Together for Catalonia (JxCat) MP Francesc de Dalmases will "temporarily" leave his position as JxCat spokesman in the Catalan Media Corporation (CCMA) committee, which controls public media, after the controversy sparked by his scolding a FAQS journalist. At the same time, he requested the party start an internal inquiry to clarify the events give him a chance to "refute and defend himself against the accusations that have appeared in recent days in the media and social media", since the information is "damaging to his reputation". All this will be voted on in the next party executive meeting, where the controversy will be addressed, as JxCat explained in a statement

After having elected Laura Borràs and Jordi Turull to lead the party, Together for Catalonia (JxCat) will begin the second phase of its party conference: a debate on the political roadmap, local elections and the internal organization. Specifically, there are four area proposals (political, organisational, local and sectoral) that have been sent to all party members so that they can make amendments and be passed in the second phase of the conclave on July 16 and 17. In the political proposal, to which ARA has had access, JxCat opens the door to abandoning the coalition government depending on the assessment it is currently carrying out of its agreement with ERC. On the other hand, it proposes to terminate the negotiating table with the Spanish state coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the October 1st Referendum.

"I am not in a condition to serve my country and my city with the same energy and intensity as I have done so far". With this sentence, Elsa Artadi has said goodbye to active politics, a personal decision after which she has withdrawn from the race to become Barcelona's mayor, but also her responsibilities in Parliament and in the party. "It is not a political decision," she said in an appearance at noon from the city hall, during which she broke into tears and her voice quivered. In front of Speaker Laura Borràs and all JxCat city councillors, Artadi assured "the country, the city and this party deserves people in the front line to be at full strength". "We all reach a time to say enough is enough and this is mine. I can't do it anymore. It is the right decision and the one I can take being honest," she concluded.

The negotiating table is not part of Pedro Sánchez's priorities and he does not hide it. In his 2021 balance speech he only referred to it when asked by journalists and he did it to downplay its urgency, and he did not mention it on Friday during the Socialist Party's federal committee. Using the management of the pandemic as a shield, the Spanish president has again refused on Monday to set a date for the new meeting between the Generalitat and the State so as not to "tie himself up", as he argued in an interview with Cadena SER. But he has assured, however, that the table will be convened at least twice this 2022. ERC, meanwhile, continues to press for the meeting to be "as soon as possible", despite the fact that it wants to avoid a new controversy over dates.

En Comú publicly positioned themselves as government allies in the vote on the budget, but the in-depth analysis of the votes in this parliament done by ARA indicates that, in practice and beyond the declarations of intentions, they were already a preferential partner. Pere Aragonès's executive has passed 21 votes on decrees and bills this legislature, and in 17 it has done so with En Comú's endorsement –four of which were needed abstentions–, ahead of the PSC –13, three of them needed abstentions– and the CUP –9–, in third place.

Twelve years after the last time it came into force on January 1, the Generalitat budget for next year will has been approved on time. The Catalan Government received En Comú Podem's support and Finance Minister Jaume Giró thanked the party for their responsibility, despite his own party's misgivings about the agreement. En Comú Podem has thus become the executive's partner after CUP dissociated itself from the coalition government between ERC and JxCat, and has conspired to "destabilise" the government for as long as the Catalan government's "autonomist drift" –as opposed to pro-independence– lasts. The CUP's MP Eulàlia Reguant told En Comú representatives they had not helped the country, as they had renounced to put pressure on to obtain improvements in the budget, and instead were happy for a quid pro quo exchange with Barcelona City Council budget. "It is not a time for a fight, it is a time for dialogue and negotiation," En Comú Podem MP Joan Carles Gallego answered. Gallego led the negotiations with the Department of Economy and the Presidency to close the budget.

Every week there is some sort of row between coalition government partners in Catalonia. Before the wound opened by the negotiation of the Catalan and state budgets has had time to heal, ERC and JxCat are back at it over the defence of linguistic immersion in Catalan schools after a High Court decision forced a school in Canet to teach a quarter of classes in Spanish. It all began with speaker Laura Borràs (JxCat) suggesting Education minister Josep Gonzàlez-Cambray (ERC) tale over the school in Canet de Mar. Borràs's proposal, which would expose to the minister to possible legal action, has not been well received by ERC. Not so much because of the substance, which is not convincing either, but because of the manner in which its coalition partner has chosen to bring up the issue.

