Governing without depending on pacts is the great aspiration of any candidate for Moncloa. With this objective in their sights, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has resurrected a controversial recipe that his predecessor, Pablo Casado, already put on the table: giving an extra bonus of deputies to the most voted list in the general elections. Would it be possible with a simple reform of the electoral law as the popular party proposes? All experts consulted by ARA agree emphatically that no: to be able to apply the measure, the Constitution would have to be reformed.

The governing committee of Aliança Catalana has unanimously agreed this Sunday, in a meeting held at ten in the morning, to "withdraw confidence" in Arnau Liesa as the party's candidate for Figueres City Council and to initiate the procedures for his expulsion from the formation. As reported by the party in a statement, the decision was made after learning of a "personal situation" which, it asserts, had not been previously communicated and which it considers "incompatible with the foundational principles" of the political project. The committee adds that, once the decision was communicated, Liesa "has opted to voluntarily disassociate himself from the party," a fact that the party "appreciates".

María Pozuelo (Lanzarote, 1976), coordinator of Podem Catalunya since June 28, 2025, just one year ago, receives ARA when the pre-campaign for the municipal elections begins and coincides with a climate of possible pacts in the left bloc.

The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) has opened the way to open proceedings against judge Juan Carlos Peinado, arguing that the bodyguards of the president's wife, Begoña Gómez, could help her flee. Despite the media noise, history shows that sanctioning a magistrate is almost a pipe dream. Recent examples support this: in 2024, the CGPJ ended up filing the proceedings against a judge who called the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez a "psychopath", and in February 2026, the conservative majority turned a blind eye to magistrates Eloy Velasco and Manuel Ruiz de Lara, who called the president's wife "Barbigoña", invoking freedom of expression.

"The left cannot steal," Gabriel Rufián, a Member of Parliament for Esquerra, told the PSOE bench a year ago. This warning resonated strongly with a PSOE which, with the Koldo and Cerdán case and the investigations into Begoña Gómez and David Sánchez – wife and brother of the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez – were yet to be joined by the cases of Leire Díez and former socialist president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. The perception in public debate, however, is clear: progressive voters do not forgive illicit enrichment, as the conservative electorate does. But does corruption really punish the left more than the right? Far from being a myth, evidence shows it is a reality with studied mechanisms.

"I am an independentist, but when Spain plays I want them to win for the Barça players and for Catalans". This phrase often echoes on our terraces from friends, acquaintances, or even some political party members. There are also those who say: "I don't feel Spanish, but I like their football". This Sunday, in the Spain - Saudi Arabia match on the second day of the World Cup, many Catalans will once again experience this apparent contradiction: separating their disaffection towards the State from the euphoria for the goals of Luis de la Fuente's team. The ball seems to have the ability to blur strongly defined ideological lines in ninety minutes.

"Anything to declare?" Most people have heard this phrase when their plane had just landed. But customs control is more flexible when it affects authorities. Miguel Sebastián, former Minister of Industry (2008-2011), recently recounted how gifts on official trips were managed – at least in his time. In 2008, already on board the Falcon during the return flight from the city of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), a royal emissary handed him a leather wallet that hid luxury jewelry inside. He decided not to take the gift home and it is currently in a display case at the ministry, but he recalls that the officials told him: "The most common thing was for us ministers to keep the gifts."Sebastián intended to defend the former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero for the jewelry case that he will have to justify before the judge – which come from "inheritances and gifts", according to his spokesperson. But the former minister ended up opening up the can of worms about whether there are many gifts of this kind on official trips that end up at the homes of monarchs, presidents, and ministers, which often land at Torrejón de Ardoz air base (Madrid), the military facilities where official Falcon-type planes are housed.

The PSC, Esquerra and Comuns have reached an agreement to increase the tourist tax for cruise ships calling at Barcelona. Through an amendment to the Generalitat's budget accompanying law, presented this Tuesday in Parliament, the three groups will force an increase in the tax to 30 euros for ships that are less than 12 hours in the Catalan capital.

