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After eight years of losses, SEAT has pulled itself out of the red, earning €6 million in profits after taxes in 2015. This marks an end of a period of struggle with a record turnover of 8,332 million (up 11 percent on 2014), stated SEAT CEO Luca de Meo. He also hopes that the success in 2015 will help the company maintain its momentum as it pushes into 2016 with the manufacture of a new SUV vehicle as well as the release of three other car models over the next 18 months. Although the company has faced significant challenges in the face of a recovering auto industry, SEAT has seen increasing demand from southern Europe in Italy and Spain, as well as in Germany, where the company made 90,000 of their 400,000 car sales in 2015. 

In 2015, Barcelona saw 740 million euros from American home-sharing website Airbnb, through which over 800,000 guests connected with over 9,000 hosts. This number marks an increase in guests, in amount earned, and in overnight stays. This year also saw a shift in lodging location as the rented spaces are no longer primarily centred in the historic ‘Ciutat Vella’ neighbourhood. By the website´s data, Barcelona is now the fourth most important destination, preceded by Paris, London, and New York. CNA spoke to CEO of Airbnb in Spain and Portugal Arnaldo Muñoz, who explains the negotiations in progress between the company and the Catalan and Barcelona authorities. 

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, will promote a common front with other Autonomous Communities in Spain to report to the EU that the Spanish government is failing to fulfil its promises regarding the construction of the Mediterranean corridor. This long-awaited railway corridor is set to transport freight and passengers non-stop from Gibraltar to Central Europe and would connect the Spanish Mediterranean ports, which are a gateway to North Africa and represent 50% of the Spanish population and wealth. According to Puigdemont, the Spanish State “is failing to fulfil” their promises and “Europe as a whole” will have to “pay the price for it”. Thus, he announced the constitution of a strategic board with Autonomic governments, chambers of commerce, trade unions and businesspersons associations to unblock the situation.  

The Catalan capital reached an agreement with Athens to host 100 refugees from those living in camps in the Greek capital. This compromise is the first stage of a collaboration programme between both cities, which may be enhanced by the respective mayors in the near future. Since the competences regarding the refugees’ hosting depend on the Spanish State, Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, will send a letter to the current Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, so that the necessary procedures can be started as soon as possible. In the same vein, Colau criticised Spain’s inactivity on this matter, pointing out that the Spanish government “took the compromise to relocate 16,000 people and have only relocated 18”, she stated.

Rome, 1948: artist Savador Dalí and director Luchino Visconti, introduced by Coco Chanel, collaborate on a unique rendition of Shakespeare´s pastoral play ‘As You Like It’. The exhibition ‘Dali, Shakespeare, Visconti’ features photos and material from the scenography of the staging, and is on exhibition at the Castle of Púbol, a town in the region of Girona in Catalonia. The exhibition, which was also created in commemoration of the 400-year anniversary of Shakespeare´s death in 1616, will run from Tuesday the 15th of March until the 6th of January.

The leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) says the plans are “illegal and unilateral” but that he could offer a better fiscal settlement to Catalonia. The Catalan President and the Spanish presidential hopeful met on Tuesday in Barcelona in the first of what they hope could be a series of meetings to restart the dialogue between Madrid and Barcelona. The Catalan President thanked Sánchez for his willingness to talk to him, but regretted his comments about a potential “coexistence crisis” in Catalonia.

The Barcelona airport at El Prat de Llobregat registered an increase in almost all aspects in the month of February. Thanks to the Mobile World Congress (MWC), international passengers registered an increase of 22% while the number of domestic passengers rose by 16.9%. These numbers contributed to the 20.4% overall growth in total passengers for the month, along with a 13.3% growth in the number of operations. Compared to the same period in 2015, the amount of cargo and merchandise transported also grew, registering an increase of 18.3% and 18.6% respectively. The Catalan airport also saw an increase in annual terms, with 17.4% more passengers and 9.4% more operations than before.

