Investment funds want to sell the apartments they own in Catalonia. That is the belief of the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque. And she already has a formula for purchasing these apartments: joint ownership, an idea launched by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, in the general policy debate in Parliament this week, and which the Territory team has been working on for some time.

The L9 tunnel boring machine is no longer the only one inhabiting the subsoil of Barcelona. The great machine that is to build the L8 tunnel for the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat is already assembled and ready to start operating, starting next week. This was confirmed today by the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, during a site visit to the attack shaft of this infrastructure, which is located on the Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, next to Plaça Espanya. The new tunnel boring machine, however, will not face the longest section of the tunnel, from Plaça Espanya to Gràcia, until February.

The Spanish government plans to increase the capacity of the electricity grid in Catalonia by 50% by 2030. Thus, an additional 3,800 megawatts (MW) will be added to the electrical system, which will allow for meeting the growing demand from both private individuals and various investments in public infrastructure. This increase is the portion assigned to Catalonia of the Pedro Sánchez executive's plan to improve the electricity grid across the entire State, which includes investments worth 17 billion euros in all autonomous communities over the next four years.

Beyond the traffic problems inherent in the railway network, last year it became clear that moving on foot, with reduced mobility, a stroller, or a wheelchair through Rodalies stations was often an insurmountable obstacle course. In March 2025, more than half of the elevators (52%) and almost half of the escalators at Rodalies stations were not working. "The situation was absolutely unsustainable, undesirable, and inadmissible," assures the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque. According to the Government, Renfe, and Adif, this situation of "neglect" has now been reversed.

The Generalitat is considering reintroducing barriers on the AP-7 to limit access and reduce the volume of vehicles that this major artery supports, especially since the tolls were eliminated, five years ago. This was confirmed this Friday by the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, after the debate on the reintroduction of tolls has been strongly reopened in Catalonia over the last two days.

It is José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero entering the National CourtIt is José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero entering the National Court to testify in the investigative phase, accused of half a dozen crimes. One of the mysteries to be resolved is where the famous jewels came from. The PSOE is holding its breath, but Zapatero has the absolute support of Sánchez, who trusts in his innocence. Some of the damage is already done, because no matter how much justice looks to the right, not everything can be invented, and influence peddling, favors, and gifts go against everything the left preaches. Almost at the same time that Zapatero was making history, Pedro Sánchez entered Congress without a tie (it's hot) at the control session of the Spanish government. Feijóo has told him everything:Feijóo: “Tomorrow we will not have the right to vote here for the continuation of the legislature, because you are a coward. You are afraid of democracy. That's all we needed, Mr. Sánchez. It's not just that you don't want us to vote in a ballot box, but, moreover, you don't want us to vote in Congress. You have no right to muzzle Parliament. You are not a democrat. Mr. Sánchez, if I were a bad person, I would only tell you one thing. Cheer up, Pedro. Thank you very much, madam/sir”.Feijóo complains because the PP, Junts and Vox agreed to submit a request to Congress to debate who wants and who does not want early elections. And the Congress board vetoed the debate, arguing that the dissolution of the Courts is the president's responsibility, and the president has already said he does not intend to advance them. Well, we already knew that it is the president's responsibility. But it should be possible to debate a question like this, even if it were a debate that brought us nothing new, because here we are in a stalemate of impotence: Pedro Sánchez, who cannot approve budgets, and Feijóo, who cannot win a vote of no confidence. And everything seems to indicate that we will be like this until July next year. Listen, if not, to the answer that Sánchez gave him:Sánchez: “The elections will be held, sir. They will be held! But that is not the question. The question is what country will present itself in 2027 compared to 2018. If it is a better country or a worse country. And undoubtedly, Mr. Feijóo, it is a better country in terms of growth, employment, and inequality”.Meanwhile, in Catalan politics, yesterday we had a significant episode of government miscoordination. The Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, said on Catalunya Ràdio that the plan to place police officers in high schools was “in a state of paralysis”.Well, around midday, the spokesperson counselor, Sílvia Paneque, corrected Parlon and said that “the program continues as planned”. It is clear that the Government does not want to rectify, that it wants police officers in the institutes, but that right now the main problem of the institutes is the teachers' strike, not the presence of police, and the executive has other work to do.  Good morning.

One cold and one hot at the works that Adif has underway on the Catalan road network. The work on the Garraf railway tunnels has finished a week earlier than planned and will be able to reopen next Monday the 8th. On the other hand, the infrastructure manager has reported that the R3 works are being extended again: the first phase, which was due to open last May, will not be completed until the end of the year.

