamentary group. There is no understanding or harmony with the majority of his party colleagues and the conflict has been escalating for months. That is why it is relevant that, in this context, a meeting is scheduled in Madrid next week with Oriol Junqueras. According to what ARA has learned, the president of Esquerra will be in the Spanish capital and will meet with the party's deputies in Congress. A meeting that could be routine if the conflict with Rufián were not looming.

The deadline is approaching and it is confirmed that the number 1 on the Junts list in Barcelona will be contested by four candidates. Jordi Martí Galbis, Pilar Calvo, Glòria Freixa and Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas have submitted the more than 200 signatures (20% of the endorsements, although it has not been published exactly how many each has obtained) that the party required of them and it is expected that this Friday they will be officially proclaimed as candidates for the primaries. The party's municipal territorial commission (CMT) must now validate the signatures provided by each candidate and kick off the electoral campaign, which is scheduled from June 13 to 19. The membership will be able to vote on the 20th and 21st, and the winner will be announced on the same day.

Since this Tuesday, the Vatican flag has been flying on the facade of the Palau de la Generalitat and also on that of Barcelona City Hall. The Government has fully committed to the institutional visit that Pope Leo XIV is making to Catalonia – the first stop was this weekend in Madrid and will end the week in the Canary Islands – and the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, is accompanying the pontiff throughout his stay, from the moment he disembarked the plane on the very same runway. The visual proof that the Government wants to give its all for this visit is that it has also hung the flag on the facade of the Generalitat. Why?

It 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 part of the group has reached an almost unsustainable point. And the party leadership has known this for a long time. The confrontation has escalated in recent months and has gone beyond 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' leadership plan to address this conflict?

It 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?

Two hours after learning that 39,500 teachers have voted against the preliminary agreement between unions and Education, the minister Esther Niubó, appeared to explain that the measures of the pact would go ahead. "The commitment to implement this agreement is there," she defended, and recalled that "only" USTEC has said it will not sign the agreement, while Professors de Secundària, CCOO, and UGT will. The minister explained this after an emergency meeting with President Salvador Illa.

Salvador Illa's first budgets passed their initial parliamentary stage this Thursday. The debate on the entirety of the accounts once again highlighted the alliance that brought the socialist president to the Palau de la Generalitat and which the Government intends to serve it to reach the end of the legislature. Thus, the budgets have begun to be processed with the support of the two investiture partners, ERC and Comuns, with whom the Government reached an agreement two weeks ago. The executive, however, has not managed to secure the 'yes' of any of the opposition groups: Junts, the CUP, Aliança, the PP, and Vox had presented amendments in their entirety, four texts that have been rejected. The words of the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, asking them to come out of the "trench" and defending accounts that reach almost 50 billion euros and grow by 22% compared to those of 2023, have not served to convince them. And even more so when, during the debate, the news broke that teachers rejected the unions' agreement with Education. Junts and the CUP have taken the opportunity to attack the executive, while the partners have asked the Government to reopen negotiations.

Without any reference to the judicial cases surrounding his environment, but with an announcement that is the message itself, Pedro Sánchez is pushing the legislature forward and this week will begin the process of presenting the 2027 budgets. The announcement was made before Catalan business leaders and also the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, at this year's conference of the Cercle d'Economia in Barcelona. Sánchez has claimed the need for state accounts, which would be the first of the legislature and would arrive at the most delicate moment of the term, when cases of alleged corruption are increasingly besieging the environment of the Spanish president.

It was a debate with a predictable conclusion: a clash between the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the President of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda. The former, a staunch defender of the new financing model agreed between the PSOE and ERC; the latter, representing the PP, as a detractor of the proposal. And in between, Imanol Pradales, the Basque lehendakari, who watched from the sidelines defending his economic concert as a "rara avis" in Spain. All this, in a round table at this year's conference of the Cercle d'Economia. "I don't want any advantage or privilege for Catalonia, but I also don't want us to be left behind," argued Illa, before adding that Catalonia "will not ask for permission to lead and to make respectful proposals." "I will not ask anyone for permission either, but an agreement must be reached," Rueda replied.