The Minister of Health, Olga Pané, has fractured her fibula in a domestic accident, as reported this Sunday by the Department of Health. During her recovery, the Government informs that the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, will assume her duties. In the statement, the Generalitat does not specify how long the minister may be on leave.

The Minister of Health, Olga Pané, has fractured her fibula in a domestic accident, as reported this Sunday by the Department of Health. During her recovery, the Government informs that the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, will assume her duties. In the statement, the Generalitat does not specify how long the minister may be on leave.

After the clash over budgets that were not even negotiated, the PSC and ERC reset the clock. It was in mid-March when the two parties decided to give themselves a new opportunity and resume talks once Salvador Illa withdrew the bill and Esquerra stopped making IRPF collection a red line. Since before Easter, therefore, socialists and republicans have been negotiating away from the spotlight that captured them before the debate on the entirety of the accounts. Talks are weekly and are conducted with secrecy. The deadline is July, but the Government is in a hurry and the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, has stated that the executive's wish is to have them validated by Sant Joan. Is this feasible?

In a context of tension between the Department of Education and union forces over the signed agreement to improve teachers' conditions and classroom situations, this week the Catalan Government sent an email to the families of the schools explaining the details of the agreement it reached with the CCOO and UGT unions, but which USTEC, the majority union, rejected. This action has made even more evident the discontent of the unions that had not viewed the Catalan Government's final proposal regarding teachers' conditions favorably. In this regard, USTEC has denounced what they consider "misuse of family contacts by the Catalan Government" and assures that sending the newsletter to parents is "making propaganda" for the agreement signed with CCOO and UGT.

The Government has placed Asia at the top of its international priorities list. So much so that the president, Salvador Illa, made his first two intercontinental trips there, first to Japan and Korea, and then to China. This week, the Minister of European Union and External Action, Jaume Duch, has returned to the Asian giant for the second time to continue working hard and strengthen the ties between Catalonia and the country, while awaiting the finalization of procedures to open the new delegation of the Generalitat in Beijing. This Friday, the minister signed, on behalf of the Government, two memorandums of understanding with the leading provinces of Jiangsu and Hainan, where he also participated in the Boao Forum, the Asian Davos.

After doing a reset With ERC, the government hopes that negotiations with the Republicans will bear fruit and that the budget will be approved before Sant Joan (St. John's Day), but ERC is reluctant to commit to anything more than continuing to discuss it. While the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, wants to bring the budget back to Parliament between the end of April and the beginning of May and have it approved before June 24, the ERC spokesperson, Isaac Albert, refuses to set a timetable and asks the Socialists to make proposals that allow Catalonia to "gain sovereignty" in order to secure a budget. In any case, the PSC and ERC will resume negotiations this week.

The seal on the agreement was put by Salvador Illa and Oriol Junqueras in a meeting of just over two hours at the Palau de la Generalitat on Tuesday afternoon. But the pact had been being forged since the previous weekend after days of deadlock. At the Palau and at the PSC headquarters, the strategy of buying time to avoid a parliamentary defeat that would have left the executive shaken eventually prevailed. The party's number 2, Lluïsa Moret, had a lot to do with it, explain various sources to ARA. But to limit the damage, the socialists demanded, in return, a commitment from the republicans to stop positioning the IRPF as a red line. All this, to reset the clock. To get here, however, the conversations went through ups and downs, from tense meetings to lunches and homemade doughnuts to save the negotiation.

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The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, presented a budget proposal to force negotiations with ERC, but the gamble backfired. The first lesson of this political crisis, which has led him to withdraw the budget proposal, is that the government cannot act as if it has a majority it does not. The investiture agreement brought Illa to the presidency of the Generalitat, but he needs to negotiate and uphold agreements to continue making progress in the legislature.

