The mayor of Tremp has worked for thirty years as a Catalan teacher. She began in municipal politics in 2007 and, when she became a deputy in the Parliament of Catalonia last term, she requested a compulsory leave of absence which she extended after the 2024 elections, when she was appointed delegate of the Generalitat in Alt Pirineu i Aran.

The State and the Generalitat have signed this Wednesday the agreements with ERC for the Catalan budgets at the Bilateral Commission they held in Madrid, which lasted less than an hour. The Republicans set this condition to have a guarantee of compliance with the pacts that depend on Pedro Sánchez's executive, among which is the creation of an investment company, that is, a company that will be approved by the Council of Ministers during this 2026 and will be participated by both administrations. This company will serve to "provide greater agility, flexibility and operational capacity" for the execution of studies, projects and works linked to infrastructures and other public investments, as the Government explained in a press release. In parallel, however, they are not giving up on the possibility of moving forward with a "State-Generalitat parity consortium for investments" which would depend on the Ministry of Transport. For this to prosper, however, it requires the approval of Congress, where the proposal derailed a few weeks ago due to the opposing vote of Junts.

The current CAP Passeig de Maragall, in the Sant Martí district of Barcelona, still appears today –half a century after Franco's death– in the name of the Spanish Falange (FET y de las JONS). Despite the Generalitat managing the center and assuming all maintenance costs, the registered ownership remains in the hands of the dictatorship's political apparatus. This is the most disconcerting finding of the research by historian Neus Moran, who documents how the State protected health heritage from Francoist plunder before the transfer of powers.

One of the objectives of the re-elected president of Foment de Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, is to "deepen the relationship with the Generalitat government" and build "a space for deep and permanent dialogue". At the start of his third term, once the statutory limit of two that existed before was abolished, Sánchez Llibre looks towards the government of Salvador Illa.

In terms of budgets, it could be said that Catalonia is not (really) Spain. The balance of parliamentary forces will allow for them before summer. Specifically, so that they can be approved by Parliament in July. It only remains for ERC, which has convened a national council for Monday, to give it the go-ahead. The situation is perceived in the happy faces of some government members, especially the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero.

The Generalitat is entering a new phase to launch the first chip design and prototyping center in Catalonia. The Government established this Monday theThe new board will be the driving force behind the center, dedicated to "making Catalonia a key player" in the semiconductor and advanced chip sector, essential for achieving European technological autonomy, according to the Generalitat's statement. The Government already awarded the basic engineering project to build the space to the IDP group in January, for approximately 2.6 million euros. The final construction project, as well as the executive commission, is expected to be awarded this summer.

Up to 1,300 euros are being claimed by the Department of Social Rights from a young person with a high degree of dependency who has entered a special employment center and, therefore, should not have continued to receive the fixed economic benefit. But since bureaucracy is not prepared to automate changes, the order for the transfer of aid continues to arrive, accumulating an amount that for the family "is as if it didn't exist", it is not touched. This is one of the examples that explain what the Generalitat calls "undue payments" and which are mainly due to errors or the slowness of the administration; whether, as in the young person's case, due to incompatibilities, a downward revision of a dependency degree, or the death of the beneficiary. Last year alone, the ministry requested the repayment of 10,665 of these debts.

There is a sector in the State that is living a golden age, which is growing without yet having comprehensive regulation and which is increasingly relevant in the decision-making process of governments and Parliaments: public affairs consultancies. A type of bridge between the public and private worlds, which is unknown territory for a good part of the population and which in recent years has been proliferating strongly in Madrid, but also in Barcelona, ​​due to political fragmentation, the ever-increasing complexity of decision-making processes and the rise of economic and geopolitical crises. What do these companies do, however? Is it a professionalized sector? Why is it fertile ground for former politicians? El ARA has X-rayed the main companies established in the State, speaking withpeople from within the sector, professional associations, politicians, and also experts who point to the lack of regulation as the main problem.

The Secretary of Mobility and Infrastructures of the Generalitat, Manel Nadal, admitted today that Barcelona needs "at least five or six bus stations and interchanges" to cope with the strong demand the sector has experienced in recent years, and more especially since January, when the Rodalies crisis broke out. He said this at an event organized by the sector's employers' association, Fecav, which this Tuesday presented – together with the Terminus Transport Studies Centre – the book L'autobús i l'autocar a Catalunya, the first publication to cover the entire history of the sector, written by expert Joan Carles Salmerón. At the event, the Secretary of Mobility addressed the assembled entrepreneurs, to whom he also set homework.

The Generalitat de Catalunya, through Fira 2000, is negotiating the purchase of the offices in the administrative district of the Zona Franca from the company AXA, where various departments have been located since 2020. Three meetings have already taken place, and very soon, in May, there will be a fourth meeting. These negotiations aim to put an end to 11 years of shadows surrounding this operation promoted in 2015 by the owner of the Zona Franca land, Fira 2000, a commercial company whose majority shareholder (53.6%) is the Generalitat and which also includes the participation of the city councils of Barcelona and L'Hospitalet and the Diputació de Barcelona.

It was one of the reasons that generated the most warnings from train drivers during the peak moments of the railway crisis: the number of trees that fell on or very close to the train tracks has forced Adif to cut down 13,680 trees between January and March. The rain and wind storms Harry and Ingrid exposed the weakness of the Catalan railway network in the face of meteorological inclemencies, and this is reflected in Adif's statistics. Of the total trees felled during this period, the infrastructure manager removed 8,380 as part of its usual vegetation control plan and an additional 5,300 trees as part of the emergency plan for the storms. The most affected area was the Maçanet-Portbou route, in the north of the country.