The People's Party of Catalonia is also approaching the far-right and hardening its discourse on immigration. The national PP has done so in recent months, and now the Catalan Populars are reproducing it in their political paper, which the party must approve at its 16th congress on June 27 – it is the text that will mark the strategic line of the party in the coming years. Under the premise that "those who come to commit crimes must know that they have no place in our society," the Populars demand "the immediate and effective execution of expulsion orders for any foreigner in an irregular situation who commits a crime," thus focusing on the fight against repeat offending.

Hernán Cortés is one of the great figures in the conquest of America. For some –especially the conquerors– he is responsible for the liberation of indigenous peoples, and for others –especially the indigenous– one of the architects of the genocide in the New Continent. And lately, he has become the figure that justifies a dialectical war between Mexico and the PP. Until now, it was the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who had raised Cortés's flag against the criticisms of the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum. Now another regional president of the Popular Party is also joining her: María Guardiola has decided to bring Hernán Cortés back to his hometown, Medellín (Badajoz), with the help of one of Ayuso's usual partners, the musician Nacho Cano.A few days ago, the president of Extremadura announced that she is launching the new International Institute of Mestizaje, named Extremestiza, a brand that the regional government has promoted to highlight the cultural, human, and economic ties with the Ibero-American community. According to Guardiola, her government's intention is to make Extremadura "an international reference in the study and dissemination of mestizaje and a bridge between America and Europe." Next to her, Cano did not mince words when praising the initiative and defending the figure of the conqueror to the hilt, openly criticizing their "demonization": "Mexico exists because there is Cortés," said the former Mecano member, who launched another barb at the Mexican president. "Ms. Sheinbaum, I respect you and have never spoken ill of you. Please, apologize to Ms. Ayuso, because we in Spain have never treated a Mexican president so badly," she said, referring to the tensions arising from the recent institutional visit of the Madrid president to Mexico.recent institutional visit of the Madrid president to Mexico.Guardiola also took advantage of this to make a strong defense of Hernán Cortés, assuring that many "falsehoods" have been poured over his historical figure. "Neither America nor Mexico would be what they are today without his mark and his legacy," he said, and he branded the criticisms surrounding the figure of the conqueror as "sensationalism and excuses.

Goals, in football, we've seen many types. But this week, with the papal visit, we've seen some we didn't even know existed: "the Church's goals". Taking advantage of the visit of Leo XIV to the Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday, Manolo Lama and his battle companion, Paco González, were in charge of narrating a curious spectacle. "You can really tell God is captaining this feat," said the usual commentator on Cadena COPE (the radio of the Episcopal Conference) for Real Madrid matches, as a series of balls were kicked into improvised goals set up in front of the Pope.

After decades of what was known as "Iberian exceptionalism" – the absence of radical right-wing formations in the peninsula's parliaments – this political spectrum has not only burst into the Parliament of Catalonia, but has done so twice over. A study by the Institute of Political and Social Sciences (ICPS), published this Wednesday, thoroughly analyzes the rise of Vox and Aliança Catalana (AC), two parties that, despite defending diametrically opposed national projects, are primarily fueled by the same electoral driver: rejection of immigration.The ICPS study challenges the idea that the growth of these parties is solely due to polarization and the management of the independence process. While the territorial conflict created the right climate for Vox, led by Ignasi Garriga, to enter Parliament in 2021 and Catalan Alliance, led by Sílvia Orriols, to do so in 2024, the real driving force behind both electorates is structural. Both parties fully exploit "welfare chauvinism," a strategy that advocates for public services to be reserved exclusively for "nationals." Both the party led by Santiago Abascal and Sílvia Orriols' party agree in their platforms to associate immigration and crime, demand the deportation of irregular immigrants and the expulsion of unaccompanied foreign minors (MENA), and call for drastic measures to expedite the eviction of squatters. Economically, they also go hand in hand: they propose fiscal cuts, the abolition of taxes such as inheritance and gift tax and wealth tax, criticize excessive public spending, and generally call for a strong boost to free market policies.