The until now mayoral candidate of ERC in Girona, Marc Puigtió, has renounced this Thursday to be the republicans' candidate for the city. He renounces it one day after the party leadership opened an informational file on him following the leak of some audios in which he was heard projecting the disposal of the local leadership and the current councilors. Puigtió has justified the decision by "dignity and responsibility" and has acknowledged having made "a serious mistake," for which he assumes the consequences. Now, according to consulted sources from the republicans in Girona, the party will have to re-convene primaries to choose its candidate for mayor of the city. So far, however, they have not set a schedule.

"My intention was to kick them all out and keep Esquerra. And then, to be able to use their electoral resources". This is one of the phrases that Marc Puigtió, ERC candidate for mayor in Girona, utters in a conversation with a young man linked to Vox, responsible for the Instagram profile Girona Perduda, which spreads disinformation and messages of insecurity in the city. The young man secretly recorded the conversation and has made it public on social media in recent hours. Following this leak, the party has opened an informational file to gather all the information and make a decision. Specifically, the ERC ethics committee met this Tuesday afternoon to open the file and "determine, if applicable, the corresponding responsibilities", they point out from the party, adding that they will not make any further statements on the case until the file is closed.

The president of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, has raised in an interview with Europa Press the need for Catalonia to opt for a broad agreement between all political parties of democratic tradition, social and economic agents –management teams, unions and teachers– to overcome the current deadlock in the educational system, evidenced by "the strikes of recent months and the incident that "has prevented Catalonia from participating in the PISA report. According to Junqueras, this pact should be based on a model of shared, stable, and long-term governance (he proposes it be "for 8 or 12 years") with the creation of teams of experts of recognized prestige and trust within the sector, regardless of their political affiliation and of who governs the Generalitat during these terms.

The uncertainty about the application of the amnesty law to the leaders of the Procés has left a judicial labyrinth open. Waiting to see if the Supreme Court will apply the CJEU ruling, within this labyrinth there is a path that is still unresolved and leaves an open question: in case of a hypothetical non-application of the amnesty, is it possible to open the file for a second pardon to erase what was left pending? At the time, the Spanish government partially pardoned the leaders of the Procés – it was the only possible way after the sentencing court opposed the measure of grace – that is, they forgave them the prison sentence, but kept intact the disqualification penalty that affected Oriol Junqueras, Jordi Turull, Raül Romeva and Dolors Bassa, who were also convicted of embezzlement. This disqualification, for example, prevents the current leader of ERC from running in an election –as he has shown himself willing to do– or to teach.

With the ECJ's endorsement still present and the day after former president Carles Puigdemont denounced Spain to the European Commission for non-compliance with the law, separatism has taken advantage of the last control session with the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, to pressure him, but above all to bring back his hemeroteca. This has been done by the leader of Junts in the Parliament, Mònica Sales, when she told him: "First he said "no amnesty or anything like that"". Shortly after, the head of ERC in the chamber, Josep Maria Jové, was added, who asked him to "remember": "You didn't want it." The President of the Generalitat avoided engaging and defended looking "forward": "An amnesty was necessary so that negotiations could be normalized in Catalonia.

Although the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has validated the amnesty, there are courts that still refuse to apply it. From ERC, the deputy general secretary of organization, finance, and anti-repression, Pau Morales (Vilassar de Dalt, 1994) explains to us what his party's roadmap is to continue pressing.

The World Cup final between Spain and Argentina this Sunday has highlighted the different stances within the independence movement regarding support for the Spanish national football team, a debate that already occurred during Euro 2024. But the insistence with which some of its leaders have come out in recent days with open shows of support for la roja has reopened a debate that the sovereignty movement has never fully resolved: what to do when Spain wins?

Journalistic independence has always been difficult. Information is power. What power does not want to influence the media, who does not want to condition them, who does not want to control them? Not being influenced, conditioned, and controlled is part of the essence of the profession since journalism is journalism. This does not prevent each masthead from having a positioning or editorial line, a background ideology from which it looks at, explains, and interprets facts, reality.

The CEO survey confirms the trends that ARA's already pointed to and which draws a double axis of growth on the Catalan political map: one that concentrates opposition to Salvador Illa's executive, and which is currently held by Aliança Catalana, and another that gathers the left-wing vote considered most useful to stop the far-right, which is currently ERC of the Junqueras-Rufián tandem. To summarize, we can say that Aliança is the anti-Illa party and ERC is the anti-Orriols party. And currently, the survey places these two parties vying for second position in hypothetical parliamentary elections.

July will be a thrilling month for the Ministry of Finance. Not only because it has put underway the machinery to present the 2027 budgets –with the vote on the stability path in Congress and the presentation of the spending ceiling–, but because it will be key to the funding model. After almost two years of negotiation with Esquerra and the Generalitat, this week the ministry plans to send the draft of the new funding system law in writing and July 29th minister Arcadi Spain will make it official in a new meeting of the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy. And it will be at this meeting that all common-regime autonomies (the Basque Country and Navarre are excluded) will vote against the model, with the exception of Catalonia.