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Salvador Illa decided to push ahead after ERC's refusal to negotiate the budget and presented the bill two weeks ago without having the Republicans' support guaranteed. This pressure tactic against Oriol Junqueras' party failed to budge them from their position: the Republicans had maintained their red line for beginning negotiations unless the Spanish government made a gesture of ceding control over income tax revenue. The budget was headed for failure this Friday, as Esquerra would have voted for its amendment to the entire bill, thus causing it to collapse. To avoid defeat, Salvador Illa decided to withdraw the budget this Wednesday. as some sources consulted by the ARA pointed outand give negotiations with the Republicans another chance. However, Esquerra has also shifted its position and no longer refers to income tax as a condition. sine qua non to negotiate the budget. "It's a very important condition," Oriol Junqueras stated when journalists asked him if it remained an "essential" condition, as it had been until now. In fact, Esquerra has opened itself to negotiating an alternative proposal to the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) if the Catalan Government puts one on the table. The target date for a new budget is before the summer.

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The Catalan government's budget continues to hang by a thread. If the PSC and ERC don't find a solution before Friday, the budget approved by Salvador Illa's administration two weeks ago will collapse. Republicans and Socialists are maintaining open dialogue to try to avoid a clash before Friday, and they held more meetings this Tuesday: they met this afternoon at the Palau de la Generalitat—among those present were the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, and the ERC's Director General, Lluís Salvadó—and are scheduled to meet again this afternoon. Two scenarios are on the table: that the Catalan government withdraws the budget or that ERC withdraws its amendment to the entire budget. Both options are designed to prevent the budget from failing and buy time to try to get the negotiations back on track. At this point, however, the Catalan government maintains that it is not willing to withdraw the budget proposal. "We are not there at this time," the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, stated in an interview with RTVE. "We are at this stage and we are not considering any other," added the Government spokesperson and Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, at a press conference, who called for "prudence" and "responsibility" in these final days of negotiations before Friday.

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The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has convened the parliamentary groups at the Palau de la Generalitat to address the potential consequences of the conflict in the Middle East and analyze how Catalonia should respond. The meeting began in the early afternoon and includes representatives from all parliamentary groups except Vox and Aliança Catalana. This summit is the result of of a request that Junts conveyed to the president in the last control session of the Parliament to share measures that anticipate the negative effects of the conflict.

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The first budgets designed by Salvador Illa's government are "fully focused on municipal development." This is the thesis that The Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, defended in his first appearance in Parliament To explain the main lines of the budget, with 9.1 billion euros more available for the Generalitat compared to 2023. One of the secretariats that fares best is that of Local Governments and Relations with the Aran Valley, which increases from 196.5 million euros to 351 million to give municipalities a boost to carry out urgent works, unblock projects that have been stalled for years, or continue with the neighborhood planAll of this comes a year before the elections, a crucial event for mayors, where everyone wants to arrive with as much work done as possible to showcase during the campaign. What could the municipalities lose if the Catalan Parliament ends up rejecting the budget? No From Esquerra?

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A week after the United States and Israel's attack on Iran, and given the uncertain consequences that this war may entail, Salvador Illa met this Saturday with unions and employers in an extraordinary meeting. He did so within the framework of the Council for Social Dialogue of Catalonia to reassure the Catalan productive fabric and commit to taking the necessary measures to face the possible economic consequences of the war. A commitment that, in fact, has also been demanded by the representatives of Foment, Pimec, CCOO, and UGT. Illa also took advantage of the meeting to defend the need for budgets in 2026 and sent another message of pressure to ERC: "We cannot block Catalonia. Today's stability has a name: budgets".

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A failed budget marked the end of Pere Aragonès's government exactly two years ago. Now, Salvador Illa faces a resounding defeat in the Catalan Parliament, and speculation has begun about whether the conflict will also end at the ballot box. except CommonsThe other parliamentary groups, including ERC, have submitted amendments to the entire budget. The Catalan government (Palau de la Generalitat) is avoiding this scenario and reiterates that having a budget is "plan A, B, and C." Negotiations remain stalled, and now the Republicans are even talking about June as a possible timeframe for unblocking them—provided the central government and the Moncloa Palace commit to transferring the personal income tax revenue. This Saturday, the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, again pressured ERC to agree to approve the budget given the context of the war in the Middle East and its potential economic consequences. In an address to the Catalan Social Dialogue Council—which includes representatives from unions and employers' associations—Illa asked the Republicans to "rise to the occasion of this extraordinary moment the world is experiencing." "They are the best social safety net," he declared.

