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The number of people registered on the unemployment lists in Catalonia in February stood at 452,342 people, 1,581 fewer than in January, according to the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security. This February’s fall is the smallest registered for this month in the last 21 years. In annual terms, Catalonia has now listed 44 consecutive months of declining unemployment, since July 2013. Indeed, February has usually been a month with decreasing unemployment, except during the worst years of the economic crisis. The number of contracts registered in February stood at 222,369 units, the highest figure for the month of February since 2006. In the whole of Spain, unemployment also fell in February. There were 9,355 fewer unemployed than in January and the number of people without a job totalled 3,750,876.

After 8 years of investigation, the main names behind the so-called ‘Palau case’ will testify before the court this Wednesday. The judge accuses former governing party ‘Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya’ (CDC), which ruled in Catalonia in coalition with Christian Democrat Unió for more than 20 years, of illicitly receiving €5.1 million from the construction company Ferrovial through donations made to Barcelona’s Palau de la Música concert hall. The judge, Josep Maria Pijuan, believes the money was allegedly given in exchange for the allocation of public work contracts. Fèlix Millet and Jordi Montull, the main managers of Palau de la Música at that time, have been the main focus of attention during the investigation, since there was evidence that they might have stolen €26 million from the cultural organisation for their personal benefit. CDC, now renamed as PDeCAT have repeatedly claimed that the accusations “have not been proven” and former Catalan President, Artur Mas, insisted he believed in the word given by the party former treasurer, Daniel Osàcar, who has been indicted by the judge.

4 Years From Now (4YFN), is the start-up business platform launched by the Mobile World Capital Barcelona that enables start-ups, investors and corporations to connect and launch new ventures together. During its opening this Monday within the Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona, Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget described it as “great showcase” and emphasised its growing influence. “It has become a reference point in Europe”, he said. Indeed, this year the 4YFN has seen its surface area multiplied by 8 in comparison to its first edition, three years ago. Thus, it has gathered together a record 600 start-ups and 700 investors. In line with this expansion, the 4YFN promotors announced that the platform will also be launched in San Francisco.

‘En Comú Podem’, the alternative left coalition which won the last Spanish Elections in Catalonia, obtaining 12 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament, bid for “finding alliances” and “fighting for the recognition of Catalonia’s right to decide” before setting out other scenarios “which are not real yet”. These are some of the key points which ‘En Comú Podem’ leader, Xavier Domènech, presented this Tuesday at a press conference in the European Parliament. According to Domènech, achieving European support to hold a referendum in Catalonia is a task which should be pursued “through persistence rather than urgency”. In this vein, he admitted that “the Spanish State’s pressure” to diminish international support for the referendum “are public and obvious”. Domènech insisted on his party’s bid for holding “a referendum with all the guarantees” in Catalonia rather than “a 9-N plus”, that is to say, a repetition of the symbolic vote on independence which took place in 2014

Former Catalan Minister for Presidency and Catalan European Democratic Party (PDCeCAT) spokesperson in the Spanish Parliament, Francesc Homs, testified before the Spanish Supreme Court this Monday over the 9-N symbolic vote on independence, which took place in 2014. Homs responded to the Public Prosecutor’s accusation of disobedience and perversion of justice for co-organising the consultation and insisted that the resolution from the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) “was not concrete”. Moreover, he assured that the executive “couldn’t do any anything else” but allow the symbolic vote to take place, since “ideological freedom and freedom of speech were at stake”. Homs said he admitted to “all the acts” he is accused of “and even more”, but doubted that they “constitute a crime”. In early February, former Catalan President, Artur Mas, and former Catalan Ministers Irene Rigau and Joana Ortega already testified before Barcelona’s High Court over the same case.

The judicial process against Catalan politicians that helped to organise the non-binding consultation on independence on the 9th of November 2014 continues. This Monday, former Catalan Government spokesman and MP for the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDCeCAT) testifies before the Spanish Supreme Court for disobedience and perversion of justice when co-organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence, in which 2.3 million citizens expressed their opinion about Catalonia’s political future. The Prosecutor’s temporary conclusions stated that Homs “didn’t suspend any of the articles which allowed the consultation to take place and which were accountable to the Department of the Presidency” which Homs led at that time. The document emphasises that former Catalan President, Artur Mas’ right-hand man was “absolutely aware” that “by doing so he violated the mandatory compliance of the Spanish Constitutional Court’s decisions”. Thus, the Prosecutor demands a 9-year ban from public office.

From the 27th of February to the 2nd of March, the Catalan capital will host the 12th edition of the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the world’s largest event of the mobile and cell phone-related industries. Last year’s edition surpassed its record and registered 101,000 visitors, which passed through the 2,200 stands distributed across two different venues, L’Hospitalet Gran Via and Fira de Montjuic. This year due to the international terrorist alert, the security measures will be strongly increased. For the first time ever, some of the access will be protected with bollards and concrete fences to prevent vehicles from bursting in the facilities. The security measures will go beyond the MWC’s venues and extend to the neighbouring areas and those aimed at holding parallel activities. The number of security officers in the public transport will also be increased during the MWC’s week.

