Of the 179 municipalities in the Community of Madrid, 114, almost 64% of the total, are governed by the PP. The percentage increases if we focus on the 37 with the largest populations. 70% of the municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants are tinged blue. The Isabel Díaz Ayuso effect caused the left to even lose some of its strongholds in southern Madrid, traditionally called the red belt, in the last local elections of 2023, as is the case with Móstoles and Leganés –second and fourth most populated cities–. The popular party also snatched Alcalá de Henares and Alcobendas from the PSOE –third and tenth, located to the east and north, respectively.

This time we have had a more representative May Day compared to some of the preceding years. In the events called for by the unions, the emotional chord was struck deeply, in mobilizations that respond to a specific political and social situation and that carry a clear message. The main celebration was held in Malaga for various reasons, starting with the fact that Andalusia votes on May 17. The call has allowed for an image of a certain unity of the left, which we already know does not exist in political terms. However, it has become clear that there are indeed essential points of coincidence, susceptible of becoming driving ideas for future initiatives, especially as the general elections approach. The fact that María Jesús Montero and Yolanda Díaz coincided at the Malaga demonstration does not reduce their differences, but it does reflect a common denominator on key issues.

Political parties have been able to hold the first day of the electoral campaign in Andalusia this May 1st, after the starting gun was fired last dawn. And, despite the president of the Regional Government, the Popular Party's Juanma Moreno Bonilla, not wanting to admit it, the party setting the pace of the campaign is Vox. The Andalusian president knows he could lose the majority by just a handful of votes. And that's why his party is concentrating on trying to strengthen the centrist electoral base, to avoid defections, despite the headaches caused by "the 'national priority' that the PP itself has agreed with Vox" in Extremadura and Aragon. The political victory that Alberto Núñez Feijóo has handed to the far-right has completely disrupted an election that is the Galician leader's first acid test after his umpteenth strategic turn with concessions to Le Penism, which popularized the slogan 'Our people first'.

More than forty years have passed since the referendum on Spain's membership in NATO. The vote took place on March 12, 1986, when the former mayor of Barcelona, Narcís Serra (PSC), was Minister of Defense. In these last four decades, Spanish society has changed a lot regarding its knowledge of foreign policy and defense matters, and the majority perceptions about the commitments that membership in the Western world implies. It would now make no sense to reconsider the country's role in its contribution in this area.

The slow but sure capitulation of the PP to Vox has found an anchor point in the principle of national priority, the banner of ongoing negotiations and an alibi for neo-authoritarian shortcomings. The right wing has always operated on the simplistic logic of good guys and bad guys, of "us" and

The agreements between PP and Vox in Extremadura and Aragon have had a "box or fence" that was not only about management, but above all about ideological war. On paper, Vox has won it with the achievement for the first time of "national priority" in "aid, subsidies, and public benefits" – in both regions. As ARA has been able to learn, Vox approached the negotiations as a key scenario for the cultural battle a year before the Spanish elections, with two essential axes: immigration based on the slogan "first those from home"; and deregulation, the chainsaw of the Argentine Javier Milei. National priority has been an agreed element as a prelude to new offensives: "It is the Overton window," say consulted Vox sources, who cite a concept from political science that describes the progressive acceptance of ideas that were initially rejected.

Not even a week after the PP and Vox reached an agreement in Extremadura, the two formations are following the same path in Aragon and have also reached a pact to invest the popular Jorge Azcón. The popular party and the far-right party announced the understanding this afternoon in a joint appearance by Azcón and the Vox spokesperson in the Aragonese Cortes, Alejandro Nolasco. The staging is a carbon copy of what they followed in Extremadura to present a policy in line with the Extremaduran one, in which national priority in public policies has been the keystone. But in this case, the furious anti-Catalanism that has characterized the right in the region has reappeared, and this makes it understandable that there is an essential point that includes the defense of "freedom against indoctrination" with two star measures: "freeing Aragon from the imposition of Catalan" and initiating the "abolition of the Aragonese Institute of Catalan". That is, the PP and Vox have agreed to eliminate Catalan in Aragon.

