It's not new, but it does intensify every day. The PP of Madrid and the far-right Vox are shamelessly spreading the theory of electoral fraud. In the same vein as Donald Trump in the United States after his 2020 defeat – which ended in a failed coup insurrection – and as the Spanish right had already hinted with attacks on mail-in voting in both the last general elections and the Extremaduran contests, the flag of electoral fraud, which points to Pedro Sánchez as guilty, is once again flying.

The Sindicat d'Estudiants dels Països Catalans (SEPC) repainted two weeks ago the pro-independence mural in the UAB's Plaça Cívica that the rectorate had erased by judicial order during Easter week and which had been welcoming students for thirteen years. Only two days later, the pro-Spanish elements eliminated it. This was done by the association Unión de Brigadas, which brings together seven small groups from all over Catalonia – four of which are active –, mainly from the metropolitan area of Barcelona, who are dedicated to removing pro-independence symbolism from public spaces.

Political parties have been able to hold the first day of the electoral campaign in Andalusia this May 1st, after the starting gun was fired last dawn. And, despite the president of the Regional Government, the Popular Party's Juanma Moreno Bonilla, not wanting to admit it, the party setting the pace of the campaign is Vox. The Andalusian president knows he could lose the majority by just a handful of votes. And that's why his party is concentrating on trying to strengthen the centrist electoral base, to avoid defections, despite the headaches caused by "the 'national priority' that the PP itself has agreed with Vox" in Extremadura and Aragon. The political victory that Alberto Núñez Feijóo has handed to the far-right has completely disrupted an election that is the Galician leader's first acid test after his umpteenth strategic turn with concessions to Le Penism, which popularized the slogan 'Our people first'.

The direction that the far-right has taken in Spain and around the world has generated a consequence that has been quite visible in recent weeks: the divorce from the Church. The most palpable proof was the clash between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV over the war in Iran. However, in Spain, the distancing has also become evident in the migratory debate. To the point that a few days ago the bishop of the Canary Islands, José Mazuelos, came out to strongly criticize Vox, but also the PP, for opposing the massive regularization of immigrants: "Many people should get into a cayuco". In fact, the migratory issue has dominated Spanish politics in recent weeks and the regional pacts between the PP and Vox, which have focused on "national priority" in public aid and benefits. And it is precisely this that has caused the most frontal rejection from the Catholic Church hierarchy and entities like Càritas.

Junts has accelerated the appointment of candidates for the municipal elections. According to Junts sources consulted by ARA, the objective is to have the names of the list leaders ready "this summer" for what will be a trial by fire for Carles Puigdemont's party, especially in a context where the threat of Aliança Catalana looms, which could steal support from them. Beyond the tug-of-war in inland Catalonia, there is an absolute priority: the metropolitan area and "zero municipalities," those in which they have no representation. What is the reality and the plan to reverse this electoral nightmare?

The agreements between PP and Vox in Extremadura and Aragon have had a "box or fence" that was not only about management, but above all about ideological war. On paper, Vox has won it with the achievement for the first time of "national priority" in "aid, subsidies, and public benefits" – in both regions. As ARA has been able to learn, Vox approached the negotiations as a key scenario for the cultural battle a year before the Spanish elections, with two essential axes: immigration based on the slogan "first those from home"; and deregulation, the chainsaw of the Argentine Javier Milei. National priority has been an agreed element as a prelude to new offensives: "It is the Overton window," say consulted Vox sources, who cite a concept from political science that describes the progressive acceptance of ideas that were initially rejected.

Not even a week after the PP and Vox reached an agreement in Extremadura, the two formations are following the same path in Aragon and have also reached a pact to invest the popular Jorge Azcón. The popular party and the far-right party announced the understanding this afternoon in a joint appearance by Azcón and the Vox spokesperson in the Aragonese Cortes, Alejandro Nolasco. The staging is a carbon copy of what they followed in Extremadura to present a policy in line with the Extremaduran one, in which national priority in public policies has been the keystone. But in this case, the furious anti-Catalanism that has characterized the right in the region has reappeared, and this makes it understandable that there is an essential point that includes the defense of "freedom against indoctrination" with two star measures: "freeing Aragon from the imposition of Catalan" and initiating the "abolition of the Aragonese Institute of Catalan". That is, the PP and Vox have agreed to eliminate Catalan in Aragon.

President Salvador Illa defended his chief of staff, Eduard Rivas, this Tuesday morning, after his involvement in alleged irregularities when he was mayor of Esparreguera (Baix Llobregat) became known. Rivas, who led the town hall of this municipality for the PSC between 2015 and 2024, is being investigated as part of a process that probes public contracts of the council, according to has been reported by El Periódico, which explains that the Mossos confiscated the socialist official's mobile phone three months ago. Illa has reaffirmed his "full confidence" in his collaborator.

