Junts per Catalunya will accompany Jordi Pujol to San Fernando de Henares to "show him support". Next Monday, the former president of the Generalitat must go in person to the National Court so that a forensic doctor can examine him and the tribunal that is judging his family and nine businessmen can determine whether or not to keep him on the defendants' bench. If the decision is not to exempt him, he will subsequently have to testify as a defendant. Despite this, the forensic doctors said in November that "he is not in physical or cognitive condition" to be tried.

The National High Court does not want to fall into ageism –discrimination based on age– with Jordi Pujol. As the ARA has learned, this is how the president of the court that is trying the Pujol case, José Ricardo de Prada, argued at the start of Friday's hearing, the last one before the defendants testify. It comes three days after it became known that the former president of the Generalitat will have to travel to Madrid on Monday for a forensic doctor to examine him and certify if he is fit to continue on the bench. "The court does not want to fall into ageism or invalidate the role of older people," Judge Prada stated before the public session began and after one of the Pujol family's lawyers asked him to address the issue. "I want Mr. Jordi Pujol Soley to participate in the proceedings with the certainty that he is in a condition to be able to withstand the trial," the judge added. "The court does not start from prejudice, it wants to see exactly his capabilities to determine if he should continue or not," he concluded. Jordi Pujol's defense has opted not to file any new brief because they consider that the decision has been made and there is no room for modification. And they are leaning towards Jordi Pujol traveling to Madrid by car. It is not yet known for certain whether he will enter through the parking lot or not.

The Spanish legislature often hangs by a thread. The devilish arithmetic left by the June 23rd elections forces Pedro Sánchez to work incredibly hard in every vote. One of the areas where the Spanish government struggles most is in the ratification of royal decree-laws, regulations approved by the Council of Ministers that require the endorsement of Congress. This legislature has seen five repealed, the same number as in the previous 45 years. It is no surprise that the two usual allies who have most frequently abandoned the Moncloa Palace are Junts and Podem. In contrast, Esquerra Republicana is the only partner that has voted in favor of all 31 royal decree-laws promoted by the Spanish government and submitted to a vote in the lower house. The Republicans, along with the PNV, are the only ones with a specific clause in their legislation. the investiture agreement which they signed with the PSOE in which they commit to "providing stability" to the legislature "in parallel with fulfilling the commitments made" through the "willingness to approve," among other things, the decree laws.

Podemos had been until now a wall to the agreement between the PSOE and Junts for the delegation of immigration powers in Catalonia. "It won't be done with Podemos' votes," the purple party asserted, very belligerent about the "racist" motives it attributed to the pact. This outright opposition was the main obstacle to fulfilling one of the demands of Carles Puigdemont's party in exchange for parliamentary support for the Socialists. The failure to meet this point was, in fact, one of the main reasons cited by the Catalan branch of the ruling coalition for breaking with the central government. At one of the most delicate moments of the legislature, with the Spanish government on the ropes due to the railway crisis, the PSOE has pressed the button that Podemos had already indicated could be the key to this impasse: the regularization of half a million people already in Spain. MEP Irene Montero confirmed this Tuesday that her party is now open to negotiating the delegation of powers to the Catalan government. Speaking to SER, he showed his willingness to now discuss the text in order to "modify" what had been blocked until now. so that it "has no racist content"Despite the fact that the PSOE-Junts bill is a rather technical document that transfers functions previously carried out by the central government to the Generalitat (Catalan government), Podemos leader Ione Belarra confirmed at a press conference in Congress that "we are open to negotiation as long as our contributions are taken into account." "Before discussing powers, we had to guarantee rights," explained Montero to justify her party's change of position. Regularization, she added, was "one of the fundamental elements to ensure that the delegation of powers does not reinforce racism against migrants." Junts is demanding that the PSOE finally convince the party. "Catalonia needs to exercise 100% of its power regarding immigration," Junts deputies told the press after the plenary session in Congress. Party sources, along these lines, say that it is now up to the Socialists to revive the proposed law, which has been pending in the Spanish Parliament since September 23, when Congress rejected the initiative with votes against it from the PP, Vox, Podemos, UPN, one deputy from Compromís, and another from the Chunta Aragonesista.

