Two weeks ago, we told you here that Salvador Illa's government saw a financing agreement with María Jesús Montero as close as possible, because Pedro Sánchez had ordered the pace of negotiations to be accelerated to reach an agreement before the end of this year. Sánchez had an incentive to do so: the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) is essential for him to be able to win the elections, and Esquerra (Republican Left) is essential for his investiture.

We begin the week with the news that tomorrow's European Union General Affairs Council (there is one every month) will not discuss Spain's demand to make Catalan, Basque, and Galician official languages. Spain itself has decided not to include it on the meeting's agenda, because Germany's position remains the same:No!", and unanimity is necessary to make the change. Conservative Chancellor Merz is making common cause with the People's Party (PP) group in the European Parliament and won't budge from the "no" vote. The Spanish People's Party (PP) (Dolors Montserrat) doesn't want to give Sánchez this victory because it would strengthen his pact with Junts.

Cold reception in Waterloo. The leader of ERC, Oriol Junqueras, has arrived this Wednesday at noon to the House of the Republic along with former Catalan ministers Raül Romeva, Meritxell Serret and Dolors Bassa and former Speaker Carme Forcadell. But unlike when meeting president Pere Aragonès, former president Puigdemont has not gone out to meet Junqueras at the door for the usual photoshoot while greeting each other. A few minutes later, however, they left together with former adviser Toni Comín and rapper Josep Valtònyc to take a group photograph at the door. There was a group photograph, but not of the two pro-independence leaders alone.

At the beginning of the month, the General Court of the European Union provisionally returned immunity to Carles Puigdemont, Clara Ponsatí and Toni Comín while the appeal against the European Parliament is being resolved. The former President of the Generalitat, however, says he will not return to Catalonia until the Spanish government guarantees that he will not be arrested when he crosses the border. Therefore, this Sunday at a press conference from Waterloo, Puigdemont has claimed that the Spanish state needed to "respect" his "immunity" as an MEP and give him the necessary guarantees that he can return "without any risk".