The Catalan Vice president and Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté, told CNA that the case against the celebration of the 9-N participatory process should already be “closed”. “It is a political trial”, she criticised after the Catalan Supreme Court decided on Monday to refer the case to the Spanish Supreme Court. The decision was prompted by the fact that one of the public figures being investigated in the trial is current member of the Spanish Congress and former Spokesman of the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs. “Following the law’s logic and democracy, no one should be prosecuted for putting the ballot boxes out there and allowing people to express their voice”, Munté said.

The leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and Spanish president hopeful Pedro Sánchez asked the Catalan President to meet in Barcelona to discuss his investiture. The talks will include issues such as the Catalan and the Spanish political situation, a source from the Catalan Government has revealed to CNA. The Socialist leader, who was twice defeated in Congress, wants to present to Puigdemont his government proposal, which includes an agreement with unionist Ciutadans. The Catalan President will defend during the meeting the belief that allowing a referendum in Catalonia is essential to passing the investiture vote. Ciutadans has already warned Sánchez that they will walk away if he grants a referendum to Catalonia.

The Zurich Insurance group will establish its new global data centre in Barcelona, as was divulged by the company CEO Vincente Cancio last Thursday. The opening of the global data centre, which is a two-year project, will establish 200 jobs. These positions will add to the existing 250 which the Zurich Group has already created in Barcelona. The company has over 2,000 employees and more than 130 years of presence in Spain.

Picasso, Manet, Degas, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Courbet and other outstanding names within the Impressionist and Modern Art movement are amongst the prestigious art collection assembled by American collector Duncan Phillips. Now, for the first time, some of their masterpieces will be displayed in Barcelona. ‘Conversations: Impressionist and Modern Masterworks from The Phillips Collection’, which includes around sixty referential works from the 19th century, will be shown at the CaixaForum museum until the 19th of June.

Festival Cruïlla Barcelona has unveiled more artists that will perform at the seventh edition of the celebration, which is to be held on the 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th of July. The newly confirmed artists in the festival´s line-up are Robert Plant, along with The Sensational Space Shifters, Crystal Fighters, Cat Power, Skunk Anansie and Esperanza Spalding, amongst many others. However, one of the most outstanding artists confirmed is Robert Plant, the iconic voice of Led Zeppelin. He will perform the album ‘Lullaby…and the Ceaseless Roar’ for the first time in Spain with the accompaniment of The Sensational Space Shifters. The festival has also announced its daily concert schedule, and that it is keeping its pass price at 90 euros. 

Local gastronomy and wine form the focus of Catalonia’s tourism strategy for this year. Coinciding with its selection as the European Region of Gastronomy 2016, the Catalan Tourism Agency (ACT) is promoting a wide range of routes, mainly designed to do by bike, which combine sport, nature and the main wine denomination of origin areas. ITB Berlin is the biggest tourism fair in Europe and one of the most important in this sector worldwide. “We have to be here”, stated ACT’s President, Xavier Espasa. Regarding the German market, which is the third country of origin in terms of number of tourists, this is “getting more sophisticated” and appreciates Catalonia as a diverse destination, more than just the usual attractions, which reinforces the idea that it goes further than sun, beaches and Barcelona.

The European Parliament has approved a new Port Services Regulation (PSR) which grants each port the legislative power to regulate its own rates and internal structure. This new regulation could end the “hypercentralism” of the Puertos del Estado, the government-run sector which controls the ports in Spain. As the Port of Barcelona has seen more and more traffic in the last few years, this could allow for it to truly ¨thrive”, by allowing it to lower its rates to more competitive prices, and opening it to becoming a European port for international commerce. The conservative People’s Party (PP), the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), and Unionist Ciutadans all voted against the legislation. 

The National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) reviewed what its 2016 exhibitions would consist of, although the showings unofficially begun in December of 2015. The star exhibition of the season will be ´Picasso and Romanesque Art´, a joint venture with the Picasso Museum in Paris. Besides this, other exhibition centred onLuis “el Divino” Morales, Renaissance painting, 20^th century photography and features on several Catalan artists, such as Lluïsa Vidal and Ismael Smith, will complete the MNAC’s agenda for 2016. The MNAC’s director, Pepe Serra, celebrated that the museum is finally “starting to have a normal planning rhythm for a museum of its size” which will allow the MNAC’s calendar to synchronise with “other international museums”.