Spain, the lack of self-esteem and Spanish nationalist fervor marked this Tuesday's colloquium at the Círculo Ecuestre, where languages were the protagonists. "Ayusism" fully permeated the Barcelona club in front of about sixty attendees, and served to comment on the existential obsessions typical of a nation-state that is not France and refuses to be Switzerland. It did so with a key person from the Madrid president's inner circle, the deputy spokesperson for the PP in the regional Parliament, Rafa Núñez, who created the Vox brand but was signed in 2022 by Isabel Díaz Ayuso. He was accompanied by the leader of the Catalan PP, Alejandro Fernández, and the party's brain and senator Juan Milián.

Education is immersed in a permanent crisis. After months of teacher strikes and collecting poor student results, it has been joined by the PISA test fiasco. In this context, and after being requested by various parliamentary forces, the President of the Generalitat appeared in Parliament to provide explanations, but he completely exonerated the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, and took refuge in the fact that he had already dismissed the department's number two. "The replacement of the Secretary General of Education has been executed," the socialist leader justified. Nevertheless, all the opposition parliamentary groups have demanded Niubó's resignation.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo is 65 years old and, if he obtains a majority after the next Spanish elections, he could become the oldest president of the government to arrive at Moncloa. In parallel, the leadership headed by the Galician leader is promoting a kind of renewal plan for the party's territorial organic structures to rejuvenate them, dispensing with senior leaders due to their age, which curiously oscillates between 60 and 70 years old. In particular, this is happening in the provincial leaderships of Catalonia following the calling of the respective congresses. For the moment, it is not causing any war or major tensions, but it does generate uncertainty, especially due to the state leadership's fixation on the age they want the officials to have. And, in this sense, the anxiety among the party cadres is knowing who will occupy the position of secretary general when there is less than a year left until the municipal elections, that is to say, who will be promoted and "how the families will be repositioned".

Professor emeritus of political science, writer and intellectual who has made radical ideological shifts, Ramón Cotarelo (Madrid, 1943) is now the muse of Aliança Catalana. He has spent a week dragging controversy following his gloss of the Diada in Ripoll, in which he encouraged waging war against Islam. Even the Ripoll City Council distanced itself from it, although its mayor and leader of Aliança, Sílvia Orriols, applauded the manifesto, lamenting, mind you, that "it was not the context nor the appropriate place," in her opinion.

The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, has decided to begin the electoral pre-campaign for the Spanish elections in Catalonia. He had not come since the 2024 Catalan elections, but the political scene is beginning to be mature enough to think that Pedro Sánchez may soon press the electoral button. This Thursday he passed through Lleida and on Friday he was in Tarragona and Barcelona. "Abascal is starting the pre-campaign in Catalonia because of the importance it holds and above all because it is one of the places where there is the most room for growth along with Ceuta, Murcia, and Valencia". This is how Vox sources consulted by ARA defend this strategic choice, and they argue that among the factors for the surge is the support captured from traditionally socialist areas and the dual vote with Aliança Catalana, which, they point out, benefits them significantly in the general elections. In this context, Abascal stated from the Catalan capital that unity is needed between "Catalans and Castilians" to fight against Islam –similar to what he said in Lleida.

The former president of the Generalitat Jordi Pujol sponsored this Thursday the Paral·lel 41 Foundation, which aims to relaunch Catalanism. This think tank, chaired and promoted by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Victòria Alsina, aims to "update" the political movement and make it return to the "center of consensus," and was presented at an event at the La Pedrera auditorium, filled with former Convergent officials. Alsina, a Junts councilor in Barcelona and member of the national executive of Carles Puigdemont's party, aims to transcend the Convergent space and ensure that Catalanism returns to being a protagonist in the country. A political concept that encompasses diverse sensibilities and is not limited exclusively to independence, but recovers the nature of Artur Mas's 'casa gran' and CiU in general, but wants to go further in the ideological spectrum.

While the Spanish right and far-right lead all the polls, which comfortably give them the next state executive, the Spanish left confirms its division, immersed in internecine struggles, especially between Sumar and Podemos. Thus, MEP Irene Montero officially announced this Saturday her candidacy for Podemos in the upcoming Spanish elections—which will have to be ratified by the membership in open primaries—. "I believe that good people are the majority and that people willing to contribute something so that things change are the majority, and for that reason, I will run in the next general elections," Montero asserted. In her view, "it is a difficult task, but it is worth using politics so that people live well."

There are days that mark a before and an after in political and social terms. And the Eleventh of September 1901, 125 years ago now, was a turning point for a holiday that was navigating in irrelevance but that gained momentum due to the arrests following a floral offering at the monument to Rafael Casanova. "Without the events of 1901, there would be no modern independence movement," emphasizes Oriol Falguera, president of the Reeixida Foundation, in conversation with ARA. This organization, in fact, celebrated the anniversary of the first combative Diada last week at the Museum of History of Catalonia and this Thursday at an event in the Parliament with the president of the chamber, Josep Rull, which was attended by relatives of those arrested during that Diada. Furthermore, this Eleventh of September, at 11 p.m., Reeixida recreated the events with people dressed in period clothing and relatives of those arrested through the streets of Barcelona.

It is customary for Aliança Catalana to skip the traditional floral offering at the monument in honor of Rafael Casanova, the last chief councilor of Barcelona who fought in 1714, because the pro-independence far-right prefers to pay homage to General Josep Moragues, a hero of the War of the Spanish Succession whom Philip V decapitated to display his head for twelve years at the Portal del Mar, as a warning to the Catalans. But the absence of Sílvia Orriols in the center of Barcelona has not prevented her party from being the protagonist in the interventions of political groups, organizations, and unions.

