Within Homer's Odyssey, one of the most beautiful characters – allow me to put it that way— is Eumaeus, or Eumeos, depending on the different versions (it is fascinating work, which obviously does not belong here, the comparative reading between the magnificent Catalan translations of the Homeric poem: that of Carles Riba, that of Joan Francesc Mira, and the recent one by Pau Sabaté, which do not confront each other, but rather add to and complement each other). Eumaeus is the swineherd of Ulysses or Odysseus, to whom he has remained loyal during his twenty-year absence. Along with Penelope and Telemachus, Eumaeus is the only one who still believes that Ulysses will one day return to Ithaca. He is the first to recognize him, but first he welcomes him into his home, convinced that he is a poor old man wandering without a home, without direction, and without identity. Eumaeus barely asks him questions; he sees someone in need and shares what he has with him: shelter, food, and a place to spend the night under cover. It seems little, but it is a lot: it is human dignity. In one of the most memorable passages of the Odyssey, Eumaeus converses with his guest and informs him of the misfortune of Ithaca and the difficult situation in which Penelope finds herself, cornered by a multitude of greedy, cunning, and parasitic suitors. He also tells him his own story: Eumaeus himself was of royal blood, son of Ctesius, king of the island of Syros. However, a slave girl handed Eumaeus over, when he was still an infant, to some pirates, who sold him as a slave to Laertes, Ulysses' father. Since then he has been the palace swineherd (the "divine swineherd," in one of the Homeric epithets associated with him), and his lofty origin serves as a reflection of Ulysses' own destiny, who left for the Trojan War as a king and warrior and returns to Ithaca, twenty years later, as an old beggar, dispossessed and uprooted, whom everyone presumes dead. Everyone except those who still love him. Eumaeus's intervention is one of the most delicate parts of the Odyssey. If you want to see a good film adaptation (without judging Christopher Nolan's, which I haven't seen yet), the 2024 film The return, directed by Uberto Pasolini and starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, and Claudio Santamaria as Ulysses, Penelope, and Eumaeus, respectively, is well worth it.

Europol has once again put Catalan independence under the spotlight. In its annual report on the state and trends of terrorism in the European Union, the police body has reincorporated the sovereignist movement into the "Ethno-nationalist and separatist terrorism and violent extremism" section. This inclusion comes just one year after, at the beginning of 2025, Europol would have excluded it from this same list thanks to the political pressure from Esquerra and Junts.

While the interior ministers of the European Union are meeting telematically to discuss the tightening of border controls, this news appears, which you can read in Ara Balears: seventeen people have died trying to reach Mallorca in a makeshift boat, after two weeks adrift. Salvamento Marítimo found two people inside the boat, malnourished and dehydrated, who before being admitted to Son Espases hospital were able to report that there were nineteen people on board. All the others had died. These seventeen deaths are added to the more than five hundred so far this year on the migratory route that attempts to reach the Balearic Islands from Algeria. It is one of the main entry routes for immigrants into the Western Mediterranean, and also one of the most dangerous.When we talk about migration, we are talking about this, about poor people dying drowned at sea, or of thirst and hunger. Whether mafias are the ones who brought them there, or governments that encourage their own citizens to go to their deaths, as we have seen these days, does not exempt First World countries from the political and moral duty to help these people, to welcome them, and to have foreseen all the mechanisms that civilization, democracy, and wealth allow in the service of an objective superior to any other: to recognize, restore, and protect their dignity as people. Before the mafias and depraved governments, the force that pushes these people is desperation, pure and simple. They assume the risks, the scams, and the humiliations because they know that here, in Europe, a relatively few kilometers from their villages devastated by corruption, living conditions are better. And they are: objectively, we are better off here. Let's prove it: let's develop migratory policies based on the civilizing and inalienable principle of human dignity. It is from this principle that the institutions of the post-World War II world order were built, starting with the United Nations and the European Union. It is these institutions and the world order that the great authoritarian powers – the USA and Russia – now want to dismantle, with the help of smaller but equally criminal governments like Israel or Morocco. That the European Union approved less than two months ago a pact on migration that includes the imprisonment of immigrants in prisons (they call them "centers") in non-EU countries is worse than a shame: it is a defeat. It is the European Union proclaiming to the world that it is incapable of being itself. That it is preparing for dismantling. Returning to the Balearic route, the local government of PP and Vox says it is "overwhelmed" by the eleven thousand people who have arrived in dinghies from January 2025 to July 2026. They are not, however, overwhelmed by the twenty million tourists who are destroying the islands during this tourist season. No, saying this is not do-goodism, nor wokism nor demagoguery: demagoguery is using migration crises to try to scrape votes by stoking discourses of hatred and racism.

The first response —and therefore the most sincere— from the European Union to the crisis in Ceuta orchestrated by Morocco has been what community policy can least afford: once again, division, a lack of unity. Pedro Sánchez, who from the outset has asked European partners for "solidarity and empathy", has found himself practically alone, singled out, questioned, threatened in the face of an external destabilization attempt. It took Ursula von der Leyen five days to publicly support Madrid. It is the minimum required by her office. Tuesday's emergency meeting in Brussels could serve to minimize the damage or make it deeper.

Pedro Sánchez is likely facing one of the European Union's most delicate and potentially complicated debates: migration and border control. In recent crises or key moments that have shaped European policy – European funds, the energy crisis, the Mercosur agreement, or the "no to war" stance in the face of the conflict in the Middle East – the head of the Spanish executive has boasted of having won over followers to his position – sometimes with more difficulty than others – and of emerging victorious. But the migration crisis in Ceuta, despite growing calls to refer to it as a political and humanitarian crisis, has triggered a standoff with some member states that may prove resistant.