A tool to guarantee budgetary execution in Catalonia. The Government, Esquerra Republicana, and a large part of the business world have joined forces this Monday to present the Investment Consortium, a body that aims to manage and plan state investments in Catalan territory. The proposal, born in 2024 from the investiture agreement between the PSC and ERC, seeks to provide solutions to an “endemic problem” in the country, as stated by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Alícia Romero, who added that it will be a “good instrument” to improve Catalonia’s “competitiveness”.

The operation for the return of former president Carles Puigdemont to Catalonia has been simmering, so that since the end of last year it has already been closed and all logistical details have been meticulously planned. But firmly, following the model of the fleeting return of August 8, 2024, which was led by a small nucleus and in which the general secretary, Jordi Turull, and the vice-president, Toni Castellà, actively participated. As ARA has been able to ascertain, the details of the return are being kept with the utmost secrecy, but a series of elements are clear, such as "the key participation" of the government of October 1 in the return event, which will prioritize its own institutionalism for a president in exile. This will allow the reunion of essential figures from that executive, such as Oriol Junqueras, its vice-president, at a time when the pro-independence entities and the president of the Parliament, Carme Forcadell, were also fundamental.

Fiscal hell is a concept that has been gaining ground on the right of parliamentary arcs. It was popularized by the president of Foment del Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, and has now been adopted as their own by parties ranging from the PP to Junts, including the far-right Vox and Aliança Catalana. It doesn't take much imagination to conclude that it is a frontal criticism of the current tax model in both Catalonia and the State. Now it is the turn of Carles Puigdemont's party, which in this week's plenary session in the Parlament has obsessively proposed to attack the taxation maintained by the Generalitat with a double initiative: to deflate personal income tax (IRPF) (to eliminate inflation from the Government's revenue) and to subsidize the inheritance and gift tax. Junts knows it will lose the vote (it will probably only have the PP, Vox, and Aliança on its side), but it intends for it to be the start of a cultural battle against the left.

The two councilors of the PSC of Ripoll who allowed Sílvia Orriols to approve the budgets thanks to their abstention were leaving office on Monday amid reproaches and with a clear warning to the party. "We want to state that the local branch does not share this decision in any case; what's more, it is in absolute disagreement. There is no member of the list who has shown any predisposition to take over from our councilors. This is a decision made unilaterally by the national leadership of the PSC," stated Enric Pérez and Anna Belén Avilés in a joint statement. In summary, the two councilors warned that no one from the candidacy would take over from them. Orriols resorted to irony in Wednesday's control session in the Parliament, thanking the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, for what the socialists are doing in Ripoll: "Thank you for the budgets, but above all for having dismantled the PSC, which has been a masterstroke," he snapped.

With the municipal elections of 2027 on the horizon, Alianza Catalana has been activating its machinery for months to find candidates, including a takeover bid for Junts officials and from the convergent space with the aim of incorporating them into their lists. But amidst meetings and calls left and right, there was an operation that was cooked up last year that aimed to take away the mayor of an entire county capital. As ARA has been able to learn, Alianza Catalana tried to sign the mayor of Figueres, Jordi Masquef, without success. An intermediary, Miquel, a grassroots militant of the far-right party in Empordà, got in touch with the Junts mayor, with whom they already knew each other. The mayor responded to his messages in November, stalled him, and finally rejected the offer, according to knowledgeable sources.

Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo have not seen each other, but they have been two of the protagonists in the meeting of numerous political leaders this Friday in Barcelona. They have not shared a stage, but the clash between the two Spanish leaders has once again become evident. While the Spanish president has argued that "the European Union must suspend the association agreement with Israel" after "flagrant violations of international law", the leader of the opposition in the State has clashed head-on, reproaching him for having "betrayed" allies in a staunch defense of NATO with criticism of Spain's approach to China.At the European Pulse Forum, organized by Politico and BeBartlet, Sánchez has argued that Europe must be "firm in the defense of a rules-based order": "We cannot be content with lamenting, we only have to look at Gaza to see the consequences of the violation of international order. Let us not allow a new Gaza in Lebanon", he warned, to defend the total veto of Israel. Precisely, he has presented Europe as a "hope for peace", especially in "times of wars in Gaza, the West Bank, Iran and Lebanon", all of them provoked by Israel and the United States, with whom he maintains a tough confrontation. With the will to guarantee European "autonomy" and not depend on Donald Trump –whom he did not name–, he has insisted on the idea of forming a European army "tomorrow", as well as a "common" foreign policy. But he has also defended ties with China that the PP criticizes and some signed trade agreements: "The government of Spain supports the Mercosur agreements", he said, and also "strengthening ties" with India, the US, and China, which he will visit again. "Sanchista" Europeanismsanchista has permeated his speech with the defense of the "capacity to dream" in European integration and he was encouraged by a phrase in English: "It feels good to be European" [Being European makes you feel good]. As an ally, he had already found the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, who said before his speech that "Sánchez's government will survive" and defended his "clear international leadership".Criticism from the PP

