Broad majority for the approval of a new democratic memory law in Catalonia. The PSC, Junts, Esquerra, Comuns and the CUP have agreed on a legal text that includes the removal of the Francoist monument in Tortosa within a period of one year and of all those in Catalonia within a maximum of two; it demands that the Spanish government convert the Via Laietana police station in Barcelona into an interpretation center for torture and repression, and establishes a sanctioning regime that provides for fines between 200 and 250,000 euros for damages to key spaces for historical memory –such as mass graves–, the display of symbology or the glorification of Francoism, Nazism or fascism.

Salvador Illa has returned to Brussels. He maintains a busy international agenda and this week will be the fourth time that, as president of the Generalitat, he travels to the Belgian capital. The two most notable meetings he is expected to hold on Wednesday will be with the President of the European Council, António Costa, and the Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, according to sources from the Catalan executive.

The Catalan political year has begun as it ended: to the rhythm of crises and major announcements from the Palau de la Generalitat. In this week's general policy debate, Salvador Illa reaffirmed the measures he had already made public—especially when addressing such burning issues as housing or education—and added new ones. However, the homework is piling up for the President of the Generalitat, and the opposition and his own parliamentary partners, ERC and Comuns, already demanded "deeds and not words" and that he abandon the "grandiloquence" to really solve the problems, "now and not five years from now".

There is a shortage of young civil servants. The Generalitat warns that 12% of Catalan administration workers will retire by 2030 and that it needs to replace the 30,000 public positions that will become vacant over the next four years. For this reason, the Government wants to take advantage of the reform of the law on the School of Public Administration of Catalonia, which will be approved this coming Tuesday, to improve and strengthen the recruitment of young people and encourage them to apply for the Generalitat's civil service examinations.

During the first six months of 2026, incidents in which someone fired a bullet in Catalonia have increased by 45%. That is to say, a shooting has been recorded every two days, with a toll of six dead and seventeen injured. If cases where someone has brandished a firearm, even if they did not get to use it, are added to this, there is one incident a day. And, in these cases, real weapons are becoming increasingly common: they already represent 42% of the total, when until recently the majority were simulated. Behind this increase are various causes, such as the fact that weapons are becoming cheaper, are more available, and there are more criminal groups that need them to defend their businesses, which are closely linked to drugs.

Salvador Illa officially kicks off the political year with new promises, especially in housing. The President of the Generalitat announced in the general policy debate in Parliament that the Government will promote an anti-eviction fund; shared and temporary purchases between administrations and citizens who cannot afford the down payment on an apartment, and the expansion of emancipation loans for young people.

First point of contact for the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, with all political forces –except Vox– to put an end to the educational crisis. Together with the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, he met with the parties with parliamentary representation and they agreed on the creation of two working groups to debate and finalize a national pact on the future model of the Catalan school, and to reach a consensus on a way to increase investment in education to reach 6% of the gross domestic product (currently it does not reach 4%). Even so, the parties have shown themselves to be skeptical of the plan and the main opposition party, Junts, has once again demanded Niubó's resignation.

Education is immersed in a permanent crisis. After months of teacher strikes and collecting poor student results, it has been joined by the PISA test fiasco. In this context, and after being requested by various parliamentary forces, the President of the Generalitat appeared in Parliament to provide explanations, but he completely exonerated the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, and took refuge in the fact that he had already dismissed the department's number two. "The replacement of the Secretary General of Education has been executed," the socialist leader justified. Nevertheless, all the opposition parliamentary groups have demanded Niubó's resignation.

The municipal elections are approaching, polls predict a substantial growth of the far-right, and security is, more than ever, at the center of the debate. More and more leaders and parties, such as Junts and the PP, are hardening their rhetoric in this field. They want to prevent the debate from remaining solely in the hands of Aliança Catalana and Vox. And the president of the Generalitat and secretary-general of the PSC, Salvador Illa, does not want to be left on the sidelines either. In recent days, the head of the Government has chosen to reinforce messages against crime, especially regarding those offenses that most affect citizens' perception of insecurity.

At the entrance to La Zarza, a small Extremaduran town of about 3,000 inhabitants, there is a large Civil Guard presence. "This isn't normal, do you know what's happening?" asks the taxi driver. They are awaiting the visit of the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, to celebrate the National Day of Catalonia there. The whole town is full of it, it is the big event and there is quite a lot of anticipation. "There are posters everywhere and we've been notified through the Town Hall's WhatsApp groups," explains Amelia, a shoemaker at Calzados Moreno. Even so, not a single senyera (Catalan flag) is to be seen and quite a few Spanish flags are flying: the big question is whether the Catalan president—who has come as a sign of the fraternity between the peoples of the State—will be well received.