On the morning of July 30, the Spanish army was already speaking of a "migratory chaos" at the border between Morocco and Ceuta, with the State's security forces and bodies "saturated" in the face of the arrival of thousands of people. But the trickle of migrant arrivals in Ceuta from the Alawite country, mostly swimming, had been a constant throughout the month of July, far exceeding the figures from the previous year.

The resignation of Josep Lluís Trapero as director of the Police has caused a political earthquake in Catalonia. The great bet of the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, to steer the Mossos force from a high political office with an experienced policeman has lasted two years, a period in which political criticisms have accumulated due to cases such as police infiltration in a teaching assembly and the force's deployment during King Felipe VI's visit to Montserrat. For this reason, after his resignation, the opposition has hit the nail on the head and pointed out the "lack of control" and "chaos" that the Interior department is suffering after Trapero's farewell, in the words of the main opposition group, Junts –Trapero's resignation comes shortly after that of the secretary general of the Interior, Tomàs Carrión–. The 'juntaires', in this sense, have demanded the appearance of the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, and have lamented the "authentic mess" of this Government.

There were indeed warnings: at the very least, the CNI alerted both Morocco and the Spanish government about mass calls on social media to enter Ceuta. It did so with an informative note to the Moroccan intelligence services the day before the crisis and also via WhatsApp to the executive's delegation in Ceuta and to commanders of the Civil Guard. Reports from security forces prior to the crisis also warned of a possible increase in irregular entries following the Supreme Court ruling of July 8th, which rejected hot returns by sea hot returns by sea. This is what can be gathered from the reports and communications that the Council of Ministers agreed to declassify this Tuesday and which it has published through the Moncloa website. Warnings that, according to the Spanish government, were not sufficient to anticipate the mass entry of migrants.

The brand new mayoral candidate for Aliança Catalana in Vic, Elisenda Carrera, was until May the Councilor for International Cooperation as a representative of Ara Vic (PDeCat) in a municipal coalition government led by Junts. The rumors of her link to the far-right Aliança, which ARA already published that they had contacted, precipitated her resignation from the local executive to become a non-attached councilor, but now she has taken the definitive step to lead the Vic candidacy. The fact is that the work she carried out as a councilor clashes head-on with the party's discourse against international cooperation. What does the party leader, Sílvia Orriols, think about the subsidies for "migration and climate emergency with a gender perspective" that Carrera's portfolio granted?

With the new academic year after the summer break, young Juan Pich-Aguilera Blasco joins the seminary, after resigning as a Vox member in Valldoreix and leaving everything behind to become a priest. He followed the example of his brother Pablo, who has been a priest for seven years. It so happens that they are all descendants of an important Catalan textile dynasty –the Pich-Aguileras–, which began its textile foray in 1886 and still owns the historic company Sedatex. But this lineage not only has these priests, nor has Juan been the only family asset within Vox. What is the dynasty that nourishes the Church and Santiago Abascal's party like?

With a beer in his hand, on his luxurious boat, he defended the arguments of the ultra-flotilla that sailed to Ceuta to "support" the autonomous city, claim its "Spanishness," and blame the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, for the migration crisis. It was Marcos de Quinto (Madrid, 1958), a former Coca-Cola executive and former deputy for Ciudadanos, who left politics six years ago but enjoys living in controversy.

More pressure on the Spanish government from its investiture allies. ERC leader Oriol Junqueras has asked the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, this Monday to be "quick and effective" in "resolving" the migratory crisis in Ceuta. And he has set clear limitations on reception. In an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, he warned that "neither Catalonia nor anyone can host infinitely," with regard to the underage migrants who have arrived in the Spanish enclave in North Africa. The Republican has emphasized Catalonia's willingness to help, although there are "limits" such as the executive, which he has harshly criticized, fulfilling and "monitoring the borders."

It closed the course with a summit of mayors and local officials, with some unease, and opens it with the uncertainty generated by a host of open questions. Junts will begin the political year next week looking towards Waterloo. Beyond awaiting the application of the amnesty, crucial decisions for the immediate future of the formation still need to be untangled. At present, sources from Junts' leadership state that no extraordinary congress is planned to make changes to the party, despite rumors in some sectors, nor an imminent meeting to make major decisions by the Junts leadership.

The Vox deputy and party leader in Girona, Alberto Tarradas Paneque, is back in action thanks to controversy. He reappeared last Saturday, being the only Vox leader to attend the anti-immigration rally of Save Europe Act, which included white supremacists and racists among the just over 50 attendees.the anti-immigration rally of Save Europe Act, which included white supremacists and racists among the just over 50 attendees.

Catalanist defeat in Northern Catalonia. Catalanism had bet it all on a referendum that was a double-edged sword and also served to measure its political impact. The playing field was the naming of the department – equivalent to a province – to try to abandon the Jacobin name of Pyrénées-Orientales from the French Revolution and reclaim the stolen Catalan identity, at least in the nomenclature, with the name Pyrénées Catalanes. What is the degree of connection to Catalanism of a population in which 35% say they can speak Catalan, but as a habitual language it drops to 5%? Well, relative, and the Catalanist option lost by 2,000 votes compared to the Pyrénées-Orientales option, which will remain as the official name. With 18,025 votes, the Jacobin path won (47.21% of the votes), above the 16,092 for the Catalanist option (42.15%) and the 4,061 for the third option of Pyrénées Méditerranée (10.64%), according to departmental data.

Ceuta is, like Melilla, a Spanish autonomous city located in North Africa that represents a constant thorn in the side of relations between the State and Morocco, with sovereignty in dispute. The Kings of Spain have avoided it as much as they could and only Joan Carles I visited it in 2007, which caused a diplomatic crisis with Morocco. Although it has been talked about for the last month, Felipe VI has not gone there, not even in these moments of crisis. And a very similar dynamic has been followed by the presidents of the Spanish government.