In turn, Feijóo has made a wholesale amendment to Sánchez's government and its international alliances. The PP leader has fully defended NATO, despite the twists and turns and the multiple conflicts initiated by the US president, Donald Trump. He even used the word "traitor" when reviewing Spain's position in Europe. "I know that many are worried that Spain has abandoned allies," he said, and warned that he has opted for "new allies" in recent conflicts that have clashed with traditional ones. "The European Union is not just a market, it is a commitment that is respected in good times and bad. As a minister told me, when one abandons Europe, one becomes a traitor to Europe," he snapped. In fact, he had specifically mentioned "technological alliances that contradict the principles of the EU," in reference to China. Is Pedro Sánchez the "traitor" Feijóo is talking about?

]]>

Salou is suffering a political storm following the case of falsified or erroneous resumes. What has happened in this municipality in Tarragonès? Just as it happened with the former deputy secretary of the PP Noelia Núñez, who resigned due to liesBerrio did not submit the documentation within the two-month period, but she did so at the end of March, explaining that she had not had access to her corporate email. However, Berrio is not the only one involved in the resume case; other councilors were also implicated, some of whom still have qualifications that they have not accredited or rectified. Councilors from the government Júlia Gómez (PSC), Noelia Izquierdo (PSC), and Marçal Curto (ERC) had accreditation problems, as did opposition councilors Ignacio Duran (from the local party USAP) and the non-attached former Vox member Josefa Aguirre. In the plenary session, the mayor committed to dismissing anyone who lied, even though in practice it has only focused on Berrio.

]]>

While Gabriel Rufián travels the State defending his idea of unity of the left, the right also has someone preaching the same. Less popular, retired, but capable of filling the auditorium of the select Círculo Ecuestre between his obsessions with ETA and conspiracy theories. Jaime Mayor Oreja, former Minister of the Interior and former leader of the Basque PP, who boasted in 2009 that his great-grandfather had banned Basque at home to "get out of the barn," has managed to gather leaders from the PP (Alejandro Fernández at the forefront) and Vox (Joan Garriga). All in all, to send them a message: "There is an 85% of things that unite us, let's be capable of offering an alternative".

]]>

The Abat Oliba CEU University invested the former minister and former president of Congress Ana Pastor (PP) as doctor honoris causa on March 25, in recognition of her career. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the former politician, who accumulated two and a half decades of political activity in Spain until 2024, speaks to ARA.

]]>

The expulsion of Javier Ortega Smith was the trigger that has allowed Vox's critics to light the fuse against the leadership. The definitive coup de grâce was on February 18, when the party kicked out the former Madrid leader, who, this time, has decided to go to war that he avoided during the January 2024 congress. This rebellion was followed by the Murcian leader, José Ángel Antelo, after the leadership offered him to be a regional candidate on the condition that he leave the provincial presidency, which he did not accept and was expelled from the group with an expediente to be eliminated. Vox's former spokesperson Iván Espinosa de los Monteros –who stepped down in August 2023 and already launched a foundation to influence last September–, joined in, activating the call for an extraordinary congress. And the resignation of the former Castilian-Leonese vice-president Juan García-Gallardo has also been added, who stepped down in February of last year. A series of movements that show the critics' offensive against the leadership of Santiago Abascal.

]]>

"First, those at home" is an anti-immigration slogan that became popular in the Principality under the influence of Josep Anglada and his Plataforma per Catalunya. Numerous Vox leaders, such as parliamentary spokesperson and provincial president of Barcelona, Joan Garriga, as well as deputy Mònica Lora and other members like Jordi de la Fuente, were part of Anglada's party and now feed Santiago Abascal's organization, recycling slogans like the most emblematic one. L'ARA already revealed last year that Vox had resurrected this slogan, but now it has decided to go a step further and display it throughout Catalonia with posters featuring the slogan, in Catalan and Spanish. They have created two designs that they have distributed by province.

]]>