President Pere Aragonès, Pere Aragonès, began negotiations with En Comú yesterday to get the budgets through Parliament, after the government's priority partner, CUP, positioned itself against it. This Thursday morning first thing a technical meeting between En Comú and representatives from the Presidency and Economy Departments was held. It lasted from quarter past nine in the morning until almost twelve noon: the secretary general of Economy, Jordi Cabrafiga; the secretary general of the Presidency, Núria Cuenca; and the director general of Interdepartmental Coordination, Marc Ramentol, on behalf of the Government; and the deputies Joan Carles Gallego –who leads the negotiation– and Susana Segovia, as well as the group coordinator, Ximo Balaguer, on behalf of En Comú.

The Catalan Government is pressed for time when it comes to reaching an agreement on budget with the CUP, which has already named its conditions. In the meantime, the possibility of an alternative partner generates misgivings within the ERC-JxCat coalition Government. This was on show this Wednesday in the Catalan Parliament, where president Pere Aragonès asked En Comú to the negotiating table, to JxCat's clear discomfort. JxCat's parliamentary leader Albert Batet hinted that this offer had not been agreed within the coalition. Batet asked the president to be "responsible" and respect the agreements he reached with the three pro-independence parties that voted Aragonès in. Batet also reproached him for opening the door to "non-agreed majorities", in allusion to En Comú, and called on pro-independence forces to find a "shared strategy".

The Court of Auditors has become the indirect protagonist of the traditional floral offering in the cemetery of Montjuïc to pay homage to Lluís Companys, shot by Franco's regime on October 15, 1940. The Catalan Government, Parliament and several parties attended the Fossar de la Pedrera and they have all been critical of the case against Catalan government officials. It is a reminder that, 81 years later, repression does not stop. The reading from all sides has been that, despite the fact that there are no longer any executions, the Catalan institutions are still being persecuted. Some have even said that now no one is being killed but the "civil death" of some political leaders is being sought.

The Catalan Parliament has set this Thursday a new course for the Independence bid with a majority that a short time ago would have seemed unthinkable. On the one hand, the house has rejected anti-capitalist CUP's proposal to set a date for a new unilateral referendum before the next elections, because the two governing parties, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and Together for Catalonia (JxCat) refused to support it. On the other hand, Parliament has backed political negotiation with the State through the negotiating table between governments, thanks to votes from ERC, En Comú and the Catalan Socialists' Party (PSC). In short, the new coordinates of Catalan politics have been set with the pro-independence movement divided over which roadmap to follow and with the PSC and En Comú giving their support to the negotiation.

For the first time in this legislature, yesterday the Parliamentary bureau admitted problematic resolutions related to self-determination that can place it in the spotlight. The pro-independence members of Together for Catalonia (JxCat), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) and anti-capitalist CUP, headed by the Speaker, Laura Borràs, endorsed the processing of a CUP resolution proposing a new referendum this legislature and that can contravene – according to the constitutionalist opposition – the mandates of the Constitutional Court on the Independence bid. After Vox threatened with lawsuits, sources close to Borràs have expressed her discomfort over the CUP's initiative, and JxCat MP Francesc Dalmases openly wrote on Twitter that the gesture was "useless and stupid", in addition to accusing the CUP of "partisanship".

The general policy debate has evidenced, for now, two things: that relations between the Catalan Government and the CUP are not going through their best moment and that the executive does not have a partner lined up to approve the 2022 budgets. If this already shows the fragile balance of the legislature, the motions for resolutions that have been presented by parliamentary groups threaten to further strain pro-independence unity. On the one hand, because of the questions that have to do with sovereigntism's strategy in going forward (should it promote a new unilateral referendum?), and on the other hand, because of more sectorial questions that reveal ideological differences, such as El Prat airport extension.