The discursive cession to Vox in Extremadura, with the acceptance of the "principle of national priority", has borne the expected fruit for the PP. After a first attempt frustrated a month and a half ago, the popular candidate, María Guardiola, has been invested as president this Wednesday with the votes of the popular party and the far-right, which doubled its results in the regional elections of December 21. "As what the polls say does matter to me, I know that this project is only possible with Vox [...] That is why I will not apologize for governing with those who represent an important part of Extremadura," the president of Extremadura emphasized, who revalidates the position she has held since 2023. However, at the same time, in Congress, the popular party has rejected a motion from Vox defending the principle of "national priority" for access to public policies, understood as the differentiation between national and non-national when receiving aid, an interpretation that the PP rejects.

The Calvià town hall, Mallorca, is once again celebrating this year (it did last year too) a festival called Saint George, which is essentially Sant Jordi but aimed exclusively at tourists and British residents, who are very numerous in this beautiful corner of the Serra de Tramuntana. The town hall, governed by the PP with the support of Vox, considers (these are verbatim words from their website, translated from Spanish) that it is their responsibility to “highlight the significant British presence in the municipality, and foster coexistence through culture, music, and shared leisure”. To this end, and in the coastal town of Palmanova, “this festive day will take place, including an extensive program of activities for all ages in a family and multicultural environment”. The aforementioned activities “highlight the English identity and the vitality of this group with a significant presence in the municipality”. The rulers of Calvià have discovered multiculturalism of whites with whites, which would be tourist multiculturalism. This beautiful celebration will not take place on Sant Jordi's Day, but this coming Sunday, April 26th, to encourage people to go for a peaceful walk with their children. If the British are in the mood, perhaps they can greet them and take a photo. The “cultural activities” include tribute concerts to The Beatles and Freddie Mercury, face painting workshops, an “artisanal” market, and “themed” parades about the legend —here the translation is impossible— of Saint George and the dragon. The Saint George of Calvià, it hardly needs to be said, dispenses with any reference to Sant Jordi and to the culture and language of Calvià, Mallorca, and the Balearic Islands, which are Catalan language and culture. It is part of a political vision that considers the island a Spanish enclave, and if convenient also British, and which at the same time does not neglect to work on the tourist projection of the municipality (the only and true obsession of elites with a pathological relationship with easy money) under the sign of de-seasonality, a concept that once progressivism advocated thinking it was about better distributing tourism and its impact throughout the year, but which has ended up meaning massification and collapse for as many months as possible. For a long time, Calvià has had far-right municipal governments that also have to face, every year, a dilemma: Jaume I and his troops landed in Mallorca on September 10, 1229 in Santa Ponça, precisely within the term of Calvià, and they find it a problem to celebrate the anniversary because then they have to balance to hide that those Christians who killed Moors (good) were Catalans (very bad).The day before Saint George, on Saturday the 25th, the Book Day will be celebrated in Calvià, with stalls selling this product. Perhaps writer Mendoza will have time to stop by, as he will find in Calvià a celebration alternative to Sant Jordi very similar to the one he demanded a few days ago.

The PP has presented an amendment to a Vox motion for the first time to debate in Congress the establishment of a "national priority" when receiving aid and subsidies. This is an element that both parties agreed on in the pact signed to govern in Extremadura —although the candidate for re-election, María Guardiola, did not mention it in Tuesday's investiture debate— and which the Spanish government has already taken it upon itself to censor. The Minister of Justice, Félix Bolaños, in the Senate control session, stated that the pact between the right and the far-right is "discriminatory, inhumane, and xenophobic." In the Extremaduran investiture

The PP and Vox have taken four months to reach an agreement in Extremadura that seems like a pact of circumstances, signed because time was running out, but which contains enough conflictive points to think they will have many problems putting it into practice. Immigration and healthcare will be the most controversial aspects, because the mentality with which these two chapters are treated is clearly restrictive of rights. The campaigns that have been launched previously to prepare the ground will not satisfy the expectations of the signatory parties. Spanish society, by a large majority, does not share the idea that immigrants are a group of criminals responsible for the saturation of public healthcare, while receiving unjustified subsidies.

While Pedro Sánchez received Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, with military honors in Barcelona, at the PP headquarters in Madrid an alternative reception with honors was held for the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Dozens of popular affiliates, party officials, other anti-Chavista activists, and Alberto Núñez Feijóo himself gathered at the entrance of the headquarters on Génova street to applaud Machado's arrival. The new Nobel Peace laureate, in full European tour, has allowed herself to be courted by the PP – in the afternoon she also has a meeting with the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal – while turning her back on the Spanish government, with whom she has preferred not to meet.

