With the song Los niños del barrio the leaders of the Broad Front appeared this Saturday in Madrid before more than a thousand militants who were waiting to learn about the project that will bring together the left in the State for the November 29th elections. But not everyone was there. Missing were los niños of Podemos, with whom the possibility of running together in Madrid, Barcelona and other territories vanished this Friday night after an "agonizing" negotiation, admit some voices from this space, who have arrived at the event having practically not slept. Neither was Gabriel Rufián, who had established himself as the unifying face of all the left-wing forces to the left of the PSOE to stop the threat of a PP-Vox government. Nor Yolanda Díaz, who three years ago was the candidate for this space – then under the name Sumar – for the presidency of the Spanish government. This Saturday she had a parallel event at a university. Today, Ada Colau returns to the political front line, candidate of the Broad Front for the presidency of the Spanish government and number one for Barcelona – Emilio Delgado will be number one for Madrid –. Finally, Ernest Urtasun will run as number two on the ticket in the Catalan capital.

With time already exhausted, the divorce of the state left-wing parties has been consummated. The negotiations between Broad Front and Podemos to run together in the November 29th elections have failed—there will only be unitary lists in the Canary Islands and the Valencian Community. "The Broad Front has done everything possible to build the broadest and most diverse political alliance possible," they noted past midnight from the party that, among others, is led by Ada Colau. Midnight was the deadline to register coalitions for the state elections on November 29th. Now, it will still be necessary to define the lists of candidates that must be presented before October 26th.

For days now, pensions and the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) have come into play in the run-up to the November 29th election campaign. First, Vox questioned the sustainability of the pension system, and this week the PP got itself into a muddle with the future increase in benefits, even though its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, wanted to make his position clear: "Pensions are non-negotiable and that's that. They will be updated in line with the CPI, without a doubt. We will guarantee their viability, without a doubt," the popular leader stated this Thursday.

A sea of thousands of green t-shirts approaches the Puerta del Sol this Wednesday at noon. "Public education for everyone and by everyone," it reads in white printed letters. They are the teachers of non-university public schools in the Community of Madrid, who are starting an indefinite general strike. They advance walking along one of the streets that leads to the kilometer zero of the Spanish capital. Upon arriving, they surround the nearly 2,000 tents that have remained installed in the square for almost twenty days: the first one was placed on the night of September 26th.

"Pedro Sánchez has not been a social democrat, but a socialist." A high-level former executive of the Ibex-35 summarizes in this way the policy that, in his view, the Spanish government has carried out during this last term regarding the State's relationship with companies, especially those considered strategic. But also regarding economic policy—regulation—over sectors of great weight. An affirmation, however, that would probably be questioned by the parties to the left of the PSOE, particularly Podemos.

With twelve years of delay, in the month of January, the then Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, presented a new autonomous financing model. It was the first time that such progress had been made since the 2009 reform, also promoted by the PSOE, although that reform arrived with the consensus of all the communities governed by the socialists –those of the PP voted against it– and also with the specific endorsement of the tripartite that was then piloting the Generalitat. A very different situation from the current one, because Montero presented a reform that only Catalonia and the Canary Islands have endorsed and that has had to overcome an adverse electoral cycle for the Moncloa. "Do you want me to wrap myself in an estelada in Andalusia?", the former minister said to ERC, recalls a consulted source. The Andalusian elections in May –with Montero as the socialist candidate–, in fact, caused the calendar to be delayed. So much so, that it has not even reached the council of ministers table.

The Bank of Spain has increased its inflation forecasts, which it places, for this year and 2027, well above the targets set by the European Central Bank (ECB). The monetary body presented its quarterly macroeconomic forecast report this Friday, in which it also forecasts the growth of the Spanish economy.

The second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, has set the machinery in motion to raise the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) in 2027 at the gates of the November 29 election campaign. In fact, she does not rule out that the raise could be approved even in the middle of the campaign – which begins on November 13 – and wants the new increase to take inflation into account. Díaz has avoided giving a figure – for example, whether the raise should be higher than the average inflation forecast for this 2026 – but she has acknowledged that "many families are suffering from the impact of inflation". "It is an evidence," she said at a press conference this Thursday. In addition to prices, the minister has instructed the SMI experts, with whom she met this Thursday, to take other elements into account, such as productivity and the economic context.

Pensions are entering the campaign for the November 29 elections. In fact, it is usually like this every time there is an electoral call, due to the sensitivity of the debate for a good part of the population – if not all of it – of voting age: there are currently 9.54 million pensioners across the country who receive a contributory pension (the majority for retirement). But the calculation of this benefit depends above all on those who do not yet receive it and hope to receive it in the future: workers who contribute to Social Security and, in particular, those who still have years of their working career ahead of them.

November 11th. This is the date agreed upon by the unions to call a general strike for the right to housing, wages, and the cost of living throughout the State, the first since 2012 –if one does not take into account the 2025 strike for Palestine, which was called by minority unions–. In Catalonia, it will be the second in the same period of time, after the one called in October 2017 against the police repression of October 1st.

After the severe drought of 2023, it seemed that the countryside was starting to breathe again regarding agricultural damage resulting from the climate and extreme weather phenomena. In 2024, the damage rate across the country decreased, but it has rebounded again in 2025 with hailstorms as the main factor.