Since the elections on 14-F, the pro-independence movement has more deputies than ever in Parliament (74) and it takes pride of having overcome the barrier of 50% of votes for the first time, but until today all this has not translated into a greater political unity of the movement or more stability of the Government. The general policy debate, which begins this Tuesday and will last until Thursday, will be a re-examination the state of the question: do ERC, JxCat and the CUP have a common denominator which will allow them to move forward effectively? The beginning of the parliamentary political year – it will be the first plenary session since the summer break – will allow a calculation of the possibilities of understanding for the next four years. The debate will also reveal to what extent the Socialists and En Comú want to get involved in Catalan governability, especially when it comes to negotiating the Generalitat's budgets, which loom ahead.

The resumption of the negotiating table starts off on the wrong foot, at least as far as the Catalan delegation is concerned. This morning Together for Cataloina (JxCat) has revealed the members of its delegation, but names it proposed have not pleased its coalition partner, Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC). JxCat's proposal is that their representatives at tomorrow's meeting are the vice president of the Generalitat, Jordi Puigneró; the secretary general of JxCat, Jordi Sànchez; the party's vice president, Jordi Turull; and their spokeswoman in the Spanish parliament, Miriam Nogueras. ERC is annoyed by two issues: first, that three of the four members are not part of the Catalan Government; and second, that the names have been made public before a private agreement between the parties was reached at the meeting of the executive council on Tuesday. ERC's irritation is such that the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, has told JxCat he rejects the proposed names. Later, in an appearance from the Palau de la Generalitat, the president explained that he will leave JxCat out of the negotiating table as long as it includes delegates who are not part of the cabinet. The new government already has its first major crisis.

The negotiating table is to meet this week, but there is still uncertainty around the exact date and whether the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, will take part. Together for Catalonia (JxCat), believes this is an act of "contempt" towards the Generalitat and Catalan society which "demands an answer". "It shows the little conviction he himself has" when addressing the political conflict, said party spokeswoman Elsa Artadi, who has demanded retaliations from the Catalan government. Out of "institutional dignity", if Pedro Sánchez does not attend the summit, the president, Pere Aragonès, should not attend either.

One of the key issues that will be read this September 11th is where the pro-independence roadmap has to go. Right now the movement is divided between those in favour of giving a chance to the dialogue table with the State and those who criticise it and defend returning to unilateralism. Among the former is the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, who this Friday has taken advantage of the traditional speech of Catalonia Day to defend this instrument of negotiation. In fact, he has linked it with the mobilisation planned for tomorrow. The president's idea is to take "all the strength" that the Catalans show "every 11th of September by filling squares and streets" to demand amnesty and self-determination from the Spanish government at the meeting next week.

The controversial reform of El Prat airport might force some Catalan parties to lay bare their internal contradictions to the public eye. If at first it was En Comú who protested against an investment in an airport carried out by a Spanish coalition government of which they are part, now it is Esquerra who plans to participate in the demonstration against the reform in spite of the fact that the Government it leads has agreed on the investment with the Spanish government. This Monday the deputy general secretary of ERC, Marta Vilalta, explained that "it is likely" that her party will participate "somehow" in the first protest against the expansion of the airport, which has been called for September 19 in Barcelona. The extension has, albeit with nuances, been defended by ERC.

Pedro Sánchez lack of clarity on whether or not he will attend the dialogue table and, therefore, on whether he will show whether he takes it seriously or not, is becoming a source of discomfort for ERC. There are ten days left before the meeting and the Spanish president continues without publicly clarifying whether he will be in Barcelona. This is why ERC has decided to take a step further in the pressure strategy and has warned Sánchez that if he does not decisively back this negotiating tool, ERC will rethink the predisposition they have shown so far to negotiating the State budget. And their thirteen votes in Congress could be key. "If the negotiating table is ignored, it is clear that it will be much more difficult to work to find other possible agreements in other negotiations," said deputy secretary general of ERC, Marta Vilalta. Among negotiations is, in fact, that of the Spanish public accounts.

The Minister of the Economy, Jaume Giró, has had an intense start to his term in office. This very week, the Consell de Garanties and the Parliament have validated the decree to face the bonds of the Court of Auditors, and in the Council of Fiscal and Financial Policy he has known the figures that will allow him to make the budget.