It's no secret that the relationship between ERC and Junts, especially in the Congress of Deputies, is often stormy. One of the few displays of unity during this legislative term was the approval of the amnesty, which was not without its difficulties and moments of disagreement. It's also no secret that the understanding that has become evident throughout this term between Junts and the PP on economic matters has aroused suspicion among the Republicans. But to what degree do the two pro-independence parties agree on their own proposals? ARA analyzes point by point the votes on the initiatives or amendments promoted by Junts and ERC in the first two years of the Spanish legislature.

The next elections in Catalonia are scheduled for May 2027, but the parties have already begun a campaign that starts well before the official calendar. Catalan politics, marked by collective frustration following the failure of the independence process, channels some of this discontent toward immigration, making it the focus of political debate. This construction of narratives shapes public perception long before the polls open, and the parties respond to the demands of a segment of the population calling for greater immigration control. Thus, the immigration debate becomes the axis around which the new boundaries of Catalan identity and social cohesion are projected and negotiated.

"We didn't read the country's reality properly," said Jordi Sànchez. "We overestimated our own strengths or were very naive," Carme Forcadell reiterated. Former presidents of the ANC, after a long silence, have spoken out again in a conversation at the ARAA lucid diagnosis that brings us to the point we almost always reach after a failure: we deluded ourselves into believing we were ready to take the final step before its time. An adventure that mobilized the main pro-independence parties and personalities and attracted people from diverse backgrounds, even incorporating into Junts pel Sí figures who had built their profiles against Pujolism.

Parts of the independence movement felt discomfort at the very least after Catalan president Pere Aragonès's conference yesterday, which aimed to recover the movement's unity of action. JxCat agreed with the call for unity launched by the president, but reproached him for not sharing the content of the speech previously –which the president's office denies–, that he did not make specifics about his roadmap towards independence and that he made no references to the 2017 Independence Referendum. The party also interprets that Aragonès linked exile and pardons to negotiation with the State. Neither the pro-independence organisation ANC nor anticapitalists CUP were any more satisfied, but rather the opposite. In addition, the Spanish government has reacted coldly and still has not announced the date of the next meeting of the dialogue table, despite repeated requests from the president.

ERC president Oriol Junqueras visits the ARA four months after his pardon and release from prison.

The secretary general of Junts per Catalunya, Jordi Sànchez, has responded this Saturday to ERC's announcement to explore the path of the solitary government by offering an extended hand to continue negotiating a coalition government. Without concealing his surprise at the appearance of the vice-president of the Govern and national coordinator of the Republicans, Pere Aragonès, Sànchez has assured that his formation will continue working to reach an agreement before the deadline of 26 May. "There are 18 days left, but our agreement is close. There are no excuses. It is not normal to give up the possibility of a strategic agreement", warned the leader of Junts, who has denied that his formation wants to impose "tutelage" on Aragonès.

83 days after the elections, Esquerra has taken this Saturday the step that had been meditated for weeks in the engine room of the Republicans: to take up the gauntlet of Junts per Catalunya and run to govern in minority. This was announced this Saturday at a press conference by the national coordinator of ERC and vice-president of the government, Pere Aragonès, in view of the deadlock in negotiations between the Republicans and Junts per Catalunya. "It has been impossible to move forward to a definitive agreement", Aragonès lamented, stressing that the stumbling blocks have been the same since the beginning. "Given the lack of understanding and the fundamental disagreements, the best option for the country is to accept Junts' offer at the start of the negotiations, which was reiterated yesterday by its secretary general at a press conference", Aragonès pointed out.

You don't have to be very clever to see that the fifth wave of the pandemic will be that of the psychological effects for which there is no universal vaccine. The permanent presence of death, fear, exhaustion, the disappearance of expectations, the impoverishment of so many and the anguish of all will be difficult to deal with in a world and a country where mental health is still a taboo and where public support for this type of illness is clearly insufficient and socially ignored, despite its seriousness.

After the vice-president and aspiring president Pere Aragonès broke his silence on Saturday on the negotiations seeking to "hurry" Junts per Catalunya, this Monday the spokeswoman of the party, Marta Vilalta, has continued in the same line assuring that there are no "insurmountable obstacles" to achieve a pact and that she hopes that it is possible to close it before May 9, when the state of alarm finishes. Although the Republican leader has preferred not to set clear limits for an understanding with the party of Carles Puigdemont, has reiterated that it has to be "as soon as possible", the same phrase that ERC used the day after the elections of 14-F.