Pedro Sánchez chose Barcelona to make visible that there is an international left-wing front that can confront the reactionary wave led by Donald Trump. The Spanish president was the protagonist of the three summits that have been held almost in parallel in the Catalan capital, but Sánchez's choice has allowed his main ally in the State, Salvador Illa, to adopt a central role as host. It is not easy for a regional president to be received by a head of state and Illa has not missed the opportunity that Sánchez has given him to exchange words with some of the presidents who have visited the Catalan capital.

Junquerasism recovers the Barcelona federation. Ricard Farin, ERC's officialist candidate to lead the party in the Catalan capital, has won this Friday's primaries with 60.1% of the votes against the critics' candidate, Rosa Suriñach, who obtained 36.1% of the votes. In total, 72% of the membership participated, a figure exactly the same as a year ago, when the critics won by 14 votes. That leadership, which Creu Camacho had led for a year, blew up a few months ago when more than half of the executive resigned due to disagreements with the direction Camacho had taken. The internal rebellion has not benefited the critics, but rather the officialists have recovered a federation that had historically resisted the national leadership and acted as a counter-power.

Junqueras's movement regains the Barcelona federation. Ricard Farin, the official ERC candidate to lead the party in the Catalan capital, has won Friday's primaries with 60.1% of the vote (393 ballots) against the critics' candidate, Rosa Suriñach, who obtained 36.1% of the votes (236 ballots); there were 25 blank votes. In total, 72% of the membership participated, an exact figure to that of a year ago, when the critics won by 14 votes. That leadership, which Creu Camacho had led for a year, blew up a few months ago, when more than half of the executive resigned due to disagreements with the direction Camacho had taken. The internal rebellion has not benefited the critics; instead, the officialists have regained a federation that had historically resisted national leadership and had acted as a counter-power.

For weeks, Pedro Sánchez has been working to crown himself the architect of anti-Trumpism. And this weekend he will be its graphic image in Barcelona. The Spanish president will bring together several world leaders from the progressive space to confront the reactionary wave that continues to grow globally. The first handshake was with the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Both have starred in the first Spain-Brazil summit, held at the Palau de Pedralbes in Barcelona, to strengthen relations between both countries and sign several strategic and commercial agreements. They will subsequently appear at a press conference.

For weeks, Pedro Sánchez has been working to establish himself as the architect of anti-Trumpism. And this weekend, he will be the graphic image in Barcelona. The Spanish president is bringing together various world leaders from the progressive sphere to confront the reactionary wave that continues to grow globally. The first handshake was with the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Both have led the first Spain-Brazil summit, held at the Palau de Pedralbes in Barcelona, to strengthen relations between the two countries and sign various strategic and commercial agreements. The two leaders have highlighted the alliance and sent an international message in defense of multilateralism and peace in the face of Donald Trump's warmongering confrontation.

Ricard Farin (Barcelona, 1995) is a candidate to lead the republican federation in Barcelona with the Activem Barcelona candidacy, the list considered to be from the establishment.

Rosa Suriñach (Barcelona, 1981) is a councilor of ERC in the Barcelona City Council and a candidate to preside over the federation with the candidacy Construïm Barcelona, which brings together the critics.

In September, Pere Aragonès announced that he was renouncing his salary as ex-president to take over the family's hotel chain. At that time, he also explained that he would combine this task with his doctoral thesis at the University of Barcelona and also with teaching at the University of Vic.

Just a month ago, Juan Carlos I decided to postpone the trip he had planned to Sanxenxo – to return to the regattas – and stay in Abu Dhabi after the outbreak of the war in Iran. Thirty days later, the conflict in the Middle East has not ended, but the emeritus king has decided to leave the Arab country where he has resided since 2020 to receive an award for his memoir book, Reconciliation. The recognition is from the French association Lire la Société, but it is still surprising that the emeritus king receives an award from a country like France, a republic that values the figure and trajectory of Juan Carlos I when the Spanish state has condemned him to ostracism.

After the clash over budgets that were not even negotiated, the PSC and ERC reset the clock. It was in mid-March when the two parties decided to give themselves a new opportunity and resume talks once Salvador Illa withdrew the bill and Esquerra stopped making IRPF collection a red line. Since before Easter, therefore, socialists and republicans have been negotiating away from the spotlight that captured them before the debate on the entirety of the accounts. Talks are weekly and are conducted with secrecy. The deadline is July, but the Government is in a hurry and the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, has stated that the executive's wish is to have them validated by Sant Joan. Is this feasible?

Gabriel Rufián and Irene Montero defended on Thursday from Barcelona a left-wing front for the upcoming general elections. The Republican spokesperson in Madrid was faithful to his most direct and, in some cases, provocative style. Rufián filled the auditorium of the Pompeu Fabra University with slogans to support his strategy to combat the far-right. These are some of those that summarize his speech:

What should be the unitary left-wing front proposed by Gabriel Rufián? Aware that his party, ERC, does not subscribe to the proposal, the republican spokesperson made an explicit request to him this Thursday: "I ask my party to lead this. And if it costs me my position, I'll go home." Rufián wants Oriol Junqueras' party to adopt the proposal and unite, under its banner, this confluence in Catalonia. And in the State? The republican spokesperson in Madrid has argued that Podemos should play this role: "Podemos can help these confluences." The second stop on his tour of the State has taken him to Barcelona, to the auditorium of the Campus de la Ciutadella at Pompeu Fabra University, alongside Irene Montero, Podemos's number two, who has taken up the proposal's gauntlet.