This Saturday morning, during an informal get-together with Guanyem activists, the mayor of Girona, Lluc Salellas, announced that he will run again as a mayoral candidate for the City Council. Initially, Salellas intended not to run again as a candidate, as he explained in his first interview with ARA as mayor, but in recent months the possibility of his continuation at the head of the cross-party left-wing formation that integrates the CUP has gained traction. The decision arises from a proposal by the activists, who consider him the best option to try to regain the mayoralty and to be able to continue the current government's work from the highest executive responsibility. Salellas is the formation's greatest asset, especially after the number two in the last election, Cristina Andreu, who was a pillar, resigned at the beginning of the term for health reasons.

The Minister of Territory, Housing, and Ecological Transition, Sílvia Paneque, is one of the pillars of Salvador Illa's government. The President of the Generalitat entrusted her with two of the portfolios expected to play the most prominent role during this legislative term: housing and the Rodalies commuter rail network. She was also given the task of serving as the government spokesperson. Paneque, a close confidante of Illa, received the offer to join the government just over a year after winning the municipal elections in Girona as the PSC candidate. However, the mayoralty slipped through her fingers when Guanyem formed a pro-independence government with ERC and Junts, With Lluc Salellas at the helm. Now, with the countdown to the municipal elections underway, the Girona pro-independence movement has seen the Rodalies commuter rail chaos as the ideal opportunity to try and weaken Paneque, with an eye toward a possible mayoral candidacy in 2027.

Last night, Carles Puigdemont exacted a significant price. As we explained yesterday, The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in his favor. (him, Comín, and Ponsatí) and established that the European Parliament stripped them of their parliamentary immunity with clear bias. The ruling states that the rapporteur in charge of investigating the Supreme Court's request was a Bulgarian MEP from the same political group as Vox, the party that acted as a private prosecutor in the trial of the Catalan independence leaders. This individual participated in an event entitled "Catalonia is Spain" in which he called himselfPuigdemont in prison"What happened yesterday doesn't happen very often, because the court has corrected the shortcomings in the European Parliament and the General Court of the European Union and told them to please do things properly. The president in exile celebrated it thus:"

The Catalan government is raising its voice. The Minister of Territory, Silvia Paneque, explained that "for the first time" the entire commuter rail network is undergoing a comprehensive review and declared that the state of the infrastructure they found is "fragile" and "utterly deplorable." She made these remarks during an appearance before the Catalan Parliament on Thursday. Paneque also took the opportunity to boast about her handling of the rail crisis in Catalonia, triggered by the Gelida accident, where a young trainee train driver lost his life after a retaining wall collapsed under the R4 train he was traveling on, on January 20th. The Minister asserted that the Catalan government "has prioritized safety at all times," and also reiterated its demands for dismissals at both Renfe and Adif, as well as its pressure on the Ministry to accelerate investment.

Today was another typical day for the commuter rail service, meaning chaos and confusion about whether the system is running or not. It's only running or not, given that only five lines are fully operational, while eleven others still have sections closed and are being offered as alternative bus services.

As expected, Monday has arrived and today's train lottery has brought no luck. Renfe has ended up offering road service where it cannot yet provide rail service.

A week later, the first dismissals have arrived due to the rail chaos in Catalonia: the operational director of Cercanías (commuter rail), Josep Enric Garcia Alemany, and the operations director of Adif (Spain's railway infrastructure manager), Raúl Míguez Bailo, were dismissed with immediate effect on Monday afternoon. Minutes before the announcement, the Catalan Minister of Territory, Silvia Paneque, had demanded that Renfe (the Spanish national railway company) and Adif take responsibility for another chaotic day on the tracks. This move was calculated behind the scenes in coordination with national officials. The Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano, announced on TVE (Spanish public television) that the dismissals had already taken place. "At this point, it is undeniable that without taking responsibility, we cannot move forward," he argued. Therefore, he explained that, with the approval of the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, he asked the presidents of Adif and Renfe to carry out both dismissals, among other things due to a "lack of coordination" that "is unacceptable." García Alemany was a government appointment who had put it second de facto the director of commuter rail in CataloniaAntonio Carmona, who does remain in his position.

