In a month's time, Salvador Illa's government will have approved the first budgets of the legislature. An agreement with Comuns and ERC that gives the executive breathing room and certifies that this is currently the only viable majority in Catalonia. Republicans and Comuns already invested Illa and, despite the tug-of-war of the last two years, they continue to be the partners that give him stability. Even to avoid inconvenient appearances by the president in Parliament. This Tuesday, for the second consecutive week, ERC, Comuns, and the PSC prevented the chamber from summoning Illa. Junts wanted him to appear to explain the role of the Generalitat in the crisis opened with public school teachers. Seven days ago, the Junts, with the support of PP and Vox, demanded that the president respond for the cases of alleged corruption that splash the PSOE (and that the judge does not rule out entirely that they have a derivative in the PSC).

The battle for education will have dire consequences for students, families, the teachers who are striking, and, above all, for the protagonists of the negotiation process: on the one hand, the unions, disavowed by their base, and on the other, the Department of Education, which has seen its ups and downs and last-minute concessions prove futile. In short, it is a battle where everyone loses. There will be – indeed – labor improvements for some public servants who certainly deserve them (but they are not the only ones), but the great pending issue, which is the crisis in the educational model, will continue to await better times, times when generosity and a national vision prevail over tactical maneuvering and vested interests.On a political level, the conflict has confirmed the failure of the Illa government's narrative. They sold us good management and a de-escalation of tension, but the times when the PSC boasted of having anesthetized the country are long gone. On the contrary, it has been shown that the problems that, in part, motivated the rise of sovereigntism are still very much alive, although for the moment there is no social movement capable of turning citizen anger into a shock force. The country is as fed up as ever, but it has been deprived of a horizon of change and improvement. And the anger is beginning to give oxygen to those who are always ready to point to the most vulnerable, as victims but also as involuntary accomplices of a productive model that is crushing the social contract and the factors of collective cohesion. To top it all off, the PSC no longer relies on the PSOE's trump card (which is also the anti-PP trump card), because Sánchez's future is becoming clouded by moments.This scenario can entice the PSC's electoral rivals, but precisely the educational crisis should make them see that tactical maneuvering, when faced with the real challenges of the country, is not an option. ERC and CiU have already suffered teacher strikes, and both parties are complicit in the failure of the Catalan school model. It is up to the Government to initiate a new national pact for education, and it is up to the opposition – and the teachers – to have the generosity to get fully involved without thinking about their particular interests, be they electoral, ideological, or corporate.We don't know what would happen today in an election, but we do know that the citizenry is discontent. If the far-right rises, it will be difficult to avoid closer collaboration between the country's central forces –PSC, Junts, ERC, Comuns–, regardless of the number of seats they obtain. Since right now everyone is fighting with everyone, it is civil society that is making proposals (the Informe Fènix" is the clearest example). But, in the long run, institutions must exercise the leadership that corresponds to them. This does not just mean parliamentary consensus; it also means a constituent process to end the abnormality of Catalan political life, which has the theoretical leader of the opposition in exile, independentists disqualified or awaiting trial due to an amnesty that is a wet paper, and all this governed by an Autonomy Statute that has been cut and not ratified by the citizenry.If the PSC wants to lead the country and undertake the great reforms that are increasingly urgent, it now knows that it cannot do it alone. It also knows that its potential allies are sovereigntist or confederalist parties – in any case, parties that challenge the current constitutional framework. This will become even more evident when the PP and Vox reach Moncloa. More sovereignty and more resources are needed to face the present and save the future. Who will dare to oppose this watchword? Fortunately for Salvador Illa, ERC and Junts are too busy sticking their fingers in their eyes and resolving their internal contradictions. One day, however, they will see the handle of the frying pan in front of them.

