Another defeat for the Spanish government in Congress. The lower house approved a 2.7% increase in pensions this year (only Vox voted against it), but rejected, for the second time, the social safety net decree and the decree promoted by the Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, which would have allowed the Spanish government to limit the prices of goods. Both measures were defeated by the votes of the PP, Vox, and Junts. "Be clear that people will take note [of your decision] and they have long memories," said Bustinduy.

Gabriel Rufián is one of the voices within Esquerra who most closely aligns with parties to the left of the PSOE, especially Podemos, and also the one who, from Congress, has acted as a liaison with parties such as EH Bildu, Compromís, and BNG. He is also one of the leaders most committed to the idea of forging a broad front with these parties, one that is "plurinational and left-wing," in the run-up to a general election that will attempt to halt the right and far right. This idea he put forward this Tuesday from the corridors of Congress: "If we don't reach an agreement, they will kill us separately politically." Rufián's position does not please several voices within Esquerra, and he has not received the endorsement of the national leadership, which asserts that it is not an issue on the table nor is it being negotiated with any political party.

The Spanish government has dusted off the Official Secrets Law that had fallen with the advance of the general elections in 2023. The Council of Ministers has approved the law in the second round, which now moves to the Congress of Deputies, where it will begin its parliamentary process. This law should allow the declassification of documents that were until now protected by the Francoist Secrets Law, which has been in force since 1968. "[With the law] we respond to one of the systematic recommendations of the European Commission regarding the rule of law in Spain [...] The new law complies with the European standards of advanced democracies," defended the Minister of Justice, the Presidency and Relations with Parliament, Félix Bolaños, at a press conference after the Council of Ministers.

The opacity surrounding the activity of interest groups—or lobbies—in the Congress of Deputies is about to end. Or at least, a law is now being prepared to attempt to regulate them. This Tuesday afternoon, the plenary session debated a proposal by the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) to limit their activity, requiring them to register in a public registry—as is already done in Catalonia—and to comply with the chamber's code of conduct. In the event of noncompliance and the dissemination of, for example, false information, a sanctioning regime is established that could lead to expulsion from Congress. The Spanish government's partners have already announced they will vote in favor, while the PP and Vox have accused the Socialists of promoting the initiative when they are "besieged by corruption," criticized Carmen Navarro, a member of the Popular Party (PP).

It has been days since the Congress of Deputies brought together so many senior executives from some of the country's main companies, and also the highest representative of the Catalan employers' association Foment del Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, and from the Spanish CEOE, Antonio Garamendi. In fact, they are all usually reluctant to be photographed at events that go beyond the business and economic sphere, and they put up even more obstacles if they enter fully into a political space.

A new chapter in this great Spanish comedy about anything important related to Catalonia. I would never say it: now it turns out that even the PSOE has well-founded suspicions that Cospedal may have lied in Parliament (it's a crime) when she said that Operation Catalunya didn't ring a bell, despite the fact that in an audio recording she seemed so calm celebrating with Commissioner Villarejo that the fabrication of lies with public money had been involved in order to divert money from public contracts in order to pay off debts to illustrious police informants. The Socialists have become dignified: "We cannot accept as normal the serious audio recordings published [...] in which Cospedal points to theknowledge on the part of Mariano Rajoyof the facts being judged."

This week an unprecedented event has taken place in the Spanish Constitutional Court. A conservative magistrate has decided to withdraw his own opinion to prevent it from being backed by his colleagues. He had only obtained the votes of the progressive magistrates and, therefore, it would cause a defeat of his colleagues on the right. As Ernesto Ekaizer explains, it is a new episode that shows to what extent the People's Party and Vox control the main organs of the judiciary and are succeeding in getting the right and the far right to impose their ideology over the parliamentary majority.