Judicial proceedings are piling up in Altafulla. In addition to the case concerning the awards to former minister Joan Ignasi Elena and former leader of Iniciativa Joan Herrera, which also involves the Commons deputy Félix Alonso and former minister Salvador Milà, now another case directly implicates the mayor, Jordi Molinera (ERC), and councilor Tomàs Serra, who was elected by Junts and remains in government as an independent after his former party left the coalition government last year. In fact, this move is what is now in the sights of the courts of El Vendrell, where an investigation has been opened following a complaint by the president of Junts in Altafulla for the alleged crimes of bribery and prevarication. In an order to which el ARA has had access, the judge summons Serra and Molinera to testify as investigated parties in this case on January 2, 2027.

The Parliament demands "immediately" the transfer to the Generalitat of the properties and health facilities located in Catalonia that continue to be state-owned. The motion, promoted by ERC and approved with the votes of all groups except Vox and the PP, which voted against it, gives the Catalan executive a maximum of six months to prepare and present a fully updated inventory of all properties of the Generalitat's health system that are not its own. The report must specify the legal status, the registry status, the estimated asset value, the net book value of the assets, and the investments made by the Catalan administration.

Salvador Illa will reach the midpoint of the legislature with the political stability he sought. This Thursday, Parliament has definitively approved the budgets that he agreed upon a few weeks ago with Esquerra and Comuns, the two investiture partners, who this morning added their votes to validate the first accounts of the socialist government – Junts deputy Noemí Nieto also voted in favor by mistake. Accounts that will reach almost 50,000 million euros, 22% more than those of 2023, the last project still approved under the presidency of Pere Aragonès. This Thursday's plenary session also validated the budget accompanying law, which includes, among other things, increasing the tourist tax to 30 euros per day for cruise ships calling at Barcelona and creating the Catalan Airport Authority. Illa thus guarantees himself to reach the end of the legislature with updated budgets and a parliamentary majority that requires the Government to continue for its agreements to be fulfilled.

After some turbulent recent times with internal crises and opposing sectors, ERC experienced this Monday the birth of a new organization that does not seek to take control of the party, but rather to strengthen it and make it more attractive to sectors that have not yet approached it. This is the challenge undertaken by ERC deputies in the Parliament and Congress, Carles Campuzano and Francesc-Marc Álvaro, who have presented Esquerra Democràtica, an association affiliated with the republican formation, whose objective is to attract the centrist sovereignist vote.

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.

Gabriel Rufián said on Thursday that the PSOE had already contacted them to discuss next year's budgets. However, he did not reveal whether the Republicans were willing to negotiate them or if they had already decided on the conditions they would set. He simply said he hoped the Spanish government would present the accounts to "negotiate and approve them," meaning they should not be "an excuse or a lever for other things," in reference to a possible early election. Is ERC really willing to negotiate the budgets?

In the midst of a conflict with Gabriel Rufián, Oriol Junqueras met with the parliamentary group in Madrid this Wednesday. The meeting lasted about two hours and, according to consulted sources, the open battle within the parliamentary group in Madrid due to the lack of harmony between the Republican spokesperson and the majority of his party colleagues was not brought up. The leadership shared the party's strategy for the end of the Spanish legislature with the parliamentary group. However, as the party explained in a statement, Junqueras also asked the deputies for "coordination" to face "the challenges" of this legislature. Thus, he conveyed to them the "need to face this stage with the utmost demand, determination, and coordination". "The decisions that will have to be made in the coming months will be decisive in guaranteeing more resources, more decision-making power, and more well-being for the country as a whole," adds the party. Until now, the leadership had prescribed patience to the parliamentary group in Madrid.

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 new cases of alleged corruption surrounding the PSOE have brought to the fore more strongly than ever a possible motion of no confidence against Pedro Sánchez. At the municipal level, however, motions do not necessarily have to be linked to corrupt schemes. Political and, above all, personal disagreements also end up ousting mayors. This is what has happened in Pont de Molins, a small town of less than 600 inhabitants in L'Alt Empordà. But here, the trigger for the change in mayorship, however hard to believe, has been a yoga class.

Gabriel Rufián has been insisting for months on forming a sovereignist left-wing front in the State and, at the same time, has an open battle within his parliamentary group. There is no understanding or harmony with the majority of his party colleagues and the conflict has been escalating for months. That is why it is relevant that, in this context, a meeting is scheduled in Madrid next week with Oriol Junqueras. According to what ARA has learned, the president of Esquerra will be in the Spanish capital and will meet with the party's deputies in Congress. A meeting that could be routine if the conflict with Rufián were not looming.