The joke goes that the PSC is now the Christian Social Party. Salvador Illa has been explicit since he became president in his ideological positioning, which he bases on Christian humanism. The same that Pope Prevost, Leo XIV, defends, as has been clear in his first encyclical. The social aspect of this pontiff is even more solid than that of his popular predecessor, the Argentine Bergoglio. Prevost has become a strong global voice in favor of welcoming immigrants, in favor of the most vulnerable, against the renewed warmongering of Trump, Netanyahu, and Putin, in favor of cultural dialogue and against platform capitalism that polarizes society, both ideologically and economically, with a purely pecuniary logic of use of algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Salvador Illa's first budgets passed their initial parliamentary stage this Thursday. The debate on the entirety of the accounts once again highlighted the alliance that brought the socialist president to the Palau de la Generalitat and which the Government intends to serve it to reach the end of the legislature. Thus, the budgets have begun to be processed with the support of the two investiture partners, ERC and Comuns, with whom the Government reached an agreement two weeks ago. The executive, however, has not managed to secure the 'yes' of any of the opposition groups: Junts, the CUP, Aliança, the PP, and Vox had presented amendments in their entirety, four texts that have been rejected. The words of the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, asking them to come out of the "trench" and defending accounts that reach almost 50 billion euros and grow by 22% compared to those of 2023, have not served to convince them. And even more so when, during the debate, the news broke that teachers rejected the unions' agreement with Education. Junts and the CUP have taken the opportunity to attack the executive, while the partners have asked the Government to reopen negotiations.

The same day that the judge authorized the Civil Guard to appear at the PSOE headquarters in Madrid, from Carrer Pallars in Barcelona, the PSC sent all the documentation related to its 2024 electoral campaign. Although the request was addressed to the PSOE, the Catalan socialists wanted to get ahead by emphasizing that everything was transparent and audited by the Court of Accounts. With this information, the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the armed institute is not satisfied and has filed a claim for additional information with the National Court, which Judge Santiago Pedraz has accepted.

I don't know if the two Tanzanian priests and the two Filipinos who make up the Augustinian community in Barcelona will tell Leo XIV, when he visits the church of Sant Agustí in the Raval on June 10, that it was in that church that the Assembly of Catalonia was founded, the great coalition of anti-Franco forces in the country. It was the year 1971. Time was time. When the Catalan Church stood shoulder to shoulder with those fighting for individual and collective freedoms. When rectors sheltered striking workers and prevented the "grisos" from entering. When Comissions Obreres was founded in a parish (Sant Medir, la Bordeta, 1964), when students barricaded themselves in convents (la Caputxinada, Sarrià, 1966), or the most symbolic monastery was the chosen setting to "christen" a party that would govern Catalonia for decades (Convergència, Montserrat, 1974). It was the time of Escarré, Jubany, Cassià Maria Just, Xirinacs, Ragué, Ballarín, and many worker priests... It was a time when the Church had a better reputation than it does today. More practitioners, more religious vocations, more complicity with laypeople, more credibility, no reports of pedophilia.

The President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, will not have to appear at this week's plenary session to explain the PSOE scandals because ERC backed down and allied with Comuns to vote against his appearance on Tuesday. However, the head of the executive was not saved from the opposition's attacks and his partners' reproaches this Wednesday in a more than tense session to control the Government.

It was a debate with a predictable conclusion: a clash between the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the President of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda. The former, a staunch defender of the new financing model agreed between the PSOE and ERC; the latter, representing the PP, as a detractor of the proposal. And in between, Imanol Pradales, the Basque lehendakari, who watched from the sidelines defending his economic concert as a "rara avis" in Spain. All this, in a round table at this year's conference of the Cercle d'Economia. "I don't want any advantage or privilege for Catalonia, but I also don't want us to be left behind," argued Illa, before adding that Catalonia "will not ask for permission to lead and to make respectful proposals." "I will not ask anyone for permission either, but an agreement must be reached," Rueda replied.

With the budget agreement under its arm, Salvador Illa landed this Monday at the annual conferences of the Cercle d'Economia with the tranquility of presenting himself to the Catalan business fabric with an "stability" that the sector values – in the words of the Cercle's own president, Teresa Garcia-Milà. If the orbital railway line – which must connect cities in the second metropolitan ring, from Vilanova i la Geltrú to Mataró, without passing through Barcelona – was the key to the pact with ERC for the accounts, the President of the Generalitat has taken advantage of the platform that the Cercle has given him to put infrastructure back on the table and make an announcement: the Government will mobilize 3,300 million euros from public-private collaboration to "accelerate strategic infrastructures". "Now is the time to recover a system that has been stalled since 2010, a public-private model for infrastructure," Illa defended before the Catalan business community.