The commuter rail service is once again uncertain this weekend. At this time, normal rail service is not guaranteed for Saturday, nor is an alternative bus service. Since Friday night, train service has been experiencing problems on all lines after a day marked by another partial shutdown of the R1 line due to a new landslide onto the tracks between Tordera and Maçanet. The incident—which occurred at a point not identified in the surveys carried out this week—has reopened the crisis with train drivers, who claim they cannot work safely, less than 24 hours after rail service was restored. After midnight, representatives from the Catalan Government, Renfe (the national railway company), and Adif (the railway infrastructure manager) met at the Department of Territory to monitor the rail situation, and, according to the Catalan News Agency (ACN), several risk points on the network have been identified requiring urgent action. The meeting was already scheduled for 7 p.m., before tonight's strikes, but it has been postponed twice and resumed without any announcement being made so far, with further meetings expected throughout the weekend. Government sources assure that a service shutdown like Wednesday's has not been considered, but they also cannot guarantee how service will be provided this Saturday and anticipate "disruptions," without specifying their extent. Since Friday night, some lines have experienced delays exceeding half an hour. The same sources attribute the problems affecting the commuter rail network to the intense and continuous rain of recent days. The Department of Territory has already announced that it will hold further follow-up meetings this Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

For the second day in a row, Catalonia has had no commuter rail service following the derailment of a train in Gelida due to the collapse of a retaining wallThe government announced Wednesday night that service would resume Thursday morning, but a few hours later, commuters heading to stations found that trains were not running. While the opposition attacks the government, which is being led during the president's medical leave by the Presidential Advisor, Albert Dalmau, the government defends itself: it maintains that the service has not resumed because it "has not been possible" to restart it with only six train drivers (out of 140) who failed to report for work. Meanwhile, the train drivers are protesting the state of an infrastructure that has suffered decades of underinvestment. with the specter of the accident in Adamuz (Cordoba) where 45 people died as a precedentAnd they maintain that they had already warned that, without guarantees, they would not return to the trains.

The names of the key figures were still unknown, and today they have been made public. Òscar Playà, the current director of the Barcelona metro network (TMB), will be the new CEO of Cercanías Cataluña, the new company that will take over the Cercanías operationThis was explained by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the Minister of Transport and Mobility, Óscar Puente, who on Monday morning formally established the new company, which will also be officially registered before a notary this week. The presidency of the new Cercanías Catalunya will also be held by a Catalan, the Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque. These are, therefore, the two names that will lead the board of directors of this joint venture (formed by the Generalitat and Renfe, i.e., the State) and which has the mandate to operate – and improve – both Cercanías and Regional services from now on. Sources from the Ministry of Territory said that Playà "was the best option" due to her more than 20 years of experience "leading complex organizations" and her "extensive knowledge of the railway sector." Since 2021, Playà has served as general manager of the TMB metro network. He had previously worked at the ATM as director of T-mobility, and from now on, according to the Catalan government, he will become "more involved in the management and direction of the company."

Girona lags behind in green energy investment. Unlike other regions of Catalonia, the Girona district has no operational wind farms and only about ten functioning photovoltaic installations. However, both the Catalan government (Generalitat) and the Ministry for Ecological Transition are currently processing over 200 renewable energy projects that are expected to be implemented in the coming years. Many of these future wind and solar farms have generated controversy, facing opposition from residents and town councils in small villages. Citizens have united in various protest platforms, and last week, more than 40 Girona town councils joined forces to voice their discontent to the Catalan government's delegation. They all reiterate that, despite being in favor of a green transition, the projects planned for their area are "oversized," will damage "the natural environment," and regret that they were designed "without considering the opinions of local communities."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced during his year-end review before Christmas that a travel pass for public transport throughout Spain will be available starting in 2026. The announcement, which had already been hinted at months earlier by Transport Minister Óscar Puente, comes just days before the end of the year and, therefore, before transport fares are set to increase, following a lengthy political debate about the appropriateness of widespread reductions in train tickets. The pass will cost €60 per month for general travelers and €30 per month for young people up to 26 years old. The plan is for it to come into effect in the second half of January. However, the details of this new transport pricing system are still unclear: for example, what role the autonomous communities will play or how the system will be structured. Avant prices (high-speed trains but regulated at public prices that are also overflowing in Catalonia)

Promoting rail transport should not only reduce the number of passengers traveling by plane, but also take trucks off the roads for freight transport. This is one of the issues that the Port of Barcelona has been trying to address for years. the reactivation Rail and road access is one of the most significant milestones. But it's not just about the trains' entry point; it's also about how they will be managed once inside the infrastructure facilities.