Delores Ohemaa Nketiah and Bintou Camara met in Catalan language and Catalan culture courses These are part of the social integration process for foreign nationals who wish to regularize their immigration status in the country. It is a long and costly process, as it requires non-EU citizens to live the first two years without papers – in an irregular situation—surviving however and wherever they can. Only after that time can they apply for legal status, provided they have a pre-employment contract or begin formal studies. It is at this point in the process that these two women find themselves stuck. They migrated alone and have had to face the added difficulties of being female migrants: the risks along the route and the vulnerabilities in the destination country.

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 secretary general of Junts, Jordi Turull, and the spokesperson for Carles Puigdemont's party in Congress, Míriam Nogueras, have stressed in recent days that, when the delegation of powers is carried out immigration, knowledge of Catalan will be a "requirement" to obtain a residence permit in Catalonia. Statements that have caused an uproar on the right and have provoked a reaction from the Spanish government. The Minister of the Presidency and Justice, Félix Bolaños, said that "there is no reference to any requirement" in the bill and the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, clarified that "language is not a requirement to deny a permit, expel a person or prohibit entry." The Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, has assured, in any case, that "in our Constitution, in addition to Castilian, the co-official status of three other languages is included. And the immigration law states that a knowledge of the languages spoken in each of their territories is also required." What is now the level of Catalan required of immigrants for a residence permit?

Every week leaves a scent when it ends. This Friday we heard the warlike notes of the European Union mobilizing 800 billion euros to rearm ourselves against Russia and Putin reminding Macron that the invasion that Napoleon attempted in Russia in 1812 ended badly for France.