An example of how the bilateral relationship with Morocco is one of Spain's most complex and sensitive foreign relations is the stance taken by the PP regarding the migratory crisis in Ceuta. Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party, from the opposition, has a harsher tone than the Spanish government on the role Morocco has played in the influx of thousands of migrants swimming into Ceuta. But at the same time, they avoid direct confrontation with the Alaouite kingdom, which has led to criticism from José Manuel García-Margallo (PP), former Minister of Foreign Affairs under Mariano Rajoy, who accuses his party colleagues of lacking "determination" and "firmness" with Morocco.

The Spanish right wing lives in anticipation of some catastrophe that will bring down Sánchez's government. They have been like this for eight years, and it's not that opportunities have been lacking: pandemic, wars, crises, natural disasters caused by fire and water, etc. There is also the corruption of the PSOE, which exists, but here they have the problem of the corruption of the right wing itself, which exists to a greater extent because it is structural. And finally there is immigration, which serves this type of right-wing to stir up hatreds, fears, and base instincts. With the crisis driven last week by Mohamed VI, halfway with Trump and Netanyahu, PP and Vox thought their opportunity had finally arrived, especially when some European countries appeared (ultraconservative Finland and the Italy of the fascist Meloni) that cried out to the heavens and even spoke of closing the Schengen area (which, by the way, is impossible, as no member state of the European Union can do it unilaterally). However, once again it did not quite work out for them. Some paid agitators, like Vito Quiles or Alvise Pérez, had to be escorted out of Ceuta by the police (in other places, like Palma, instead of protecting them, the agents prefer to beat citizens). Abascal, acting as a glorious admiral aboard a passenger ferry that he tried to pass off as a war frigate, managed to lose the patience even of the ultra Jiménez Losantos, who reproached him for his lack of patriotism. On the PP's side, the comic duo formed by Tellado and Feijóo has once again stammered their catastrophic discourse, which is already predictable and routine. Finally, Marlaska attended the meeting with the other European Interior ministers, and instead of a scolding, he managed to get general support.Faced with this failure, they have moved on to the second phase of the plan, which consists of initially resisting the reception of the quota of minors rescued in Ceuta corresponding to each autonomous community. The communities governed by the PP, many of them together with Vox, wanted to close themselves off in advance to receiving these minors (although they will eventually comply with the law, as they are also obliged to do so). Junts is added to this, which once again threatens Sánchez with withdrawing all support if he decides to send immigrant minors to Catalonia. It is the right wing that refuses to welcome, with a supposed discourse of protection of its own national integrity, or territorial, or whatever it may be, but which in reality is only a discourse of xenophobia and aporophobia, the hatred of the poor. In the case of Junts, it is somewhat pitiful to see them wallowing in this quagmire — so disrespectful of Pujol's thinking, which was always open to immigration — just to compete with the little fascists with espadrilles and carquinyolis from Aliança Catalana. As for Europe, the absence of a democratic right-wing leader like Merkel, who eleven years ago opened Germany to nearly a million people, mostly fleeing the war in Syria, is intensely felt. What a decline, in these eleven years, for the European right wing.

The Spanish government plans to activate Article 35 of the immigration law, which describes mandatory and solidarity-based reception by the rest of the autonomous communities when an "extraordinary migratory contingency" is declared. Ceuta finds itself in this situation and, therefore, this will be the next step the Spanish government will take to face the crisis the city has been experiencing since the massive arrival of migrants last week. Until now, the PP had left its position on this distribution up in the air, but this Wednesday the deputy secretary for Sectorial Coordination of the PP, Alma Ezcurra, confirmed that the autonomous communities governed by her party will comply with the law. They will thus participate in the distribution of the approximately 1,100 unaccompanied migrant minors – according to data released by the president of Ceuta – who have arrived in the autonomous city, although she has requested that the process be "fair" and "planned." She said this in an interview with Onda Cero, one day after Vox – a governing partner of the Popular Party in four communities – openly refused to take in these minors.

