The Podem event in Madrid this Saturday had a bit of ERC in it. And not only because Gabriel Rufián, candidate for the Republicans on November 29th, acted as a warm-up act for Irene Montero —has been their first joint pre-campaign event in the Spanish capital—, but because both have coincided in the color of their sweater: yellow. "That's how connected we are," said Rufián, who assured that they had not discussed it beforehand. He also revealed that he had not held any pre-campaign rally in a circus. Militants and supporters of the purple group have been summoned to the show's tent The Island of Neverland that these days hosts the Espai Delicias of the city. A leisure proposal inspired by the Neverland, the island of Peter Pan where children do not grow up. Sources from the party explain that it is the only place they have found with so little time to spare: initially, Rufián and Montero were supposed to debut in Madrid last Saturday, but they suspended it due to the tragic train accident in Urda, in Toledo, in which 69 people lost their lives and for which three days of official mourning were decreed.

The Catalan employer associations Foment del Treball and Pimec have written their letters to the Three Wise Men ahead of the general elections on November 29th. Specifically, both business organizations presented a series of demands this Friday for political parties to consider ahead of the polls, but above all, for the future Spanish government to take into account. Foment del Treball did so in Barcelona and Pimec in Madrid, and both agree on some elements: rethinking taxation, the problem, in their view, of what they call "labor absenteeism," and the need to deflate the personal income tax (IRPF) to improve real wages.

The Ministry of Agriculture activates for the first time the withdrawal of a part of oil production to prevent the price from collapsing. Specifically, the department led by Luis Planas has formalized this Friday the withdrawal of a part of olive oil production due to an excess of supply and to try, in this way, for prices to stabilize. The mechanism designed by the central executive involves removing 188,000 tons of olive oil from the market –12% of the production forecast in this 2026-2027 season, plus existing stocks– throughout the State.

Last March it did so with the Adamuz accident and, now, it is doing it again. The European Public Prosecutor's Office has opened another investigation, the second one, to clarify a possible fraud in the money allocated to the maintenance of the Madrid-Seville high-speed line, which has accumulated two accidents in less than a year: in January in Adamuz, with 46 fatalities, and less than ten days ago in Urda, with 69 deaths.

After the snub at the inaugural gala and the subsequent dinner offered by the Spanish royal house, Javier Milei did attend the second and final day of the Ibero-American Summit held in Madrid. He was, in fact, one of the main attractions for the media spotlight to see if he would remain faithful to his style, which in his last visit to Spain materialized in insults towards Pedro Sánchez: "Dictator, corrupt, authoritarian," Milei spat at him just two weeks ago. The Argentine president did not deviate from the script he had written, but he did make it clear that he is not a friend of Pedro Sánchez. A fleeting and cold handshake between the two marked the first image of them together –they did not share a word and only Sánchez looked at him–. "Insults are not part of my way of understanding and doing politics. Respect seems fundamental to me," replied Sánchez when the media asked him what he thought of the Argentine president's words.

With the legislature at its limit and the November 29th polls on the horizon, the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy has decided to raise the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) to 1,286 euros per month, a 5.3% increase. The proposal was published this Wednesday after eleven o'clock at night, and unions and employers' associations will be able to make contributions until November 16th. But the Ministry of Labor's move already anticipates that this will be the figure that the Council of Ministers will soon approve.

The PSOE resumes the electoral race for November 29th. Pre-campaign events will once again occupy Pedro Sánchez's agenda starting this Friday afternoon, with a rally in Valencia. Bewilderment took hold of them after the train accident in Urda (Toledo), but once the three days of official mourning passed – with Óscar Puente's resignation as Minister of Transport materialized and the XXX Ibero-American Summit, which is being held in Madrid this Wednesday and Thursday, on track –, Pedro Sánchez's team wants to recover the enthusiastic attitude they had before all this turmoil. Internally, but also among the party membership. That is why they will have to roll up their sleeves, because the tragic accident in Toledo, the second in less than a year on the high-speed rail, has left the railway in the State and its management damaged. Among the socialist ranks, however, they believe they will succeed. In addition to Valencia this Friday, Sánchez will hold events in Tarragona and Bilbao over the weekend.

It is the fourth time that Spain has hosted an Ibero-American Summit. The meeting, which officially kicked off this Wednesday with an event at the Teatro Real and a subsequent gala dinner that the Spanish King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia offered to the attendees, could have been a breath of fresh air for Pedro Sánchez in the middle of the electoral pre-campaign, especially after the recent victory of Lula da Silva in Brazil. Ultimately, however, it has been marked by surprises, no-shows, and a rather lackluster presence of leaders, at least if one takes into account those who are considered to be Sánchez's allies.

The surprise resignation this Tuesday of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, a week after the Urda railway tragedy, has been the umpteenth jolt to the pre-campaign for the general elections in the State. The head of Transport announced his resignation this Tuesday evening after giving explanations in Congress for almost four hours, and this morning, the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez, has already appointed his replacement. It will be the current First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, who will take over the Transport portfolio. “I accept [Óscar Puente's decision] with gratitude and respect,” said the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, in a brief institutional statement from Moncloa this Wednesday morning, in which he explained that it will be Cuerpo who will assume the powers of the Ministry of Transport “on a transitional basis”.