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Without the support of the ERC (Republican Left of Catalonia), the Catalan government has maintained its initial plan and approved the 2026 budget bill this Friday morning. This will be the first budget presented by Salvador Illa's government and will reach almost €50 billion; specifically, the figure is €49.162 billion, an increase of 22.8% compared to the 2023 budget—that is, €9.126 billion—the last one approved by the Generalitat (Catalan government) under Pere Aragonès's administration. Compared to last year's Generalitat spending, under the extended budget, the increase was 10.3%. The budget includes €4.146 billion in investments, the "highest" figure in recent years, according to the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero. An extraordinary executive council met this morning to approve the accounts, and Romero subsequently handed them over to the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull.

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The Government and ERC have met three times in the last few hours after the clash over the budgets. The last meeting took place this Thursday morning, according to various sources familiar with the matter, and the two teams have scheduled further meetings once the Government presents the budget bill this Friday. This morning's meeting is not the first since the Republicans announced their "no" on negotiating the accounts. This Wednesday afternoon, as announced by the Efe agency and confirmed by ARA, they also met in Parliament. But it is that this Wednesday morning the two parties had already seen each other again, according to sources consulted by this newspaper. All this, to try to redirect a situation that, if the two parties do not find a solution, could end with the failure of Salvador Illa's first budgets.

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It has been a week since Salvador Illa returned to work, and this Wednesday he faced his first parliamentary question time since being diagnosed with osteomyelitis pubis. The President of the Generalitat received a warm welcome and the support of all members of parliament for a return marked by a clash with the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) over the budget. This weekend, the Republicans They slammed the door on negotiating the accounts. And this Wednesday they again demanded that the Catalan government fulfill the condition they set for sitting down to discuss the budget: clearing the way for Catalonia to collect income tax. "There is room for agreement. I extend my hand and ask you to take it," Illa argued, addressing the president of the Republican group in the Catalan Parliament, Josep Maria Jové. The ERC leader, however, demanded that the head of the executive "pressure" the PSOE and not Esquerra to comply with the income tax collection. "The one he should be pressuring is the PSOE, not us," asserted Jové, who assured that the Republicans maintain their open hand.

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Political disagreement could lead to another budget extension in 2026. Such a decision always comes at a price: the government's planned spending increase, should the draft budget be approved, would rise by €9.1 billion compared to the 2023 budget, the last one approved to date. This figure was provided by the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, in an interview with the Catalan News Agency (ACN). But how many of these millions would be lost if there is no budget? Sources within the Department of Economy, consulted by the Ara newspaper (ARA), emphasize that at least €1.5 billion is at risk. These are funds earmarked for new projects, not included in previous budgets, and which, therefore, would be excluded from the budget extension according to the law.

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The week is off to a bad start for the government and for all of us who believe that governing a country with the 2023 budget is not serious. Everything has come to a head this weekend. We had reached Friday with the agreement between the Government and the Commons to approve the budgetsAll that remained was the arithmetically indispensable "yes" from Esquerra, and on Friday morning, President Illa made what is now called "a gesture" to Esquerra: he stated his commitment to one of Esquerra's conditions: that the Generalitat collect 100% of the personal income tax. And he put it this way:

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The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, is pushing through the budget despite not having enough votes to pass it in Parliament. With the support of Comuns, but without that of ERC, the Catalan government will approve the bill on Friday in an extraordinary meeting of the executive council. "There's no going back. Catalonia needs a budget," the president stated. Illa, therefore, will not wait for the Republicans, who They remain entrenched in the No until they have guaranteed progress on the transfer of personal income tax revenue to the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC). The president made the announcement this Monday at an event with unions and employers' associations to sign an agreement on the budget, which serves to add pressure on Esquerra Republicana (ERC). For now, the Republicans are maintaining their position.

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