Vox left all the regional coalition governments with the PP in the summer of 2024 in protest because the Popular Party accepted the arrival of 400 minors from Ceuta and the Canary Islands. It is not strange that, two years later, the immigration folder has been key to resuming the alliance with the PP, for now, in the Extremadura executive. Four months after the elections, the PP has agreed with the far-right to limit the rights of immigrants, starting by committing to reject the arrival of irregulars by all means, "legal, juridical and political", whether they are minors or adults. The government of María Guardiola will not offer new places of reception and will try to empty the current ones "working actively to return unaccompanied minors to their countries of origin". A clear declaration of intent, despite the fact that Extremadura does not have the powers to expel people from its territory.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso has used an advisor of hers in the Community of Madrid to search for and buy a new apartment in the Spanish capital, according to what Eldiario.es publishes this Thursday. The information from the digital outlet, which the popular leader's team has not denied, indicates that the head of office of the Madrid presidency secretariat, Álvaro Sanz, has been in charge of the arrangements for the search for Ayuso's new home: he has made contacts with representatives of at least one property, arranged visits to the property, and even participated in the negotiation of the purchase price.

Isabel Díaz Ayuso has used an advisor of hers in the Community of Madrid to look for and buy a new apartment in the Spanish capital, according to what Eldiario.es publishes this Thursday. The information from the digital outlet, which the popular leader's team has not denied, indicates that the head of office of the Madrid presidency's secretariat, Álvaro Sanz, has been in charge of the arrangements for Ayuso's new home search: he has handled everything from contacts with representatives of at least one property to arranging visits to the property and even participated in the negotiation of the purchase price.

It hasn't even been a month, on March 27, I asked myself in this analysis: “Can a socialist minister improve anything about financing?” The Valencian Arcadi España had just replaced Vice President Montero, who was leaving to run as a PSOE candidate in the Andalusian electoral campaign. We wondered if a new Minister of Finance could change anything about the distribution of money, because the new minister was perfectly aware of how poorly funded the Valencian Country is. Well, we haven't had to wait long for an answer that we hoped wouldn't have to be rhetorical.Here you have it: “The new minister does not give in and Catalonia will not collect personal income tax”. Because the minister says that any transfer in collection will be made within the framework of the state Treasury. In other words, the Spanish government continues to not embrace Esquerra's agreement with the PSC for the investiture of Salvador Illa. It will be the State agency that will continue to have the powers in management and collection, and the Catalan agency would be a collaborating entity. Well, it's lucky that this was the federalist minister and that Sánchez and Illa have great personal and political harmony. Apart from the fact that the PSOE only goes along with improvements in self-government and believes that with the amnesty enough has been done, senior officials are a state within the State and it doesn't matter whether the PP or the PSOE governs.Meanwhile, Catalonia continues to be underfunded, far below what it pays and what it needs, and there is no room for the regional tier of personal income tax to be lowered: the PSC, Esquerra, Comuns, and the CUP voted against Junts' proposal (voted by the PP, Vox, and Aliança Catalana) to reduce personal income tax and eliminate inheritance tax. Junts knew it would lose but wants to make a point with the idea that Catalans live squeezed by taxes while other autonomies can afford tax cuts.On another note, we answer a question we asked ourselves this morning in the newspaper regarding the incident with the Vox deputy who went up to threaten the acting president of Congress during a plenary session. The question is whether the incident was an anecdote or is significant. The answer is clear: this is significant, the far-right is violent by definition and needs to discredit institutions through contempt and intimidation. They know exactly what they are doing: making it seem like they are so full of reasons that they have no choice but to lose their temper in the face of injustices. And specifically, the behavior of the Vox deputy José María Sánchez, like a madman, is perfectly conscious, because he is a judge on leave from the Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community. This is the level.Good morning.