The Council of Statutory Guarantees (CGE) ruled this Tuesday, unanimously, that the bill to limit the speculative purchase of housing, presented by Comuns, violates the right to private property, inheritance, and freedom of enterprise. Furthermore, the consultative body – whose resolutions are not binding – concludes that processing it by a single reading contravenes Article 138 of the Parliament's Regulations, which governs this express procedure, and Article 23.2 of the Constitution, which refers to citizens' right to access public functions and positions in conditions of equality. The ruling also adds a third pillar of unconstitutionality: it considers that the key article of the proposal encroaches on the State's exclusive competence over the bases of contractual obligations. Faced with this scenario, the Minister of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition, Sílvia Paneque, has assured that the Government will seek "all legal measures [...] to protect the right to housing in Catalonia" in accordance with the Statute.

Since it was put on the table, Vox has made the amnesty law one of its main battle horses, promising actively and passively that, if it comes to the Spanish government, it will "reverse" and "repeal" the norm immediately. The People's Party has also joined this idea, and its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, in a dynamic that, analyzing the archives, is common among the populars: promising the repeal of PSOE laws to end up keeping them intact once they come to power —as happened in the past with the abortion law or same-sex marriage. Despite the constant insistence of the far-right on this supposed repeal, the threat clashes head-on with an insurmountable wall: the architecture of the rule of law. According to experts consulted by ARA, Vox's promise is legally unfeasible and the elimination of the law would have practically no effect on the accused. In fact, the party itself admits to ARA that it is aware of this legal wall.

From Navaluenga, in Àvila, one of the provinces where fire has been burning uncontrollably in recent days, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, insisted this Thursday on political unity "in response, prevention, and reconstruction" of the areas affected by the fires, and once again offered "the extended hand of the Spanish government" to reach "a country agreement" on climate emergency matters, an issue he considers paramount right now. That is to say, as he has done in his recent public interventions, Sánchez once again brought to the table the "State Pact against the Climate Emergency": a plan presented in September 2025 and expanded in December with 15 axes and 80 measures that has not yet seen the light of day due to a lack of political consensus.

Mallorcans have, or we have, as a society, a certain reputation for being apathetic and conformist. I won't say it's not a somewhat deserved reputation, but it has a more interesting flip side. This same society also forms a country of sensible and elegant people, with a deep allergy to bad manners, rudeness, exaggerated gestures, and violence in any form. For the citizens of this country called Mallorca, there are few things less interesting than losing one's composure and irony, losing one's temper, becoming solemn or intransigent. And let's not even mention becoming aggressive: all of this, in Mallorca, is frankly frowned upon.This country, despite what some say, exists, and it manifested itself again on Sunday in a massive and exemplary way through the streets of Palma. More than 70,000 people came out to demand that good sense be applied to tourism and real estate policies. The current model is extractive and parasitic, with large profits concentrated in a few hands and a very long list of social problems that citizens/taxpayers suffer. Speculation, the impossibility for a large part of the population to access housing, the expulsion of people who literally cannot afford to live here, growing inequalities, job insecurity, premature abandonment of studies, overpopulation, coexistence difficulties, and social fracture. It was against all this that the Majorcans demonstrated this Sunday.The success of the call – by the platform Menys Turisme, Més Vida, with the support of 145 entities – materialized in a true human wave (as you can read inAra Balears) that marched through the center of Palma without insults, without tension, with a cheerful tone and impeccable civic attitude. The protest was truly historic, comparable to few in Mallorca's recent history. Faced with a mobilization of this magnitude, business owners and politicians can only do one sensible thing: get to work on the corrections they are being asked for.On the other hand, what they did was send the National Police to beat citizens. Provocations, impediments and, finally, police charges with batons and rubber bullet shots, resulting in several minor injuries and a photojournalist seriously injured in the head. An absolute and intolerable disgrace, the primary responsibility for which lies with the delegate of the Spanish government, Alfonso Rodríguez, who should indeed resign, as is demanded from all sides. The PP and Vox government should not think, however, that they benefit from this: they wanted exactly this, to be able to accuse the demonstration of being “violent”. They had been trying for weeks to disqualify and criminalize the protests, and Vice President Antoni Costa went as far as to invite those who request a reduction in tourism to “pack their bags”. On Sunday, the Majorcans set an example of dignity, and their rulers, of indignity and ineptitude. Sunday, too, something broke between the Majorcans and their institutional representatives.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo considers the legislature in Spain over, although he also assumes it will last a few more months during which he expects the PSOE's situation to worsen due to ongoing judicial investigations and its parliamentary weakness. "Pedro Sánchez faces his last Christmas at Moncloa. He deserves nothing less than the greatest possible electoral punishment because he has been a disgrace to this country," he stated this Wednesday in a press conference reviewing the political year. Between now and the next Spanish elections, the PP leader has hoped to team up more often with Junts and Vox in Congress to further undermine the Spanish Prime Minister. "We have voted the same way on 170 occasions," he stressed. In this regard, the PP leader argued that "it has been a month since [Sánchez] ignored that he has been politically dismissed," referring to the initiative approved in the lower house, with the votes of PP, Junts, and Vox, which called for the socialist leader's resignation. "He has gone from governing in a minority to governing against the majority, he has nothing left to give," he sentenced.

