The commuter rail system is not working. The delays of between 20 and 60 minutes recorded on the lines this Saturday, coinciding with the day of demonstrations called in Barcelona, ​​are a prime example. However, after weeks of rail chaos, the expectations generated by the demonstrations have not been fully met. In the morning, the pro-independence demonstration brought together some 8,000 people in the center of Barcelona, ​​according to the Guardia Urbana (Barcelona's municipal police), along a route that made it clear it was not just a protest about the trains (between the Rafael Casanova monument and Plaça Sant Jaume). In the afternoon, the Barcelona police estimated the number of demonstrators, called by commuter rail user groups, at 3,000. Much of the indignation of the users, which is evident day after day in stations across the country, has remained at home. The organizers, who were unable to coordinate a single, unified demonstration, have inflated their figures, estimating 30,000 protesters in the morning and 40,000 in the afternoon. The Catalan government reacted to the mobilizations from Tremp, where the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, guaranteed that they would "take the bull by the horns" and work to "fix once and for all" the commuter rail service in Catalonia. "This isn't about trains, it's about dignity and our future, and that of our nation." The independence movement is looking for opportunities to regain the strength it has been losing since the fall of 2017, and the rail chaos of recent weeks has opened one. The president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Lluís Llach, made no secret of the fact that the commuter rail service "disaster" is merely the tip of the iceberg of a demand that extends far beyond infrastructure. The chants this morning, in fact, were primarily focused on independence and criticism of Spain. Like the 2007 demonstration, this Saturday's protest used rail transport as its central theme, but the core slogan was "independence." The difference compared to 19 years ago was the number of demonstrators: back then, the Barcelona City Police estimated the attendance at 200,000, while the organizers, the Platform for the Right to Decide, put the figure at 700,000. At the end of the march, in front of the Palau de la Generalitat, Llach described Salvador Illa's government as "collaborative" and urged pro-independence parties to overthrow the socialist governments, both in Catalonia and in Spain, to force elections "of a plebiscite nature."

"In the coming days, I intend to announce the members of my government. They will be six free and independent individuals of international prestige, with an unquestionable record of service and committed to our objective." This was stated by the new president of the Council of the Republic, Jordi Domingo, in the last letter he sent to those registered with this entity on March 17. A month later, the entity still has no government, although Domingo was chosen in February, a month earlier.

Jordi Domingo admits that if a few months ago he had been told that he would be the President of the Council of the Republic, he would not have believed it. Nor would he win with 66% of the votes. The new successor of Carles Puigdemont hopes to meet his expectations.

On October 30, 2018, the Council of the Republic was presented at the Palau de la Generalitat in a solemn event packed with parliamentarians from JxCat and ERC, senior officials and the entire executive. A month and a half later it was presented in Belgium with the same solemnity and with a hug between President Quim Torra and Vice President Pere Aragonès that symbolized the unity between the two great pro-independence forces, who had been fighting for months to define what the powers of the body should be. The Council ended up being one of the main investiture agreements between the Junta members and the Republicans and was to serve to internationalize the conflict and weave the strategy to follow away from the institutions. Without Puigdemont, who folded a few months ago, Jordi Domingo will be in charge of taking over the presidency: he has imposed himself decisively on the rest of his rivals, including Toni Comín, who came third in the vote.

Toni Comín, Jordi Domingo, Montserrat Duran and Antoni Walter Castelló. These are the four candidates who aspire to replace Carles Puigdemont at the head of the Council of the Republic. Only the first three have a chance of assuming the presidency because Castellón is running without a team or support and with the sole objective of claiming the Països Catalans. The last word is up to those registered in the entity, who have until nine o'clock on Wednesday morning to decide who they want to lead the entity. Three hours later the winner will be known.