Today, June 1, marks eight years since Sánchez has been president of the Spanish government thanks to the motion of no confidence he won against Rajoy. It was the first time a candidate reached the presidency through such a vote.Eight years later we have had the pardons, the amnesty still not completed because the Supreme Court is granting extensions, the demobilized independence movement, Commuter Rail by bus, Illa as President of the Generalitat, an unevenly distributed economic growth, the difficulty, not to say impossibility, of finding a flat, and very strained public services.Without going any further, Catalan doctors are called upon not to do any more overtime, under the eloquent slogan Not one more minute, because they don't finish the work they have and the on-call shifts have already turned days into three eight-hour shifts. Doctors want a response from the administration, like the one teachers have already received, who reached an agreement with the Department of Education this past weekend. This agreement will be submitted for a vote by teachers until Thursday. At the risk of being wrong, I believe that teachers have achieved a good part of what they were asking for, the strike has pushed teachers' pockets to the limit and families' patience, and therefore, the most logical thing would be for teachers to vote yes to an agreement reached by unions that did not settle for the first agreement signed by UGT and CCOO. The minister Niubó said this morning that a "no" would lead to the chaos of the education system. With this reality in the streets, political power continues in its own world.Sánchez, who will still take three weeks to explain himself in Congress, is betting everything on the Pope's visit, which will arrive this Saturday in Madrid, the "unity" effect of the Football World Cup, the August holidays and reaching autumn and having 2027 within reach. He himself says it: “The tricksters with their maneuvers, and we to govern until 2027 and beyond, whatever the Spanish want” “Until 2027 and beyond” sounds like it’s from the astronaut of lawfare, will not be new to them. In this analysis, we already told them weeks ago that the Spanish government not only wants to hold on until 2027, but they are also considering re-investing Sánchez.And the one who has already tied his destiny to that of Sánchez is Illa. At an event yesterday in Tarragona, he said, in Spanish so that the Spanish TV channels could broadcast it without subtitles and Sánchez would not be alone, that Sánchez was a “moral benchmark”.

In this chapter we will talk about Bad Bunny, his selfie with Salvador Illa, his snub to Shakira and Kylie Minogue. "And is this news?" is the question we often see in comments on articles about gossip magazines and pop culture. And, obviously, they are not news that occupy newspaper front pages, but they are issues that we often discuss with friends or family around a table or at the bar counter. And this is what we do in this podcast: move to a venue to review some social chronicle news that serve not only to keep up with the most prominent gossip, but also to talk about love, friendship or breakups.

The Central Operational Unit of the Civil Guard entered the PSOE headquarters this morning to request information. They are looking for an alleged illegal financing network of the party. Let's see, a police entry reinforces the feeling of guilt of the investigated person, which, in the era of narrative over facts, is ideal for those who wish harm to the suspect. But if anywhere we know what effect the interested administration of the judicial instruction and police investigation has with a specific intention, it is in Catalonia.

He won the last three elections in Catalonia, but the doors of the Generalitat remain closed to the PSC. At least until the next Catalan elections. The socialists are soaring in the polls and if elections were held today in Parliament, Salvador Illa would clearly win with between 39 and 45 seats, ahead of ERC (29-34) and Junts (19-24), who have been losing ground as the legislature progressed. The results are collected by the Barometer of the Center for Opinion Studies (CEO) which was made public today, the day after Pedro Sánchez's investiture, although the polls were conducted a few weeks ago, before the PSOE's agreements with ERC and Junts. in the July poll, the PSC was also first, but with an estimate of 31-37 seats, practically tied with Esquerra, which obtained between 31 and 36.

The PSC remains ahead in the polls a month and a half before the 12-M elections. Also in the latest barometer from the Centre d'Estudis d'Opinió (CEO) made public this Thursday, even though the poll was conducted before the announcement by the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, of advancing the elections. Be that as it may, if the parliamentary elections were held today, the socialists would revalidate the victory of three years ago and would aim to obtain between 35 and 42 seats, a slight setback compared to the November survey (the November poll) (39-45). Behind them would be ERC, with 26-32 seats and an average rating of its government by Catalans of 4.3 (the same as the Spanish government's). The Republicans see Junts approaching them, which would rise to 24-29 seats. The poll data was collected between February 9 and March 7. Precisely on the last day, the agreement for the amnesty law was materialized and approved in the Justice Commission of the Congress. During this period, the Koldo case also broke out, which implicates the former Minister of Transport, the socialist José Luis Ábalos, and in early February, farmers began to mobilize in the streets.