Gabriel Rufián's tour to defend his proposal for a broad front of the left makes its second stop in Barcelona this Thursday. The ERC spokesperson in Congress will sit down with Podemos's number two, Irene Montero, after a few weeks ago, in Madrid, his interlocutor was the spokesperson for Més Madrid, Emilio Delgado. In the front row, he knows that the president of Esquerra, Oriol Junqueras, will not be there – he has justified his absence due to "agenda matters" – but a small representation of the party's executive will be: the deputy secretary-general, Oriol López, and the deputy secretary, Laura Pelay.

In the survey by the Sociological Research Centre (CIS) last June, Gabriel Rufián first appeared as one of the names Spaniards considered as a candidate for the presidency of the State. The percentage was very low, 0.6%, but what was significant was that a leader of ERC, specifically the party's spokesperson in Congress, appeared in the predictions. The Rufián phenomenon has been growing over the months – in this March's survey the percentage had grown to 5.8% –, spurred on by his campaign for a left-wing front. All the sovereignist left-wing parties, starting with his own, ERC, turned their backs on him and the feeling was that Rufián was rowing against the current, even though he never tires of saying that what he defends is what he hears on the street and what the left has always been criticized for: lack of unity. And especially at a time of rising right and far-right. Sumar welcomed Rufián's proposal, but invited him to join the coalition that was already negotiating with Esquerra Unida, Comuns, and Més Madrid. A project in which Podemos, incidentally, is not involved. It is precisely for this reason that the person who has taken up Rufián's challenge is Irene Montero, the number two of the purple party.

Not even a year after ERC elected Creu Camacho as president of the Barcelona federation, the party will once again fight for the throne on April 17 and after an internal rebellion that was seen as a new challenge to Oriol Junqueras's leadership. If last April the officialist list headed by Eva Baró faced off against the list of the critics, led by Creu Camacho; this time the factions are the same, but with changed leadership. Rosa Suriñach, a councilwoman in Barcelona City Council, will be the face of the critics, while the officialists will have Ricard Farin, president of the ERC branch in Horta-Guinardó, as their visible representative. Both candidacies have already presented the minimum required endorsements: Suriñach's campaign stated last week that they had presented "more than double" the 46 required (5% of Barcelona's membership), while Farin's presented "more than triple". And as has happened in recent years, historical figures of the party in the Catalan capital have positioned themselves around each candidacy to bolster each of the projects. Who is who in each candidacy?

Carlos Cuerpo and Arcadi España have moved up a rung in the Spanish government after the departure of María Jesús Montero. The hitherto number two in the Spanish executive, however, not only hands over the first vice-presidency and the Ministry of Finance, but also the negotiating power with the so-called Catalan file. Specifically, Arcadi España will be the one to tackle the hot potato of materializing the new financing and reopening talks with Esquerra after the transfer of the IRPF derailed. España was one of the strong men of Ximo Puig's Valencian government and those who know him define him as a convinced federalist and Valencianist, as well as being a firm defender of new regional financing. In fact, he endorses the reform that Montero agreed with ERC. And what do PSC and ERC think of the new minister? The Republicans view him favorably for giving a new "opportunity" to negotiations.In Palau they also look hopefully at the new minister, whom a voice from the Catalan socialists describes as "receptive" to the demands of Catalonia, many of them coinciding with those of the Valencian Country."Arcadi is social democracy made politician, dialogue made ruler, common sense made person," wrote former Valencian president Ximo Puig in a message on X after his appointment was made public. In statements to el ARA, he reaffirms: "He is a person with an open disposition, without closed dogmatisms, with the capacity to listen and empathy." España was Puig's chief of staff during his time in Madrid, also when he was general secretary of the PSPV and when he presided over the Generalitat Valenciana, and subsequently served as minister of Territorial Policy and also of Finance. "Federalism is part of his political culture," defends Puig, who recalls that he is one of the people who has most defended new regional financing within the PSOE. In fact, this is one of the issues that Esquerra values.

Setback for ERC's membership in Igualada to the proposal of a coalition with the CUP and Comuns for next year's municipal elections. The assembly that the party held on Thursday night rejected the proposal by a narrow margin: 34 votes against, 31 in favor, and 2 abstentions, as reported by Nació Digital and confirmed by ARA. This Monday, the municipal groups of ERC, the CUP, and Comuns made a pre-agreement public to run jointly with the aim of ousting the current mayor from Junts per Igualada, Marc Castells. However, after the decision of ERC's membership, this pact now remains in limbo.

After doing a reset With ERC, the government hopes that negotiations with the Republicans will bear fruit and that the budget will be approved before Sant Joan (St. John's Day), but ERC is reluctant to commit to anything more than continuing to discuss it. While the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, wants to bring the budget back to Parliament between the end of April and the beginning of May and have it approved before June 24, the ERC spokesperson, Isaac Albert, refuses to set a timetable and asks the Socialists to make proposals that allow Catalonia to "gain sovereignty" in order to secure a budget. In any case, the PSC and ERC will resume negotiations this week.

The seal on the agreement was put by Salvador Illa and Oriol Junqueras in a meeting of just over two hours at the Palau de la Generalitat on Tuesday afternoon. But the pact had been being forged since the previous weekend after days of deadlock. At the Palau and at the PSC headquarters, the strategy of buying time to avoid a parliamentary defeat that would have left the executive shaken eventually prevailed. The party's number 2, Lluïsa Moret, had a lot to do with it, explain various sources to ARA. But to limit the damage, the socialists demanded, in return, a commitment from the republicans to stop positioning the IRPF as a red line. All this, to reset the clock. To get here, however, the conversations went through ups and downs, from tense meetings to lunches and homemade doughnuts to save the negotiation.

Joan Tardà is a former member of Congress and has recently published A Republican Chronicle from Madrid (Viena Edicions), where he recounts his fifteen years as a member of parliament in the Spanish capital.