Catalonia’s Public Prosecutor presented this Thursday a new lawsuit against Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell and the three members of the Parliament’s Bureau which belong to governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, that is to say Anna Simó, Lluis Corominas and Ramona Barrufet. They are accused of disobedience and perversion of justice for allowing the Chamber to vote on the proposal for a referendum. However, the Public Prosecutor didn’t bring any action against Joan Josep Nuet, also a member of the Parliament’s Bureau, after considering that he didn’t aim to launch any “political project which disrespects the Constitution of 1978”. This is the second lawsuit against Forcadell presented by the Public Prosecutor and is expected to be added to her prosecution for having allowed a democratic debate on Catalonia’s independence in the Catalan Chamber on the 27th of July.

Former Duke of Mallorca and the Spanish King’s brother-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarín, won’t go to prison for perversion of justice, fraud and money laundering. Less than a week after being sentenced to six years, this Thursday Palma de Mallorca’s court has ultimately acquitted him. Thus, Urdangarín is now free to return to Switzerland, were he currently lives, and will have to appear before the court in that country once per month while he waits for the Supreme Court's final verdict. His business partner Diego Torres, also sentenced to eight years and six months in prison for his role in the ‘Nóos case’ eluded prison as well. However, the court ordered the confiscation of his passport. The ‘Nóos case’ operation investigated how Urdangarín’s non-profit foundation, the Nóos Institute, obtained no-bid contracts from regional governments, mainly in the Balearic Islands.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, responded to the report published this Wednesday by the newspaper ‘La Vanguardia’ revealing that Puigdemont and Spanish President, Mariano Rajoy, met secretly on the 11th of January. “There are no negotiations and they are not expected either”, he stated during the plenary session. The Catalan President added that “as soon as such negotiations happen to take place” the Parliament “will have all the information required”. Rajoy has neither confirmed nor denied that such a secret meeting between the two representatives took place. The report came after the delegate of the Spanish Government in Catalonia, Enric Millo, unleashed the controversy by assuring that the Spanish and the Catalan governments have held meetings “at all levels” and that some of them “were not made public”.

Catalan exports totalled €65.14 billion in 2016 and set a new record for the sixth consecutive year, according to data released by the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness. The figure not only represents a 2% increase in comparison to last year but a higher growth than that registered in the whole of Spain (1.7%) and the Eurozone (0.17%). Thus, Catalonia continues to lead exports in the whole of Spain. This good trend is the result of “the persistent and permanent efforts of Catalan companies, which are amongst the most internationalised in our environs”, explained Catalan Secretary for Business and Competitiveness, Joan Aregio. The sectors which grew the most in 2016 in terms of exports were equipment goods (+10.4%), followed by chemical products (+1.3%). On the other hand, exports in the automotive sector fell by 0.4%.

Catalonia’s oldest prison, ‘Model’, will finally close its doors this summer, the Catalan Ministry for Justice announced on Monday. The inmates, currently more than 900, will be first relocated to Brians 1 prison, about 40 kilometres south of Barcelona and Mas Enric, in the Tarragona region. “Not closing the prison would have implied 25 MEUR worth of repairs”, Catalan Minister for Justice, Carles Bundó, explained. However, closing ‘Model’ doesn’t only respond to the need for reforms but to a historic vindication from both neighbours and associations. Since its opening in 1904, the prison has been the scene of almost 1,000 executions and is regarded as a symbol of the darkest episodes in Spain’s history. Once the facility is finally emptied Barcelona City Council will put a reform plan into effect to reform and give a new function to this historic building located in the centre of the city.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and the Catalan Ministers received this Tuesday the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC)’s notice informing them that the proposal to hold a referendum on independence in 2017 passed by the Catalan Parliament has ultimately been suspended. The document, which washand delivered by two judicial secretaries from Catalonia’s Supreme Court, warns the Government of the consequences they may incur if they disobey the resolution. The proposal, presented and approved by governing cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and pro-independence radical left CUP reaffirmed “Catalonia’s imprescriptible and inalienable right to self-determination” and called the Government “to hold a binding referendum on Catalonia’s independence” which would have to take place “in September 2017 at the latest and have a clear and binary question”.

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont called once again for the Spanish Government to lay their proposal for Catalonia on the table, in the case that they have one. “We do have a concrete proposal, which is clear and has been endorsed by the citizens”, he said this Monday in Toulouse, after meeting with the MEDEF Occitanie, a French businessmen’s association. “If the Spanish State has any proposal which we are not aware of, we call them to put it on the table”, he added and emphasised that Catalonia has long been willing to negotiate. The “problem”, he lamented, is that there is no one to negotiate with. Puigdemont’s statements came after the delegate of the Spanish Government in Catalonia, Enric Millo, assured that the dialogue between both governments “exists at all levels” and that the Government in Madrid “is working to find a way out” of the political situation in Catalonia.

Catalan director Carla Simón’s opera prima ‘Estiu 1993’ has won Best First Feature Award at the Berlinale Film Festival. Moreover, the International Jury awarded the film with the Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus, ‘ex aequo’ with Chinese film ‘Become who I was’, by Chang-Yong Moon. ‘Estiu 1993’ tells the story of Frida, a 6-year-old girl who faces the first summer with her new adoptive family, after her mum died from AIDS. The film, whose main character played by young actress Laia Artigas captivated the jury, is based on the director’s own childhood. Ildikó Enyedi’s Hungarian drama “On Body and Soul” won the Golden Bear for best film at the 67^th Berlinale. The international jury, headed by Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven, handed out prizes far and wide, awarding a broad range of international works.