Pedro Sánchez's week of penance has ended with an unexpected move. Junts had long insisted on increasing the penalties for repeat offenders. Well, the PSOE announced yesterday that it will unblock the drafting of the law, which had been shelved for a year. And the best thing now is:

That same Tuesday, just minutes after Pedro Sánchez came out and admitted he hadn't honored the agreements with Junts, thus contradicting himself and siding with Junts, I told them that the implicit message of the Spanish president's words to Junts was that, now that Carles Puigdemont's return was so imminent, they shouldn't break off the process. That, now that the PSOE's commitment to amnesty was closer to becoming public knowledge, Junts had reason not to get everything moving again.

Today, the response everyone was waiting for from Junts to Pedro Sánchez arrived, delivered by Miriam Nogueras. Yesterday, we described Pedro Sánchez's morning interviews as those of a president "in desperation." In our pages today, David Miró writes of "self-humiliation." Indeed, it hasn't even been a month since Miriam Nogueras told Pedro Sánchez in Congress that he was a "cynic and a hypocrite," and yet yesterday Sánchez swallowed his pride and admitted that it was the Socialists who had broken the agreement with Junts. It's understandable; his term is slipping away.

During the investiture debate in November 2023, Pedro Sánchez was informed that Junts was upset because he had used expressions like "reunion" and "reconciliation" in his speech when referring to the Catalan situation. When he returned to the podium, Sánchez, with surprising skill, shifted his focus to "political conflict" and "historic opportunity," more in line with the Brussels Agreement, until Santos Cerdán received confirmation on his mobile phone that Junts' votes were not at risk. Sánchez has learned over these years that for Junts, and especially for Carles Puigdemont, words are very important. Because words shape the narrative. And that is why, in front of Gemma Nierga, the Spanish president revived the expressions contained in the pact, which Junts had once used to present the text as a kind of Stormont agreement. BisAnd not only that. Sánchez also knows that Junts likes to flaunt its power in Madrid, so this Tuesday he made the unprecedented gesture of agreeing with Míriam Nogueras and admitting that there have been "breaches and delays."

Junts' decision to veto all the laws that the PSOE and Sumar parties have pending in Congress, with the exception of those they had already agreed upon, is a further step in the rupture announced by Carles Puigdemont in Perpignan and adds complexity to a Spanish legislature that has not had a moment's respite since its inception. The reasons given by Junts, basically Pedro Sánchez's failures to deliver on promises, are understandable, but the decision also carries risks for the party, which will now be forced to join forces with the PP and Vox to defeat the main projects of the Spanish government, some as sensitive as the law on the social inclusion of people with disabilities or the tax reform.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has a wish: to have a conversation with Carles Puigdemont in Girona. Zapatero confessed this on Monday morning during a speech at the Ateneo. In Madrid, despite the day's agenda—ranging from the political crisis in the Valencian Community to the start of the trial against the Attorney General—media attention confirmed that the speaker was one of Pedro Sánchez's key advisors. Everything the former Spanish president says must be understood as part of behind-the-scenes work to ensure the success of this legislature. Even today, and despite Junts' break with the PSOE"Dialogue must be incessant, tireless," argued the man who doesn't hide the fact that the right wing once accused him of breaking up Spain, and also of handing it over to the terrorist group ETA. "[For the PP] with me, Spain broke 187 times [...] With me, the Spanish nation surrendered to ETA, and it was ETA that surrendered."

I rated it as "game of impotence"(NOW, July 17, 2025) the agreement between ERC and the PSC for the investiture of Salvador Illa. I said this in light of the five pages presented by the Bilateral Commission between the government of the Generalitat and the general administration of the State that sought to develop - in fact, diluted - the four pages of the initial agreement." issues that the PSC could not decide and the fact that ERC had no better alternative - for the party - than to let the PSC govern. Two impotences were added with an agreement with a more than improbable result: Pedro Sánchez and the PSOE, and for which Junts also had no alternative to agree with anyone else. Only Sánchez's government has not had the full implementation of the amnesty in its hands—apart from 150 activists, and particularly the exiled Comín, Puig, and Puigdemont—but it has not succeeded in making Catalan an official language in Europe, nor in transferring full powers over immigration to Catalonia, or in making progress on such significant issues as making public the fiscal balances or budget execution figures, which did depend on it. And on the underlying issue, the Swiss roundtable as an intermediary for the resolution of the political conflict—economic agreement and referendum, among others—has been reduced to President Isla, Sánch's right-hand man.