It has been in force since this morning a measure that affects us closely: the extraordinary regularization of immigrants that the Spanish Council of Ministers approved yesterday.Although the Spanish government has not provided figures by region, the calculations made coincide in stating that Catalonia will be the autonomous community where the most will be regularized, between 135,000 and 150,000 people. 90,000 will do so in the Valencian Community, 60,000 in Madrid and Andalusia, and 18,000 in the Balearic Islands, approximately. In total, in Spain, half a million people who already live here may end up having papers.The Spanish government has tightened the conditions for regularization, as proposed by Junts and the PP, so it will be necessary to present a certificate proving that the applicant has not had a criminal record in the five years prior to the application. The terms of the debate are known.If we talk about politics, with this measure Sánchez acts as an anti-Trump and his police go around hunting and capturing undocumented immigrants. It is Sánchez's way of always playing on the offensive and putting himself at the forefront of global progressivism. For his part, Feijóo moves within predictable terms and says that this regularization is “inhuman, unjust, and insecure”, and finishes by saying “anyone can enter here”. The reality is that both the PP and the PSOE (Aznar, González, Zapatero) approved regularizations.If we speak in humanitarian terms, all entities working with immigrants find it fair, if we don't want thousands of people living among us to live in poverty without any rights. The bishops have also been of the same opinion.If we speak in economic terms, the native population is aging rapidly, birth rates are very low, and immigration is the necessary workforce for a service business model, which is why Spain is growing, with low wages in the tourism and care sectors. In this regard, there is the paradox that employers, the Spanish left-wing government, and bishops are in favor of regularization. Another matter is the debate among economists about whether these new full-fledged citizens are asking for more services than they pay for. Miquel Puig has written about this in ARA. It's the

It has been in force since this morning a measure that affects us closely: the extraordinary regularization of immigrants that the Spanish Council of Ministers approved yesterday.Although the Spanish government has not provided figures by region, the calculations made coincide in stating that Catalonia will be the autonomous community where the most will be regularized, between 135,000 and 150,000 people. 90,000 will do so in the Valencian Community, 60,000 in Madrid and Andalusia, and 18,000 in the Balearic Islands, approximately. In total, in Spain, half a million people who already live here may end up having papers.The Spanish government has tightened the conditions for regularization, as proposed by Junts and the PP, so it will be necessary to present a certificate proving that the applicant has not had a criminal record in the five years prior to the application. The terms of the debate are known.If we talk about politics, with this measure Sánchez acts as an anti-Trump and his police go around hunting and capturing undocumented immigrants. It is Sánchez's way of always playing on the offensive and putting himself at the forefront of global progressivism. For his part, Feijóo moves within predictable terms and says that this regularization is “inhuman, unjust, and insecure”, and finishes by saying “anyone can enter here”. The reality is that both the PP and the PSOE (Aznar, González, Zapatero) approved regularizations.If we speak in humanitarian terms, all entities working with immigrants find it fair, if we don't want thousands of people living among us to live in poverty without any rights. The bishops have also been of the same opinion.If we speak in economic terms, the native population is aging rapidly, birth rates are very low, and immigration is the necessary workforce for a service business model, which is why Spain is growing, with low wages in the tourism and care sectors. In this regard, there is the paradox that employers, the Spanish left-wing government, and bishops are in favor of regularization. Another matter is the debate among economists about whether these new full-fledged citizens are asking for more services than they pay for. Miquel Puig has written about this in ARA. It's the

Adamantly defending Spain's traditional alliances while the military and dialectical escalation of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu increases puts the PP in a complicated situation. Alberto Núñez Feijóo has so far avoided confrontation with the United States and Israel even when they have attacked one of the pillars of Spanish conservatives, such as Catholicism. The Popular Party remained on the sidelines when the Israeli government vetoed Palm Sunday mass in the Holy Land, and now that the President of the USA has targeted Pope Leo XIV, Feijóo has been caught between the two.

Political life in Madrid is currently unfolding between two scenarios. Firstly, the courts, due to the start of the trials for corruption cases involving the PP and the PSOE. And secondly, in the realm of international relations, concerning everything related to the situation in the Middle East, after a precarious two-week truce was announced, with very uncertain results. These are very diverse issues, which obviously have nothing to do with each other, but which, if followed closely, give a fairly accurate idea of the point at which political forces stand, particularly those of the Popular Party and the Socialists. The start of the trial of the Ábalos-Koldo-Aldama case scheme was, and will continue to be in the coming weeks, a great opportunity for the PP to take advantage of the exhibition of the reprehensible procedures employed by the former Minister of Public Works and former organization secretary of the PSOE, his advisor, and the businessman who did business with them, in relation to public contracts to acquire sanitary material, allegedly violating the law in a tragic context, that of the COVID-19 pandemic.