It has been more than two years since the publication of the Letta report ("Much more than a market") and, in September, it will be two years since the publication of the Draghi report ("The future of European competitiveness"). These reports are the two essential pieces of the diagnosis that warned that Europe has been falling behind in the global economy.

It was meant to be the big trade deal that end the belligerence of the United States against the European Union and restore good relations between the two transatlantic powers. However, a year after the handshake between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the US President, Donald Trump, in Scotland, the pact has not managed to change the White House's attitude towards its European allies. During these twelve months – Monday marks the first anniversary – the New York magnate has not stopped threatening and insulting the European Union's partners, which has endangered the application of the trade agreement on repeated occasions and delayed its entry into force in European institutions.

The European Commission announced this Friday that it has "preliminary" indications that TikTok leaves minors unprotected, especially from potential aggressors. Thus, Brussels considers that it is violating the Digital Services Act (DSA) and threatens it with a millionaire fine if it does not take measures to increase the protection of the youngest users of the Chinese social platform.

The President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, has presented the ten finalist proposals for the new design of the euro banknotes. European citizens have until September 21 to vote for their preferred option [this is the link to take the survey] and they are expected to begin printing in the coming years, although the financial institution has not set a specific date.

The European Union continues applying sanctions against Russia to try and force it to the negotiating table. Member states agreed this Thursday on the 21st package of restrictions on Vladímir Putin's regime and, among other measures, will extend for longer the application of a price cap on Russian-origin oil. For at least the next twelve months, the maximum European companies will be able to pay for a barrel of crude oil arriving from Russia is $44.10.

New fines from the European Commission against a major US tech company. Brussels announced this Thursday two economic sanctions totaling 890 million against Google for restricting competition in its own services and, therefore, violating the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has been transitional. After raising interest rates by about 0.25 percentage points last month, Frankfurt has avoided making a move while awaiting developments in the Middle East and has kept them at 2.25% this Thursday.

European Commission's notice to the Spanish judiciary. After the Court of Auditors initially refused to apply the Luxembourg ruling upholding the amnesty, the spokesperson for the Community executive Guillaume Mercier recalled this Wednesday, in a statement, that "it is up to the referral courts – the National High Court and the Court of Auditors itself – to apply the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)".

The European Commission has announced a fine of 550 million euros to the Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress for the sale of illegal products online to European customers. The Community executive has concluded in an investigation that the Asian company does not comply with the Community directive on digital rights, because it does not "diligently" assess or mitigate the risks related to the products offered and purchasable on its website. And for this reason, Brussels urges it to adopt measures and threatens it with new additional economic sanctions if it disobeys the demands of the Community authorities.

Iceland is preparing to decide its European future in a referendum that could reopen a debate shelved for more than a decade. On August 29, Icelanders will be called to the polls to vote on whether they want the government to resume accession negotiations with the European Union or not. The Nordic country had already applied for membership in 2009, in the midst of the financial crisis, but four years later, with the economy recovered and a change of government, it withdrew from the talks.The center-left government of Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir, at the beginning of its term, wanted to hold the consultation during the year 2027. But from Reykjavík they acknowledge that the threats from the President of the United States, Donald Trump, regarding Greenland (located just 300 kilometers away) have contributed to increasing uncertainty in the North Atlantic, and have weighed on the decision to advance the referendum by one year.From the executive, the vote for yes is defended, justifying that in a moment of turbulent waters in a region disputed between world powers to be the gateway to the Arctic, the country needs the stability and security that the EU can offer. On the side of no are all the opposition parties, who warn of the possible effects of accession on key sectors such as fishing, and warn of the risk of losing national sovereignty before European institutions.One month before the referendum is celebrated, the campaign is gaining intensity and polls show that Icelanders remain deeply divided on the issue. The most recent poll on the public broadcaster Rúv reveals that 54% oppose accession to the EU, compared to 46% who are in favor. Nevertheless, polls by the country's main newspaper, Morgunblaðið, give a narrow victory with 52% of the vote in favor of reopening negotiations with the EU, compared to 48% who oppose it.

The grand chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is made up of 15 judges, but the most influential magistrate and the most visible face – reads the verdicts, such as the one that supports the amnesty– is the president of the court in Luxembourg, Koen Lenaerts (Mortsel, 1954). A Fleming with a great academic and professional career, especially in European justice.

New reform from Brussels that lowers environmental ambitions. The European Commission has proposed this Friday that European industry can reduce pollutant emissions at a slower pace than provided for in current legislation. That said, in return, these factories will have to increase green and decarbonization investments.

European Commission's wake-up call to Spain amid a wave of corruption cases plaguing Pedro Sánchez's government. In its annual rule of law report, Brussels warns that Spain has made "little" or "limited" progress in strengthening measures against conflicts of interest and lobbying, and in improving transparency in asset declarations by leaders and senior officials. Furthermore, although it highlights the Anti-Corruption Plan promoted by the Spanish government, it regrets that "the practical implementation of existing rules has not improved".

The path to amnesty in Europe has come to an end. Luxembourg has endorsed the law agreed between the PSOE, Junts, and Esquerra, which allowed Pedro Sánchez to be re-elected as Spanish president. Before this sweet ending, however, the measure went through a tortuous path with obstacles, largely accentuated by the tentacles of the Spanish right and far-right in the European Union institutions.

Happy end to the amnesty in its journey through European justice. The endorsement from the highest court in Luxembourg is almost absolute. It not only denies that its application affects the financial interests of the European Union and violates the anti-terrorism directive, but it fully defends the spirit of "reconciliation" between Spain and Catalonia of a law that allowed Pedro Sánchez to be invested with the votes of Junts and Esquerra. "It has the express purpose of favoring political reconciliation," has ruled the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).