Yesterday we told you in this space that “it would be good for the Minister of the Interior to limit herself to apologizing and saying that it will not happen again”. And in the afternoon, in Parliament, Núria Parlon said: "I do want to apologize, and apologize to the educational union, in this case the CGT, for this feeling of distrust and insecurity that this has generated in relation to your assembly work and in relation to your organization and protest rights".Apologizing is an effective move because it lowers the tone of public controversy and reduces the discomfort of the offended party who is asking for explanations. An apology from a politician always makes for a bigger headline. And everyone understands that those responsible admit a mistake and, furthermore, everyone can imagine that something like this will not happen again. And the truth is that the way political communication is done nowadays, it is quite infrequent: have you ever heard Trump or Ayuso apologize?Therefore, the councilor's apology is correct, but in politics everything has a meaning. Firstly, the Government is in full negotiation with the teachers' unions (today specifically, they are sitting at the negotiation table), and these days, the Government is closing the budget agreement with Esquerra. Parlon had very powerful incentives to lower her head and tone.And now let's get to the facts: some Mossos agents infiltrated in a teachers' assembly and were discovered. The Director General of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero, also acknowledges the mistake and even speaks of naivety.Josep Lluís Trapero: "But in the same way that I acknowledge the error or lack of opportunity, I do not acknowledge bad faith or an antidemocratic attitude in that operation. I emphasize again: I acknowledge the error in the lack of opportunity. And, if you wish, even the naivety of the decision".The minister and director spoke of a “poorly planned operational maneuver”. In other words, there was no political order, but rather a usual modus operandi (the minister spoke of “inertias”) that was poorly resolved. And this morning, on TV3, she said that the police had the right to use an “undercover agent”, a figure recognized by law, that the method used the other day is not the appropriate one, that there are “more appropriate police legal figures when you have a risk”.Therefore, what the political leadership of the Mossos says is that the infiltration was a mistake by the uniformed officers (not the politicians), who acted routinely, without anyone with sufficient rank assessing whether or not it was necessary to spy on an assembly from which a mobilization would emerge that is often announced in the media. It must be said: whether it is a mistake by the police officers who execute or by the politicians who rule, the ultimate responsible for anything the police do are the politicians. And, obviously, the Mossos will continue to infiltrate, as all police forces in the world do. Meanwhile, today it's the teachers' strike in Girona and Central Catalonia. And the minister is meeting with teacher unions today. May it go well, because this will be good for everyone.Good morning.

The fact that ERC has not presented any amendments to the state budget in its entirety will allow them to be processed. It is a first step towards an understanding with the PSOE on a key issue: guaranteeing a quota for the presence of Catalan on digital platforms for audiovisual content. Republicans and socialists have agreed to jointly approve the new audiovisual law and protect the co-official languages, although for now no percentage has been specified.

Whether it is families debating where to go on holiday, or presidents discussing a peace deal, negotiation is a critical and frequently misunderstood part of our lives, and the natural biproduct of conflict. Managing – rather than eradicating – that conflict can define the difference between war and peace, prosperity and stagnation. Most of us are risk and negotiation adverse. This aversion is strangely pronounced when it comes to gaining something.  Greece and Northern Macedonia took 25 years to reach agreement on the country’s name for that reason. Essentially, we aren’t ready to invest as much political will into gaining something positive, as we are to avoiding something negative (loss of territory, pride, resources). As negotiators across Spain approach a period of crucial talks over their future legal arrangements, it is worth looking at some principles of good negotiation and how we might avoid the mistakes of the past.  

Negotiations to form a government continue to run aground despite ERC's pressure on JxCat to speed up the agreement. This Saturday marked the expiry of the deadline which, in an interview with ARA, presidential candidate Pere Aragonès set before ERC raised "alternative options", such as a solo minority government. Recall that it was secretary general of JxCat, Jordi Sànchez, who floated this possibility, not ERC. But the fact is that ERC, despite setting deadlines in an attempt to push the negotiation forward, does not dare to play this card clearly.

In the face of covid-19, the social and economic crisis it has provoked, and the deadlock of the conflict with the State, the elections to the Catalan Parliament on 14 February presented us with a historic opportunity to transform the country; to confront with determination the social emergencies that we are suffering and that the pandemic has aggravated; to promote an economic reconstruction aimed at laying the foundations of a new productive model that measures its strength in terms of prosperity and well-being for everyone; and to take advantage of all the strength that comes from having received over 50% of the votes for the first time to defend the Catalan Republic as never before, to obtain amnesty and self-determination inevitable.