The PP's response to the European Court of Justice's (ECJ) endorsement of the application of amnesty to Carles Puigdemont is another demonstration of the strategy that Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party wants to apply in Catalonia. From Génova they argued that the focus on the "Procés" must be left behind to "open a new era that allows us to talk only about what Catalans need". "More housing, more doctors, lower taxes, and more security". This is the recipe that the PP leader already presented during the Catalan Popular Party congress three weeks ago. His aspiration is to ensure that the social and economic axis prevails over the national one and that his project is attractive, mainly with economic proposals, to voters from Junts, PSC, and Vox.

Don't think of an elephant... Did you think of one? Probably, yes. Now you must be wondering why this article starts like this, asking about an elephant, but the answer is simple: to show how the A-B-C of any electoral campaign operates and that it is key to winning elections. As George Lakoff theorized in his reference book Don't Think of an Elephant! (2004, Chelsea Green Publishing), whoever sets the framework for the debate and manages to talk about what they want and in the language they choose, has a high chance of taking victory at the polls. And this is the underlying battle that the PP and the PSOE have been fighting for months in Madrid, as whoever manages to impose the terms of public discussion is the one who comes out with an advantage for the next general elections. The confrontation is between two visions: those who brandish the ghost of corruption (the PP) against those who threaten with the ghost of neo-fascism (the PSOE).

The Libertas Forum is an initiative of the European People's Party that aims to build bridges of dialogue between Europe and Latin America and is made up of right-wing and center-right organizations, with a total of 60 parties from more than 40 different countries. And it was within the framework of the summit held in Madrid this Wednesday, before European and also Latin American leaders, that Alberto Nuñez Feijóo defined Pedro Sánchez as an "authoritarian president". In an inaugural speech in which he claimed "Western values" and the alliance with the United States against other states like China, Feijóo accused Sánchez, without explicitly naming him, of wanting to "control" key elements of the State and "threaten" democracy.

The racist comment by Mariano Rajoy about the French team football is still ongoing, but the PP has opted to ignore the criticism and play it down. After France protested the words of the former Spanish president, who said the French team is a team with a lot of "level" but "without Frenchmen", Pedro Sánchez's government has come out in force this Monday to use the controversy against the Popular Party. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has directly demanded that Alberto Núñez Feijóo disavow Rajoy and has asked the media outlet that published his football chronicle, The Debate, who withdraws the article, the sixth by the popular in this World Cup.

Any information that alters the perception of reality is news. A CEO poll has become an event because it attributes to Aliança Catalana an unusual jump from 2 seats to a range of 23-25 (third force). A punishment for Junts that has just been rounded off with ERC's conversion into the second force. The PSC, with a certain setback, continues to lead the situation. The left of the left, Comuns and company, remains in limbo.

