One of the secondary protagonists of Pedro Sánchez's appearance at the Congress of Deputies to give explanations for the management of the Ceuta crisis has been the repeated demand by Junts, Bildu and the PNV for the Spanish government to transfer immigration powers to Catalonia and the Basque Country. ERC has not made any reference to it, but also supports it. The one who opened the door was Miriam Nogueras: “We want them so that Catalonia stops paying for the bad decisions of Spanish governments and starts doing the work that clearly has not been done,” she proclaimed during her speech. It was Junts who, in January 2024, placed this demand on the political agenda after wresting the commitment from the PSOE in exchange for the first three decrees of the legislature. It took a year to materialize in black and white, but the Podem veto has prevented it from prospering.

The left tends to fall into its own rhetorical traps. The most recent one is claiming that the fear of the far right coming to power is no longer an argument for mobilizing the progressive electorate. These are the solemn gestures made just before the big impact. "We are the left, we are: we are not convinced by such flimsy arguments." This reasoning rhymes well with the "They're waving the scarecrow of the far right again" refrain that the so-called traditional right used and repeated countless times, until the far right was present everywhere and trying to make it seem like it was just a scarecrow no longer worked. There were also those who celebrated that there was no far right in Spain because the country "was vaccinated by Francoism." In the Catalan version, some astute minds categorically denied the existence of what we now know as Aliança Catalana, and insulted anyone who said otherwise. Now they say that it's not so bad to reach an understanding if, after all, it's an option voted for by the citizens.

Up to four commuter train lines were affected this morning. Electrification problems occurred between Granada and St. Sadurní de Anoia, and incidents occurred in the facilities between the stations of Tarragona, Reus, and Cambrils. In Cabrera de Mar, passengers were forced off the train and onto another due to a problem with the train doors. The damage that the State has done to Catalonia First with disinvestment and now with the limited capacity to anticipate and prioritize the solution to problems, it is incalculable.

What happened yesterday in Congress was unusual: a man convicted for the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils on August 17 accused the CNI to know the intentions of the imam of Ripoll.