Política

The open crisis within the Mossos d’Esquadra due to the infiltration of two agents in a teachers’ assembly has forced the police director, Josep Lluís Trapero, and the senior officers of the force to meet with the mossos’ unions to calm tensions. Among the workers’ representatives, it was not well received that Trapero announced on Wednesday the opening of a confidential investigation that questioned the agents’ actions, who claim that they comply with current regulations.

The international aftermath of Isabel Díaz Ayuso is far from fading and threatens to overshadow even the San Isidro festival. The Madrid president has accumulated this Friday almost as many political reproaches as carnations have filled the vests and scarves of chulapos and chulapas. The offensive has united the Madrid left, has also crossed the regional perimeter, and has added socialist leaders from other territories with a common reproach. The fact of having turned an institutional mission into a new front of ideological combat on which the regional president has remained silent today.

Jordi Martí has presided over the Junts municipal group in Barcelona since Xavier Trias left the City Council in July 2024. Even then, discussions began about the candidate for the 2027 municipal elections. The former CiU mayor backed his protégé within the neoconvergent ranks, who so far is the only one to have publicly expressed his desire to lead the list, along with other names linked to the party, such as Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas or Jaume Giró. The party leadership, however, leans in favor of Josep Rius, also a councilor in the Catalan capital, as well as a deputy and vice president of Junts. From Waterloo, they perhaps thought they could convince Martí to give up. Let’s see.

The Court of Auditors has ordered the former director of the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia (OAC), Daniel de Alfonso, to pay 142,484.47 euros unduly collected as seniority bonuses. The institution has partially upheld an appeal filed by the OAC itself and the Prosecutor’s Office against a ruling issued on October 31, which required De Alfonso to return 82,341.27 euros. The two appellants initially claimed 205,000 euros.

The battle between Giorgia Meloni and Pedro Sánchez has opened an unexpected front: the FAO.

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.

The Govern and Esquerra Republicana are in the final phase of budget negotiations and, to finalize these accounts, both parties will announce next Monday one of the commitments that will facilitate the agreement: the orbital railway line. The talks are advanced to the point that ERC has called its national council, the highest body between congresses, for next Monday at 5:30 p.m. to assess whether the conditions are met to approve the budgets.