Salvador Illa has traveled to Extremadura to celebrate the Catalan National Day, seeking to extol the fraternity between the two territories and to vindicate the role of Extremadurans in the construction of Catalonia. The President of the Generalitat has lamented the years of the 'Procés'—in which "some spoke about others," but "some did not speak with others"—and has proclaimed the return of a "solidary" Catalonia that is favorable to understanding with Spain. However, the eternal tensions between the Principality and the rest of the State have resurfaced, and Illa has criticized in statements to the media the opposition of the vast majority of autonomous communities to the new financing, including that of the Junta of Extremadura governed by PP and Vox.

More goods on trains and fewer trucks on the roads. With this premise, the Government has made public a plan to grow freight transport by train in Catalonia, with a network of four new railway terminals in five years, which will help reduce the dependence – and congestion – of the road network for the transport of products.

Two years after arriving at the Generalitat, Salvador Illa has returned to appear at the Maritime Museum in an act of great pomp. More than 800 attendees were counted, and the entire Government was there, as well as the main union and business leaders, political representatives of various colors, and prominent members of the country's civil and economic society. The mid-term speech lasted about forty-five minutes – 28 pages of text – and from the Palace, it has been defined as a turning point in the legislature. The head of the executive took the opportunity to repeat some of his political messages, such as "unity" against the "division" of the Procés and opposition to the far-right; and he addressed various current issues, such as housing, infrastructure, immigration, and artificial intelligence. However, Illa is clear about what the target is: ending the educational crisis.

Salvador Illa has wanted to extend the institutional acts of the National Day in Spain and, this year, instead of also celebrating it in Madrid, the president of the Generalitat will travel to Extremadura, a region from which many Catalans originate. Government sources explain that the intention of the socialist leader in this trip on the upcoming September 16 and 17 is to vindicate "that which unites both territories, as well as the historical, family and cultural ties and bonds that unite Catalonia and Extremadura".

Salvador Illa has once again launched a message against xenophobic rhetoric and the political polarization that stems from it. In the institutional message for the National Day, the president of the Generalitat has once again reclaimed a "united" Catalonia, especially in the face of the rise of the far-right – both Vox and Aliança Catalana – and has warned that "in our home, there is no room for hate." Thus, the socialist president has called to "continue being one single people" and to maintain the "admirable capacity" to make people arriving from Andalusia, Extremadura, Morocco, and Colombia feel like "full-fledged Catalans." "No one is more Catalan than anyone else. We are all Catalonia," insisted Illa, in an institutional message from the Palau de la Generalitat.

People of all sensibilities united with one goal: to organize without incident the first authorized demonstration after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco on the National Day of Catalonia. Fifty years ago, on September 11, 1976, figures from the PSUC, from Jordi Pujol's circle, from the pro-independence republicanism, and, among many others, from socialism set aside their differences to take a giant step in the national and democratic freedoms of the country. A spirit, that of democratic unity, which the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has now set as a model in the face of the rise of the far-right, both Spanish and Catalan.

The resignation of Josep Lluís Trapero as director of the Police has caused a political earthquake in Catalonia. The great bet of the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, to steer the Mossos force from a high political office with an experienced policeman has lasted two years, a period in which political criticisms have accumulated due to cases such as police infiltration in a teaching assembly and the force's deployment during King Felipe VI's visit to Montserrat. For this reason, after his resignation, the opposition has hit the nail on the head and pointed out the "lack of control" and "chaos" that the Interior department is suffering after Trapero's farewell, in the words of the main opposition group, Junts –Trapero's resignation comes shortly after that of the secretary general of the Interior, Tomàs Carrión–. The 'juntaires', in this sense, have demanded the appearance of the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, and have lamented the "authentic mess" of this Government.

The Director General of Penal Execution in the Community and Juvenile Justice, Jesús del Cacho, has resigned after two years in office. The Government appointed the new director, criminal lawyer Paz Vallès, this very Tuesday.

Salvador Illa has been mirroring himself in Josep Tarradellas since he arrived at the Generalitat. He is, surely, the Catalan political leader he has cited the most. Not because of his more pro-independence beginnings, but because of his role in the Transition and his ability to get a large part of the Catalan political spectrum to understand each other to configure Catalan autonomy. An obsession that the socialist leader has channeled into the inauguration of the events to commemorate the fifty years since the republican leader's return to Catalonia and his famous "Citizens of Catalonia, I am here" in October 1977.

Salvador Illa arrived at the Palau de la Generalitat with the motto of "uniting and serving". To leave behind once and for all the years of the 'Procés', which he considers "divided" the country, and to dedicate himself above all to the management of the Catalan administration. These were supposed to be his main strengths. Halfway through the term, nothing suggests that the pro-sovereignty aspirations are reviving, but he has faced one crisis after another and has already suffered –for the moment– the farewell of a minister and three general secretaries in recent weeks (two just this week). And this start of the school year, which began with an important photo for Illa with the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, also does not augur a calm second half of the term, which will be marked by the municipal elections and the shadow of electoral polls showing a PSC stalled or even with a slight loss of support.