For days, Madrid has been a hub for major events – the Pope's visit coincided with ten Bad Bunny concerts – and European trade unionism has wanted to do its bit. This week, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) chose the Palacio Vistalegre in the Spanish capital as a stage for a show of strength, but also to warn Europe that it will act as a containment wall against all proposals that, in its opinion, represent a step backwards in labor rights and human rights.

The journalist Claudi Pérez, international correspondent for El País, publishes the book Las invasiones bárbaras, a mix between an essay and journalistic chronicle about the crises that have shaken the world during the first quarter of this century, with a special focus on Europe and its role in the new international order.

Discovering Europe without worries and with the convenience of having everything organized is the perfect proposal for the second half of the year. From Barcelona, these short and medium-distance trips offer cultural routes, urban getaways, and itineraries through the most attractive corners of the continent, always with an accompanying guide, all visits included, and full board. A comfortable, safe, and enriching way to travel, designed to enjoy each destination with peace of mind and without unforeseen events.Eurovacances Travel, with 40 years of experience in the sector and with three offices –Barcelona, Granollers and Girona–, offers you proposals along these lines for the months of September, October and November.

The heat arrives, and with it the peak months for tourism in Catalonia. This year the season kicks off after a record first quarter. Catalonia received the highest number of visitors in this period in the last decade between January and April, and it's also the year they have spent the most.

The word rearmament has been occupying headlines for months. In an increasingly unstable and fierce world order, where armed conflicts are multiplying and major global actors are setting aside diplomatic channels and rendering current international law null and void, it seems inevitable that states must invest in weapons to guarantee their sovereignty and, in general, their medium-term future.

The Mossos d'Esquadra are investigating an attack with a bladed weapon suffered by a follower of the Europa football club this Sunday in Nou Barris, after the promotion match that the Gracienc team played against Celta B. The fan was seriously injured in the stomach, but his life is not in danger. The Catalan police arrested the alleged aggressor that same afternoon not far from the scene, after he tried to flee and hide in a building entrance.

The Cercle d'Economia is approaching its annual conferences, increasingly focused on the health of the European project, with a touch of pessimism. In the opinion note prior to this year's meeting, which will be held between June 1 and 3 at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, the entity warns of the "fractures" and "divisions" that risk the Twenty-seven's ability to become autonomous in an increasingly disjointed world.

A program that can remotely activate the microphone and camera of a mobile phone or access message history. Software capable of scanning real-time traffic to identify people and generate profiles. A device that connects to a computer or mobile phone and can download all its information by bypassing passwords. These and other technologies manufactured in member states of the European Union too often end up in the hands of governments that violate human rights, despite current legislation to prevent it. This is the main conclusion of the report "Looking the Other Way" published this Tuesday by the NGO Human Rights Watch, which denounces that the European Union's mechanisms to prevent these exports have failed.

Catalonia is one of the territories with the most clinical trials active in the world. In 2025 it participated in 5,768 studies, which catapulted it to seventh place in the world ranking, according to the BioRegion of Catalonia Report. The United States, with 38,218 trials underway, and China, with 17,321, led the list of countries.

The intentions of the Spanish government to ban social media for under-16s have been very well received in Catalonia. 87% of Catalans - almost 9 out of 10 - endorse this as the minimum age for social media users in all EU countries, according to a survey by the Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió (CEO) and the European Parliament. The poll, published this Monday to mark 40 years since Spain's accession to the community club, indicates that only 10% of respondents are against the measure, while only 3% do not know or do not answer. Setting a minimum age limit for these platforms convinces even the youngest in the sample, as 84% of those interviewed between 18 and 24 years old are in favor.

Ten days ago we wrote here a very striking headline: “Collboni, put the grass”, which was the unanimous cry of the Sant Andreu fans, who had just been promoted. Well, may today's article serve as a “Reply!”: Barcelona City Council will put natural grass on the Narcís Sala and the Nou Sardenya, which is the stadium where Europa plays.

