New political year opens amid education conflict and sights set towards financing and amnesty

The 2026/27 political year kicks off on Tuesday, with the first cabinet meeting in Catalonia.

The new course opens amid labour conflicts in the education sector, with a strike planned for the first day of the school year. 

Th executive also has on its agenda the new financing system for Catalonia, which the ruling Socialists have agreed with ERC, with the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council (CPFF) meeting among Spanish regions scheduled for September 4.

Another major issue on the political agenda is the application of the amnesty law, with the first deliberation of the Constitutional Court scheduled for September 22 after the European Court's ruling in support of the amnesty law.

Salvador Illa's administration begins the second half of its legislature as the new political course kicks off, which will be marked by the electoral cycle that will begin with the municipal elections this coming May.

The government officially starts the political year with the Executive Council meeting this Tuesday, but the first week is marked by the meeting on Friday and Saturday at the Monestir de les Avellanes, in the municipality of Os de Balaguer, in La Noguera, in which it aims to "draw up the strategy" for the new year.

The government has set mobility infrastructure, such as the Rodalies commuter rail line facing its "worst crisis" in history according to some experts, as a priority issue to address during the meeting, but also the execution of the budget, security, and housing.

Education conflict

After months of strikes and mobilizations, the new school year will kick off with another strike on the first day of school, on September 8.

The Department of Education plans to announce more reception classes to support newly arrived foreign students, as well as the incorporation of health technicians in educational centers. However, both are initiatives that the striking unions call "nothing new," as they argue they are part of the implementation of the agreements reached in March and May.

Esther Niubó will once again be under the spotlight after calls for the minsiter to resign from different parliamentary groups in recent months due to the education conflict and the controversy over the PISA tests.

A "technical incident" in the 2025 PISA tests means the results will be incomparable with other territories or with the Catalan historical series.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests assess the mathematics, science, and reading comprehension skills of hundreds of thousands of teenage students in more than 80 countries around the world.

The sample of tests taken between March 31 and May 16, 2025, had an exemption rate (rate of students who are left out for various reasons) of 23.2% on average, above the maximum of 5% recommended by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the body that organizes the tests.

Amnesty and regional funding

Outside the scope of the Catalan government, the political agenda here is marked by the future application of the amnesty law, with the possible return of the leader of Junts, Carles Puigdemont, something which could shake up the political scene.

After the law was endorsed by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the Constitutional Court will begin deliberations on the amnesty on September 22.

They will start with the appeal for amnesty filed by Jordi Turull, more than two years after the approval of the law in Congress.

Catalonia's new fiscal model will be a more immediate concern, after the regional fiscal meeting was postponed to September 4.

Apart from financing model, it's unknown how far the Socialists and ERC will go regarding the transfer of income tax. Initially, it was one of the ERC's conditions for supporting the budgets, but the issue was relegated to the negotiation for the accounts.

Meanwhile, the second half of Salvador Illa's legislature will see new a electoral cycle starting with the municipal elections in May 2027. Shortly after, a Spanish general election will be held.,

The late approval of the 2026 budget has given the government space to breathe, as it's unlikely there will be a new budget next year in the middle of the electoral cycle.