From a place of distrust and distance from the PSOE, Junts began a negotiation process two years ago, announcing that it would receive advance payment. It soon came to terms with political reality and had to lower expectations for its electorate. Its strength lay in the fact that its votes were essential for a majority in Pedro Sánchez's investiture, and they have continued to be so to provide a minimum of stability to the Spanish government. Its weakness was, and is, that on the other side, there is no one with whom to negotiate, given the PP's increasing drift toward far-right and hard-line Spanish nationalism due to pressure from Vox. That is why the split now announced by the party's leader, Carles Puigdemont, is limited to explicitly stating that there will be no negotiations with the Socialists for the 2026 state budget and that no negotiations there, neither in Switzerland nor anywhere else, are over. But even so, Junts will not bring down Sánchez. That is, Puigdemont's votes will not be added to those of the PP-Vox to trigger an early election.

It might not be the most authoritative quote for a day like today, but here's Gabriel Rufián's line: "The PSOE, as a state party, as a party of the regime, tends toward certain inertias. The PSOE doesn't do anything; the PSOE is forced to do it." And Junts has only managed to force the PSOE to comply with part of the agreements. The same, by the way, is happening to Esquerra with its unique financing.

Finally, Podemos has not backed down and has announced that it will vote against the transfer of immigration powers to Catalonia agreed between the PSOE and Junts. Thus, the purple-sounding party will vote alongside the most stale Spanish nationalists, that of the PP and Vox, against a measure that would increase Catalan self-government and bring the management of such a delicate issue closer to the institutions that work most on the ground. Podemos's excuse is that the preamble to the law states that immigration is a phenomenon that can pose "a risk to coexistence and social cohesion," a statement they consider "racist."

The statements of the general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, at the ARA The protests against the transfer of immigration powers to Catalonia, arguing that the Mossos d'Esquadra would carry out racist raids, have sparked widespread condemnation among pro-Catalan forces, from the CUP (Citizens of Catalonia) to Junts (Junts), and even Comuns (Comuns). It has been a long time since there has been such a broad consensus on an issue that affects Catalonia's self-government. In contrast, Podemos Catalunya, which sided with its leader in Madrid on Wednesday, is aligning itself on this issue with the PP and Vox, both of which are in principle opposed to any transfer of powers to Catalonia.

He PSOE-Juntos pact for the comprehensive delegation of powers in immigration In the Generalitat it is very important. It places a great weight on the shoulders of the Generalitat, a great responsibility that will not be easy to exercise. It is not absolute: the immigration law is and will be Spanish, but otherwise, a person who comes to live and work in Catalonia will have to go through the Generalitat's office, which will act in accordance with the legal regulations approved by the Parliament of Catalonia. Let's do it well, because it is a delicate and difficult competence.

Today is a very important day. Yesterday we told you that the PSOE-Juntos agreement on immigration could be rushed, because they were already in the final stages, or that it would become stagnant, because it should have been closed by Christmas. Well, it has been rushed. The news was leaked last night, so this morning it could have been the headline of the front page. We are learning the content this morning.. This is very important content. We are facing a comprehensive delegation of powers from the State, which will place the Mossos at the borders, in ports and airports. It is similar to the moment when the Mossos began to patrol the roads and then became the reference police force in public safety, with the difference that at borders, ports and airports we will continue to see the National Police and Civil Guard, coordinated with the Mossos. Will there be enough Mossos to do the job? Yes, the agreement contemplates the incorporation of 1,800 more officers.

A note on a very important issue that is not in the spotlight these days: the PSOE-Junts negotiations for the transfer of immigration powers to the Generalitat. One of the negotiators says that the situation is in such a way that it can be stuck for days or weeks or develop in a hasty manner, because they are in the thick of things. In fact, it has been stuck for days: the agreement was planned around Christmas, more than two months ago.