"[The war in the Middle East] Can only have a positive impact on the results". The phrase was voiced by the former CEO of Indra, José Vicente de los Mozos, in April of this year, during the presentation of the company's first-quarter results. The fact is that there is no need to wait for 2026 to end to understand to what extent war conflicts are a business opportunity for Spanish companies in the defense and aerospace industry. In almost ten years they have doubled their turnover with a significant and sustained boost since the war in Ukraine and the change in military paradigm in Europe, which wants to recover military autonomy. Thus, they have gone from a consolidated turnover of 11.840 billion euros in 2016 to invoicing 18.034 billion in 2025, according to data from the Spanish Association of Defense, Security, Aeronautics and Space Technology Companies (TEDAE), the main employers' association in the sector, published yesterday, Monday.

There will be a general strike over the housing crisis before the Spanish elections on November 29. The majority unions, CCOO and UGT, are supporting the stoppage demanded for days by the Tenants' Union, which this Sunday already had the support of the CGT union, as ARA has learned from sources familiar with the talks. CCOO and UGT, the two unions with the largest presence in companies, had until now been cautious and were waiting for the decision that Pedro Sánchez would make: whether or not to call early elections. However, the pressure on them has grown steadily, especially after this weekend's mobilizations throughout the State with thousands of people taking to the streets. After a final meeting this Monday afternoon, the majority unions have ended up deciding to support the proposal, as they reported in a joint statement.

With the calling of early general elections for November 29th and the dissolution of Congress, all legislative initiatives that were underway in the Spanish lower house lapse, except for popular legislative initiatives (ILP) and initiatives promoted by the autonomous communities. In this way, reforms that had been promoted by Pedro Sánchez's own government will be left in a drawer. Other measures that have not even managed to make the leap to Congress could pass through the Council of Ministers, but they will not see the light of day – only royal decree-laws can be approved that are validated by the permanent deputation, where the Spanish government can approve things because the majority is different from that of the plenary session of Congress (this could be the case of the two housing decrees that derailed last week), or ordinary royal decrees (regulations) that do not have to pass through Congress.

Congress has rejected the two housing decrees of the Spanish government. With one, the possibility of implementing so-called indefinite rental contracts falls through: the automatic extensions of contracts are lost, which in some cases would have been accompanied by compensation for tenants –if the law is not complied with–. With the other decree, a battery of measures falls, many of which are social, also regarding housing. It is these measures that have alerted movements for the right to housing. Among other things, the moratorium on certain evictions of vulnerable families disappears.

The Tenants' Union has been flirting for days with the idea of a general strike in the face of the housing emergency. In fact, after the two decrees of the Spanish government fell this Friday, this has been the first proclamation: "Towards the general strike!" It is also the slogan under which they have called for demonstrations across the State for this weekend. But they are not the only ones. The proposal is also on the table of CCOO and the UGT, which are holding talks with the movement for the right to housing to assess the option of a stoppage, as confirmed by different union sources consulted by ARA. "It has not been said no to the scenario of a general strike. It is open," the same sources indicate.

A bucket of cold water for the Spanish government, the left-wing parties, and the housing rights movements that this Thursday night continue to be camped out in Puerta del Sol and Plaça Catalunya. Junts demands that Pedro Sánchez's executive withdraw the anti-eviction decree or they will vote against it, but the Moncloa has shut the door on it abruptly: "The progressive coalition government will not withdraw either of the two housing decrees," government sources stated this Thursday night, after learning of the decision by the Junts members. Junts will also vote against the decree with the automatic renewal of contracts.

The first housing decree –the anti-eviction decree– includes some measures that are accompanied by compensation and bonuses for landlords and tenants. In fact, this has been and is one of the points of contention in the negotiation with Junts, especially regarding aid to landlords. The economic report of the decree, to which ARA has had access, puts figures to the impact of some of these measures, while others are not quantified. Only between tax deductions and bonuses, the Ministry of Economy estimates a cost of 1.28 billion euros to the public coffers, as government sources have indicated to the ACN.

The Catalan employers' association Pimec showed itself this Wednesday to be in favor of the Spanish government's housing decrees, although it appealed for a "broad and lasting agreement." In contrast, at the Spanish employers' association CEOE –of which Foment del Treball is a part– the tone was quite different. Its president, Antonio Garamendi, has publicly acknowledged that he would vote against them and even placed the proposals and their promoters on the bad side of the story: "Some think they are playing Robin Hood and are not aware that they represent the Sheriff of Nottingham," said Garamendi during his speech at the CEOE General Assembly this Thursday, in which he was re-elected president for four more years.

The Spanish government is optimistic, but the fact is that, 48 hours before the vote on the housing decrees in Congress, they still do not have guaranteed support. Neither for the first decree-law, with a broad battery of measures such as the suspension of evictions and tax incentives –already published in the BOE–, nor for the second, which automatically extends rental contracts, which will be officially published this Thursday. For the moment, the Spanish government only counts on the affirmative vote of EH Bildu and Esquerra, as announced by its president, Oriol Junqueras, although the spokesperson in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, has said that they will look at it down to the "last comma". Meanwhile, Junts, Podemos and the PNV maintain the uncertainty. In fact, it is with these two parties that the Spanish government has to perform the most juggling acts to satisfy their demands, which are very often contradictory. In parallel, the Tenants' Union has demanded that the groups validate both decrees.