Amidst the world's misfortunes and Spanish politics, this image of presidential happiness appears.Salvador Illa, happy as a clam, taking a selfie with Bad Bunny inside the main nave of the Sagrada Família. Illa looks like he's about to sing: “If you want to have fun with charm and finesse, you just have to live a summer in Catalonia with warmth”.Bad Bunny is the best thing that will happen to Illa in the coming days, because the hurricane of the Zapatero case threatens the stability of Sánchez's government and, by extension, that of the Generalitat government, which is so closely linked to it.In the last few hours we have learned that the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit of the National Police, the UDEF, has found in Zapatero's office: jewelry, folders and mobile phones. In short, there are three lines here: Zapatero is a victim of lawfare because let him do to Sánchez what he can do, Zapatero has crossed the fine line between lobbyist and influence peddler, and Zapatero is corrupt. Probably, what we have here is that the evidence gathered by the judge (the photos of the jewelry are police propaganda) could indicate that Zapatero has gone further, recklessly, than prudence advised. And until he testifies and the investigation is clarified, we will live in this debate. Now, that the suspicion of lawfare is plausible, everyone knows and it is a prophecy.There is no doubt that the blow to Sanchez is tremendous. If yesterday we were talking about the PNB saying there should be elections this year, today we have Felipe Gonzalez (who else?) saying the same thing.Journalist: “Do you think there will be elections? Do you think there will not be elections?”Felipe González: “I think there should be. It is the first time I say it. I think there should be. I think there should be. That is to say, there should be this year. We should also have respect for the infantry. I would tell it to García Páez. Look, the leadership I value is non-mercenary leadership. That which is not exercised for one's own benefit, but is exercised for the benefit of others”. With friends like González who needs enemies, Sánchez must think. Because, moreover, he is amused by it.Felipe González: “I don’t see him, let’s say, with the capacity to set up a financial engineering as I am seeing. I say, listen, that this means nothing more than that. That Zapatero has reached, in his life trajectory, to know what an offshore company is, well, I don’t see it”.Tomorrow we will know what Sánchez's answer is when asked if he will advance the elections (which until today the answer was no, by no means). And they will ask him in Rome, where Sánchez will be received in audience by Pope Leo XIV, as a prelude to the trip to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands in fifteen days. Such is life, Sánchez standing up to the Holy Father, just as the Pope, one year after his election, has begun to raise his voice against liars like Trump and, yesterday, against the dangers of artificial intelligence.

Salvador Illa has the photograph that many fans would like to have. The President of the Generalitat took a selfie this Sunday at the Sagrada Família with Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican artist who was in Barcelona this weekend to start his European tour, where he performed two concerts at the Olympic Stadium.

The approval of a budget always has two dimensions. The first is that it allows administrations to function normally and have more resources to carry out specific policies. From this point of view, the approval of accounts is always good news, because it is a measure that positively impacts both public services and the economy in general due to the flow of resources, for example for infrastructure, that it entails. The second dimension is political. In the case of the accounts approved yesterday by the executive council and presented to Parliament, they represent the cornerstone that will allow Salvador Illa to complete his term.

Images from this morning, when the Government met in extraordinary executive council to approve the budgetsMeanwhile, the teachers' strike continues, as we explain. The teachers' unions are not letting up. The negotiation between the Government and the union representatives will continue today: they remain stuck on improving salaries and, despite the wear and tear that maintaining the stoppages means, the unions are determined to continue them.

After swallowing the bitter pill of withdrawing the first budgets he presented as President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa is now, truly, beginning the path for Parliament to give the green light to the first accounts of the legislature. With the support of ERC and Comuns secured, Illa is ensuring one of his main objectives for the legislature. The accounts for this 2026 will be the Government's first and, perhaps, only ones, because 2027 is an election year, with municipal and general elections in sight, and 2028 is already his last year of the legislature, two scenarios not conducive to negotiating accounts. Therefore, having achieved these budgets, Illa is ensuring, for now, the continuity of the legislature.

The Government already has all the support to approve the budgets for 2026. After this week's agreement with ERC, validated this Wednesday by the Spanish government, the executive and Comuns have signed their definitive pact for the accounts this Thursday morning, which includes 2.5 billion for housing and rethinking the R-Aeroport, among others. Salvador Illa and Jéssica Albiach have sealed the understanding at the Palau de la Generalitat and this Friday the Government will approve the numbers in an executive council, with the aim that Parliament definitively validates them in the first fortnight of July.