The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has retracted and cooled the debate on a possible long and imminent closure of the Barcelona-Madrid high-speed line while the renovation work lasts. The idea, launched last week by the minister himself following the accident between two trains in Urda, in Toledo, reopened an old debate in the sector and generated rejection from the Generalitat. Puente clarified this Tuesday that it is a "debate," and completely ruled out that it is a measure that could be implemented immediately. “I want to make it clear that no decision has been made,” said Puente, who acknowledged that perhaps he did not explain himself well.

The Spanish government is taking a step forward to respond to both the safety of the railway network and the victims of the tragic accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo. The President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, had already hinted a few hours after the collision between the two trains at the intention to approve measures to reinforce high-speed safety. A service that, in the words of Sánchez himself, has been "hit" after experiencing two tragedies in less than a year; the one in Toledo and the one in Adamuz (Cordoba) last January. "The goal is to recover [the public's] confidence in the train," government sources insist.

Major surprise in Congress. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has announced his resignation live, although it will not become effective until his final dismissal is published. He also announced that he will not be part of the PSOE's electoral lists for November 29th. "Out of political dignity, coherence, and empathy for the victims [of the train accident]," said Puente, visibly moved. The head of Transport announced this after appearing at his own request to give an account, precisely, of the tragic train accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo, which has left 69 victims dead, while at the same time opening a crisis of confidence in the railway and high-speed rail in the State. Sources from the Spanish government defend that he has carried out an exercise of "political responsibility". "He stood up and faced it," they reiterate.

For some time now, it has been said that Spanish politics is immersed in a state of "bated breath." The reason: sudden events, some even difficult to believe or accept, that cause a 180-degree turn in the public agenda. The latest, the train accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo, which has so far left 69 people dead. The difference from other moments is that the accident catches the Spanish government and the PSOE in the middle of the electoral pre-campaign. And even though there is still a month left before the state elections, the magnitude of the tragedy is a blow that is difficult to absorb. Pedro Sánchez's political strategy is also forced to change completely.

The Minister of Transport spent two hours this noon answering technical questions about Wednesday's tragic train accident in Toledo which, for the moment, has left 69 people dead. Óscar Puente has guaranteed that he is only obsessed with resolving the crisis, that he has not thought for a moment about the general elections on November 29, and that he has no intention of resigning. "My way of being responsible is by facing the music," he stressed. Sources close to the minister explain that he has placed his position at the disposal of Pedro Sánchez and that the Spanish president has asked him to stay because it would be an "unfair" resignation. Immersed in the electoral context, Puente's figure could harm socialist options, and the same sources admit that he will hardly be a visible face in the campaign.

Would Spain apply the German model –stopping circulation– on those high-speed railway lines that are under construction? Until now, it was a question with a fairly unanimous answer: no. But since the tragic train accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo, the Spanish government acknowledges that it is an option it is considering. This would mean that those sections of track where remodeling is being carried out would be completely closed until the work is finished. This is not common in Spain, which has historically opted for a model where circulation is maintained while works are being executed. To make this possible, for example, work is done at night. If this new option were chosen, one of the lines affected would be the high-speed line connecting Madrid and Barcelona, specifically the crossing between Madrid and Calatayud.

"To make a comparison, it's like an airport control tower," describes a source from the railway sector who has visited the Atocha railway control center numerous times. A gigantic screen, from one end of the wall to the other, and in the middle the different workstations. And a lot of silence. That is the Adif room from where the railway traffic managers work, which has been under the media spotlight since Wednesday. A few hours after the accident between two high-speed trains in Urda, in Toledo, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, publicly came out to point out that the problem had been a human errorcommitted from one of these rooms. Specifically, he pointed to the order that a traffic manager gave to the driver of the AVE train that later collided with the Iryo train: "Resume travel as normal".

The tragic railway accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo, which has already left about seventy fatalities, has sparked unrest among railway workers, controllers, and train drivers, especially after this Wednesday the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, pointed directly to the "human error" of an operator in the Adif control center room.

"We need to broaden the focus. How many parts have failed?". This is asked by a union voice in the railway sector who, like many other workers, has not yet recovered from the tragic train accident in Urda, Toledo, which has caused at least 69 fatalities. They have lost a colleague – the driver of the Renfe train –; the trainee who was accompanying him remains missing, and they have expressed their unease over what they consider a direct finger-pointing by the Ministry of Transport at the operator of the Adif regulation and control center (CRC) in Atocha, who has been placed in the spotlight regarding the cause of the accident.

The tragic train accident in Urda, in the province of Toledo, has resulted in dozens of injured and fatalities. An investigation has now been opened – it corresponds to the civil and instruction section of the Court of First Instance of Orgaz (Toledo), in square number 2 – which, taking into account the precedents of the latest railway accidents, such as the Adamuz accident, is expected to be prolonged over time.

Second railway tragedy in Spain in less than a year on the line between Seville and Madrid, which already ranks as one of the most tragic accidents in the state's railway history. This Wednesday, two high-speed trains, one Renfe AVE and another from Iryo, collided a few minutes before 9 a.m. in Urda, in the province of Toledo. The latest toll of victims stands at 68 dead, and more than a hundred injured admitted to hospitals, according to the government of Castilla-La Mancha. The final number of victims and missing persons, however, is still unknown and authorities fear it will continue to rise.