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One of the most charismatic faces of the Catalan Socialist Party and once contender to Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, ahead of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) has died at 46. The news reported his death this Sunday night due to a heart disease she suffered since her childhood. hacón was Spain’s first female ministers during Zapatero’s term of office in 2008, after shortly being Spanish Parliament’s VP and Spanish Minister for Housing. In 2016 she stepped down from PSOE’s Secretary for International Relations. “She left nobody indifferent”, said Catalan Socialist Party leader, Miquel Iceta. “Today we feel more orphan, more lonely and sadder”, he added. Many representatives from the Catalan executive, the PSOE and the Spanish Government have expressed their condolences on Twitter and admitted to be by “devastated” by the news.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, traveled to Atlanta on Thursday to meet former US President and Nobel Peace Laureate, Jimmy Carter. During the meeting, Puigdemont explained the current political situation in Catalonia and the pro-independence aspirations, a topic which “raises interest” beyond Catalonia’s borders, said the Catalan President in an interview with TV3 earlier this morning. Puigdemont’s trip was not on his official agenda and was carried out with utmost discretion in order to possible interference from the Spanish government. On Thursday, Puigdemont attended the ambassadors’ meeting at the Carter Center.

Ferrari Land, Europe's first theme park in Europe entirely dedicated to the Ferrari, will open its doors this Friday. Located next to Port Aventura, in Vila-Seca, a town in the southern Catalan region of Tarragona, Ferrari Land represents a €100 million investment, occupies 70,000 m2, and includes 11 rides and attractions. The most popular is the ‘Red Force’, Europe’s largest and fastest roller-coaster. In fact, it is a vertical accelerator which goes from 0 to 180 km/h in five seconds, simulating the acceleration of a Formula 1 race car. More than 250 media from all over the world attended the inauguration this Thursday, including Ferrari’s founder son, Pietro Ferrari. With this new attraction, Port Aventura World, which includes Port Aventura and the adjacent Caribbean World water park, is set to boost the Vila-Seca area and turn Port Aventura World into a leading family destination.

Spain's Supreme Court dismissed Francesc Hom's appeal on Thursday to the sentence which banned him from holding political office for having allowed a symbolic vote on independence in 2014. Homs was former Catalan President Artur Mas’right-hand man. Homs, who was an MP for Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) in the Spanish Parliament at the time of the sentence had to leave his seat last week after the court banned him from holding public office for a period of 18 months. The magistrates have now added that he can’t stand for the European Parliament either, since the ban “applies to all areas”. Former Catalan President, Artur Mas and former Catalan Ministers Irene Rigau and Joana Ortega were also fined and banned from public office for the same case, which is regarded as a political action against Catalonia’s pro-independence aspirations.  

The North American giant Amazon will open a new logistics center in Martorelles, 20 kilometers north of Barcelona, aimed at serving the European market. The 30,000 m2 plant will become operational in the fall and will be located in Martorelles’Can Roca business park. The new center will initially employ 200 people but is expected to create 650 jobs within the next three years. Martorelles’center will consolidate Amazon’soperations in Catalonia. It has already set up two plants near Barcelona while the main logistics center—which will be Amazon’s biggest in the south of Europe and will be located next to Barcelona’s ‘El Prat’airport—is expected to be operational by fall.

On a wet evening, Barça put in a slick attacking performance to earn another valuable three points, with a goal from Suárez and two from Messi. The Uruguayan opened the scoring against Jorge Sampaoli’s side to kick start a victory that takes Barça temporarily to the top of the table in La Liga. “The team are still confident about our chances,” said Suárez shortly after the final whistle at a rainy Camp Nou. “In the games that remain the mentality has to be a winning one in order to get our fate back in our own hands.” Barça coach Luis Enrique chose to highlight his team’s first half performance against Sevilla in which they scored all three of their goals in the win. “Probably we have put in the best first half performance of the season,” said the coach. “I am happy because it is a positive victory over a great team and because of how we controlled the game.”

Girona’s El Celler de Can Rocahas been voted the world’s third-best restaurant by ‘Restaurant’ magazine. After topping the list in 2013 and 2015, the establishment run by the three Roca brothers ceded its crown to Eleven Madison Park, in New York. However, it received a special distinction during the event: it was awarded the Ferrari Trento Art of Hospitality award for its “outstanding service”. Indeed, El Celler de Can Rocahas been among Restaurant’s best 50 gastronomic establishments in the world for the last 12 years and hasn’t fallen out of the top five in the ranking since 2009. Another Catalan restaurant, Disfrutarfrom three El Bulli alumni received the Miele One to Watch Award, for its innovative offering.

