Antoni Bassas' analysis: 'Upside Down'

Sánchez: He has suspended his schedule today to focus on the Cerdán case. This is not unusual: Ábalos has confirmed that he has recorded Sánchez himself, ministers and media directors.In fact, the hard drive he tried to get a friend to smuggle out of the house, tucked into his pants, to hide from the Civil Guard, who noticed it, contains conversations with Sánchez. And Ábalos told SER that he feels like a useful idiot for Cerdán and Koldo.

But… Sánchez has opened another front. He has confronted Donald Trump.

NATO will decide at a summit next week that all member states must spend 5% of their GDP on defense. Sánchez yesterday told NATO in writing that he did not, who is against it, that Spain rejects it. That 5% of Spanish GDP is €80 billion (approximately two budgets of the Generalitat), and that allocating it to defense would require cutting social spending. Is Sánchez doing this to divert attention? Yes and no. Yes, because it allows him to make other headlines, but no, because the NATO meeting is next week, and it coincides.

And then we have transfer of commuter trainsYesterday, Councilor Paneque and Secretary of State Santano presented the company resulting from the PSOE-Esquerra pact. The new company is owned by Renfe: 51.1% by the State versus 49.9% by the Generalitat. The Generalitat holds a majority on the board of directors, five to four, with the chairman having the casting vote and appointed by the Catalan government.

Why is the company owned by Renfe? For the workers, who don't want to leave the parent company because they don't want to lose their rights. Therefore, for the time being, the Generalitat will manage workers who won't work for the Generalitat. What's more, the State has appointed a worker representative to the board of directors. Initially, Esquerra wanted this 51-49 ratio for the State to last two years. In the end, it gave in, with the idea that in a few years, when the company is operational, the Generalitat will finally be the owner. The company will begin operations on January 1st.

It's a start. Cercanías isn't integrated into Ferrocarrils (Ferrocarrils), Renfe still rules, but it's a first step. A first step toward ending the deliberate neglect that Spain has inflicted on Renfe in Catalonia and that has ruined everything. I'm back: two escalators on the central platform at Plaça Catalunya station in Barcelona haven't been working for more than three months. At Granollers station, the elevator hasn't been working for months. If you're going to Barcelona with a wheelchair, or a stroller, or a heavily loaded vehicle, find a way.

And so we arrive at summer, which will begin at 4:30 this Saturday morning. And at the San Juan festival, with King Felipe de Borbón visiting Montserrat and Badia del Vallès. Yesterday, his ears must have been ringing. He appeared face down in the Plaza de Sant Pere de Berga during the big Patum festival.

Good morning and have a nice weekend.