The fans of Sant Andreu and Europa have celebrated as if it were a goal in the last minute of a derby, the sweetest goals to sing about, the City Council's decision to put natural grass on their fields. The mobilization of the Sant Andreu fans, just after a well-deserved promotion, has joined the struggle of the Gràcia residents in recent months. If you add that elections are approaching, the result has been that both clubs left the first meeting with the council with the most desired news. The City Council had it well prepared. It had listened to what people were saying. It had reacted.

Europe is the continent that is warming fastest in the world. This is causing a continued loss of snow and ice and increasingly extreme weather phenomena. In the year 2025 alone, several records derived from the climate crisis were registered across the continent, which caused serious consequences for the societies and ecosystems of all of Europe.

The ideas that end up transforming a society rarely present themselves as ruptures. They don't arrive with a bang or with an explicit will to break. They arrive disguised as normality, with the deceptive calm of common sense. "National priority" is one of those ideas. It seems harmless – taking care of "our own people" first – but it contains a profound mutation: turning rights into a matter of order, of blood, not of equality.

After demanding the tightening of criteria for the extraordinary regularization of migrants in Spain, Junts goes a step further against the measure approved by the government of Pedro Sánchez and from which half a million people will benefit. Carles Puigdemont's party has announced that it will take the regularization to Europe because it "ignores the requirement of knowing Catalan". The party has commissioned its legal department to prepare "the presentation of a complaint before the European institutions for the violation of various directives and the marginalization of a co-official language as an integration criterion", as detailed this Friday in a statement.

Unfortunately, the upheaval that the world is suffering, with regional conflicts of strong global implications, economic but above all of democratic culture, diminishes the Catalan cause. Now, as almost a hundred years ago, the emergence of totalitarian, not to say fascist, positions and discourses demands a strong democratic reaction that, as a hundred years ago, is not happening nor is it foreseen. Despite everything, it is essential that it occurs, for the good of all and, above all, of the young generations. And the leadership can only fall to consolidated democracies, with Europe at the forefront, following the stance made explicit by Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, at the last meeting of the Davos Forum.We must promote policies for greater European integration, supporting political parties that are firmly committed to it, not just discursively. As European integration progresses, the sovereignty of states will diminish. The most relevant decisions – economic, regulatory, or geopolitical – will no longer be made solely at the state level, but increasingly at the European level. In such a context, some issues that today seem almost irresolvable – such as the Spanish state allowing a referendum on self-determination – may be different. When the political weight of states is diluted, the relationships between peoples, territories, and governments can be reorganized with greater flexibility and less drama than we perceive today.Perhaps, then, the most realistic path lies not so much in local decisions as in contributing to the construction of a federal Europe, a Europe in which its peoples share the great responsibilities and challenges of our time.

Where is the new Hungary of the conservative democrat Péter Magyar heading? Towards a return to Europeanism (against Putin, against Trump, and against the far-right), towards the reconstruction of the rule of law (against authoritarian and illiberal policies), and towards respect for plurality and minorities (against hate speech targeting groups like the LGTBI+ or against the rejection of identity diversity represented by immigration).

Southeastern Spain, one of the driest areas in Europe, has established itself as one of the continent's main agricultural hubs. Despite having a climate marked by minimal rainfall and long periods of drought, this region has become the heart of the so-called “european vegetable garden.” Thanks to state policies, desalination plants, artificial reservoirs, and complex water transfer systems between river basins have been built, allowing vast previously unproductive areas to be irrigated.

The more Donald Trump sinks into the Iranian mire, the more we Europeans must regain the pride of being part of such an imperfect and self-conscious club. 

It seems hard to believe, but these past few weeks in Brussels, there's almost more talk about civil service exams than the chaos caused by the war in Iran. This is the first general call for graduates who want to work in European institutions since 2019. As expected, more than 170,000 people have applied. It's literally impossible to live in Brussels, be under 40, and not know someone who has applied.