Catalonia will have three new delegations abroad and their directors have already been appointed. Manuel Manonelles, International Relations’professor at the Universitat Ramon Llull, will be the Catalan Government delegate in Geneva, one of the cities that boasts the highest number of international institutions. The relationship between Catalonia and Poland and with the Baltic countries will be strengthened with a new delegation based in Warsaw led by Ewa Adela Cylwik. Specializing in Constitutional Law and Human Rights, Cylwik was born in Warswaw and speaks German, Russian, English, Spanish, and Catalan, in addition to Polish. The Catalan delegation in Scandinavia will be located in Copenhagen and will be led by Francesca Guardiola who has more than 30 years experience in public administration. Counting these new delegations, Catalonia will have a total of ten offices abroad; in the UK and Ireland, Brussels, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The Catalan Government maintains its commitment to call a referendum despite the hurdles set in their path by the Spanish Government. According to Catalan VP and left wing pro-independence ERC leader, Oriol Junqueras, the date of the referendum will be revealed “in two months time”. He considered that by then, the Catalonia cross-party National Alliance which is aiming for a negotiated agreement on the referendum, will have concluded its work. In a similar vein, Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, considered that the date has to be announced when there is absolutely no possible chance for a negotiated agreement. Earlier this week, radical left pro-independence CUP, governing coalition Junts Pel Sí's main partner, urged the Catalan executive to publish the date and the question of the referendum as soon as possible.

Barça battle the league's fourth-placed side at 7.30pm CET on Wednesday night at Camp Nou, where a victory will provisionally vault them over Real Madrid and into first place. The clash comes soon after Barça’s 4–1 victory at Granada on Sunday, meaning the Catalans have completed a grand total of two training sessions — a recovery session on Monday followed by a normal workout on Tuesday — in a race against the clock to prepare for a vital midweek test against a top-tier opponent that will almost certainly have major implications on the final standings when they are etched in stone in late May. Barça manager Luis Enrique Martínez was his unvarnished, candid self at Tuesday’s pre-game press conference, where he cast aside criticism of Los Blanquirrojos, in light of their recent stumbles, and heaped a pinch or two of flattery upon the Andalusian side. “I think we’re talking about an extraordinary season for them,” he said.

The Catalan Government admitted its outrage at the decision made by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) to temporarily suspend the budget which includes allocations for calling a referendum in September 2017. Nevertheless, Catalan Government spokeswoman, Neus Munté, insisted that the roadmap towards independence remains unchanged. “In the same way that our commitment [to calling a referendum] is unwavering, we also remain committed to opening a dialogue, speaking about and negotiating for what the majority of our citizens want,” she said to the press. On Tuesday the TC accepted the suit presented by the Spanish Government which claimed that those line items in the 2017 Catalan budget related to calling a referendum this September were illegal. Rajoy’s Executive also wants Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, and the other members of the Catalan Government to be personally notified of the suspension as well as the penal consequences of ignoring it. 

Spain’s budget for 2017 allocates €1.14 billion to invest in Catalonia, €30 million less than last year. However, as a percentage, the figure represents 13.4% of the total, which is higher than in 2016, which saw only 10.7% investment for Catalonia. The allocation is still below Catalonia’s contribution to Spain's GDP, which is 19%. Although most of the investment is oriented toward infrastructures, the figures are a far cry from the major investment that Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, announced last week for Catalonia. Indeed, he said that €4.2 billion will arrive in Catalonia by 2020. Spain's Minister of Finance, Cristóbal Montoro, admitted that the budget doesn’t include the promised measures and assured that the investment “will move forward in 2018”.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) accepted this Tuesday the suit presented by the Spanish Government which claimed that those line items in the 2017 Catalan budget oriented toward calling a referendum this September were illegal. The magistrates, which met in an extraordinary session to address only this matter, unanimously agreed to suspend these budget items for a period of 5 months, which could be extended if necessary. Rajoy’s Executive also wants Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, and the other members of the Catalan Government to be personally notified of the suspension as well as the penal consequences of ignoring it. In particular, the TC suspended two line items: one establishes €5 million for electoral processes and €0.8 million for participation and the other refers to the possibility of calling a referendum with or without the Spanish State's permission.

Unemployment in Catalonia fell by 10.7% in March in comparison to the same month last year, totaling 446,017 people. According to the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security, 6,325 people left the unemployment lists last month, which represents a slight 1.40% decline in comparison to February. However, with this drop, Catalonia has now registered 45 consecutive months of declining unemployment in annual terms. The number of jobless also fell across the whole of Spain. There were 48,559 fewer unemployed at the end of March and the number of people without a job totaled 3,702,317. Moreover, the number of unemployed in comparison to the same month last year fell by 9.58%, the highest decline registered in March since the beginning of the historic series.

FC Barcelona kept up their push for the league title on Sunday evening with a 4-1 win at Granada, with goals from Luis Suárez, Paco Alcácer, Ivan Rakitic and Neymar Jr. Without Leo Messi through suspension, it was up to his fellow forwards to step up and guide the team to victory, and so they did. It took fair while for the game to really get going after a timid start from both sides, but the first half soon became a one-on-one battle between Luis Suárez and Granada goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. Sunday’s 4-1 win at Granada for FC Barcelona made it 11 wins from 12 matches against the Andalusian club since their return to the top flight in 2011. In the last three seasons with Luis Enrique, Barça have won on three successive occasions in the Nuevo Los Cármenes stadium.