"In this new phase, we do not think a Catalan unity government is convenient. We must consolidate the institutions and accustom the country to the presidency of the Generalitat, but the time has come to govern". He probably did not imagine he would do so for 23 consecutive years, but the day after the 1980 elections, a triumphant Jordi Pujol was already beginning to envision that his main mission should be the creation of autonomous Catalonia. This year marks 46 years since Pujol was invested president, and it so happens that he has now been out of government for as many years as he spent at the head of the Generalitat.

Problems are piling up on the R2 Sud Rodalies line, in Garraf, since the tunnel maintenance works began two weeks ago. The alternative transport plan designed to ensure train circulation while the work continues is not working. The reason? Some of the drivers have refused to work with the new schedules defined by Renfe for this operation, which has rendered the new timetable for the trains useless, as they now run on a single track due to the works. The Spanish drivers' union Semaf alleges that the company did not comply with the established deadlines to give sufficient notice of the changes.

The Catalan government has acknowledged that 6,771 personal data records were mistakenly leaked from the grant database of a website belonging to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. As reported by TV3 and confirmed by ARA with sources within the department, this leak also explains the initial service outage and subsequent sudden disappearance of one million Generalitat grant records—an incident that caused considerable uproar and a wave of speculation. The leak came to light following the widespread use of Subvencions.cat, a public aid search engine created by Gerard Giménez, which used Generalitat data. Suddenly, records began disappearing from the site overnight. The executive generically pointed to "a technical problem", without specifying.

The latest Commuter Rail Plan, the most up-to-date, is almost 300 pages long. It's the document that details all the railway works planned from now until 2030 to improve the Catalan network: it explains what they consist of, specifies their cost, and establishes a timeline. These range from the most ambitious projects, such as the Sagrera station, the doubling of the R3 line, and the undergrounding of the Montcada station, to much smaller, faster, and even cheaper projects that can significantly improve the network's capacity. One of these smaller planned projects is in Tordera. It's classified under the section of "strategic" works programmed to "improve network capacity" and involves building a siding in front of this station, on the section of the R1 line between Blanes and Maçanet-Massanes. "This section is single-track, without sidings, for a length of more than 15 kilometers," the plan notes. "To facilitate the resolution of incidents that may disrupt the normal operation of the line, it is proposed to reinstate the siding and platform formerly in use at Tordera station," the document continues.

This Monday, March 9th, the application period opens for the state-run Youth Rental Grant (Bo Alquiler Joven), a subsidy of up to €250 per month for two years designed to facilitate access to housing for people up to 35 years old. Applications can be submitted from 9:00 AM this Monday, March 9th, until 2:00 PM on Friday, March 13th, and will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis until the allocated budget is exhausted. The Catalan government (Generalitat) is allocating more than €29 million to the program, as announced in February by the Minister of Territory, Housing, and Ecological Transition, Silvia Paneque, who urged young people to register as soon as possible with the Catalan Housing Agency (Agència de l'Hôtel de Catalunya). How to apply for the Bo Alquiler Joven (Youth Rental Voucher)

The application can be submitted in different ways:

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The Catalan government will buy half of the Bank of Spain building in Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona. The transaction will cost the Catalan government €58.4 million, plus an additional €36.9 million for renovations before it can move in, as announced this Friday. The VanguardThe acquisition of part of the building would allow the Catalan government to save approximately 4.5 million euros annually. The Governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, had publicly admitted in the past that the bank's branch in the center of Barcelona was underutilized and had opened the door to its sale to the Generalitat (Catalan government), which is itself trying to increase its portfolio of owned offices.

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There are underlying shifts. Typically, Catalan civil society is critical from behind the scenes, yet polite and pragmatic in its approach to political power. But this seems to be changing somewhat. In some meetings and gatherings, business representatives are calling for action, for a certain mobilization to overcome challenges such as mobility (commuter rail, for example), the green transition, and reducing administrative bureaucracy. Some are a bit tired of always trying to please everyone and are demanding that politicians work more for the country's interests and less for those of their own party or some of its leaders.

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The trade war provoked by the Donald Trump administration, as well as its interventions in other countries, have heightened geopolitical tensions and disrupted traditional trade relations. In Catalonia, 67% of the €4.35 billion in exports to the United States have been affected. equivalent to 2.9% of all Catalan exports worldwideThis will be one of the main impacts on Catalonia's trade balance in 2025, and it remains to be seen whether, after two consecutive years of exports exceeding €100 billion, Catalan companies will be able to maintain this pace. To address this, the Catalan Government has launched Catalunya Exporta, a new program to help up to 2,000 companies begin their internationalization process—that is, start selling abroad for the first time. Interested companies can participate in workshops and seminars to develop skills in areas such as international operations management, financing, and the structure of an export department. For three years, they will receive support and mentoring from an international trade specialist who will develop a roadmap for them to begin exporting.

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Last year, 109 workers died in work-related accidents in Catalonia, a 22.5% increase compared to the previous year. Data from the Observatory of Labor and the Production Model sheds light on the trend of workplace accidents in 2025, a year in which the number of victims reached its highest level in the last 14 years. One has to go back to 2011, when 113 people died, to find a higher figure.

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