With Juanma Moreno Bonilla handed over to Vox, in the baron popular has lost, at least publicly, the moderate label it had earned by contrasting its ideological profile with that of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The PP is convinced that if it wants Alberto Núñez Feijóo to reach Moncloa, it will have to be hand in hand with Vox. That is why the popular party has been paving the way for pacts with the far-right at the regional level and, in recent days, the popular leader has tried to join in. Of course, with his clumsy style and following a rather erratic line.

The leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has caused a real earthquake this week by advocating for a salary cut for those on sick leave. Spoiler alert: this already happens. In the case of common illnesses, such as the flu or back pain, for example, there is no benefit during the first three days; from the fourth day up to the 20th, the worker receives 60% paid by the company; from the 21st onwards, 75% is paid by Social Security. However, there may be modifications included in the collective agreement and other amounts or 100% may be paid, as is the case with maternity or paternity leave, which is paid by Social Security. When it is an accident or occupational illness, 75% is paid from the first day by the company.

Half a year ago, in full earthquake in the PSOE due to the trickle of alleged cases of sexual harassment –as in the one pointed out by Paco Salazar, former high-ranking official of Moncloa–, the New Generations of the PP of Madrid set up a "purple point" on Ferraz street, in front of the socialist headquarters, to warn of the "danger" for women that they consider the party of Pedro Sánchez to represent. The provocative action against the PSOE, disseminated on the social networks of the Madrid popular youth, is one of the "great achievements" that Isabel Díaz Ayuso's team highlights from the stage of Ignacio Dancausa as leader of the youth organization in the region. With this background, of having given "battles with energy" against the left and from a "street presence without complexes", this 25-year-old from Madrid will take the reins of the national New Generations of the PP this Saturday, in a calm congress –there is only one unified candidacy– taking place in Valladolid.

The battle between PP and PSOE transcends internal affairs and already has consequences in relations with third countries. More than three years after the government of Pedro Sánchez signed a treaty of friendship with France, in January 2023 in Barcelona, it has not yet come into force. One of the reasons for this blockage is the opposition of the Popular Party, which considers one of the points of the document to be unconstitutional. The PP justifies its opposition because they assure that the Spanish executive has made a "legislative mess". They frame the criticism within their generalized denunciation of Sánchez's methods, whom they accuse of constantly trampling on the rule of law, also with this bilateral agreement with France. The Spanish government, on the contrary, attributes to the PP a desire to "sabotage the interests of Spaniards" for partisan reasons.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso approved last week, thanks to the PP's absolute majority in the Assembly of Madrid, a controversial law on conceived but not born. The rule grants the status of family unit member to the embryo, so that, from the moment pregnancy is proven, families will be able to access maternity benefits without waiting for the birth. This is a measure that is part of in the cultural war against the progressivism of the Madrid president which, one year before the regional elections, is in full competition with Vox to prevent them from undermining this absolute majority. In fact, a few days after Juanma Moreno Bonilla had to give in to the far-right to be invested as president of Andalusia, Alberto Núñez Feijóo has announced that, if he is president of the Spanish government, he will follow Ayuso's steps and promote a state law for the conceived but not born.

"Whoever comes to commit crimes must know they have no place in our society." Read in isolation and without any context, it might currently be difficult to guess which leader or political party this phrase might come from. The reality, however, is that it is an excerpt from the Catalan PP's position paper for its 16th congress just a few days ago. This discursive forcefulness brings an evidence to the table and introduces a lively debate: Spanish politics, as well as Catalan politics, is shifting towards an increasingly radicalized right.

"Any party official must know that they are nobody without their party, and the duties are very clear: more mayors, councilors and deputies." This phrase from the state leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, did not go unnoticed at the Catalan PP congress last week that re-elected Alejandro Fernández as president of the formation in the Principality. It was a message to Fernández to make it clear that after yielding in all his organizational plan for the party, the trust had to be rewarded with results and internal efficiency. The leader of the Catalan populars has in his hands the growth of a Catalan PP that will serve as a springboard for Feijóo to reach Moncloa. However, what is the state leader's plan for Catalonia? How does he intend to seduce the Catalan electorate?