The week of May 18th looks to be key for the budgets and, by extension, for the legislature in Catalonia. The Govern and Esquerra Republicana are finalizing the last aspects of what will be the first accounts to be produced since 2023. Monday will be a key day: it will start with the seal of the pact to develop the orbital railway line and, at 5:30 p.m., the republicans will convene their national council – the highest body between congresses – to assess whether they give the final yes to the budget project.

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, came out this Thursday in defense of the Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal, whom Israel accused hours earlier of “inciting hatred” for waving the Palestinian flag during the parade through the center of Barcelona that the club organized to celebrate the League title last Sunday.

Fifteen years have passed since the most important social outbreak in democratic Spain. The 15-M emerged on a Sunday in May at Puerta del Sol in Madrid as a demonstration called via the internet, with a success that surprised even the organizers. And those outraged by economic precariousness and the political system did not go home after the protest. They set up a camp that spread to Barcelona, in Plaça Catalunya, and then throughout the country. There was a willingness to participate in politics. Thousands and thousands of hours of assemblies to outline possible roadmaps turned the squares into laboratories of direct democracy. What remains today of that movement? Could it happen again?

At the bar of the restaurant La Isla, in Seville, some gentlemen would gather at noon. Good people who most likely – one can always be surprised – had the characteristic phenotype of the Popular Party voter. Eavesdropping while waiting for the diner, one could get an idea of the program for this weekend. Most would go to the elegant and unparalleled Horse Fair of Jerez.