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Six MEPs from the Committee on Petitions visited the Ebro Delta, in Catalonia’s southern region of Tarragona, to meet the several petitioners who have claimed that Spain’s new National Water Plan (NWP) may infringe the EU Water Framework Directive. Environmentalists say one of Europe's most important wetland areas is under threat as Spain’s new Plan aims to reduce the river’s flow to 3,000 cubic hectometres per year and add 465,000 new hectares of irrigated lands to an already existing one million hectares, which will also contribute to cutting the sediment level dramatically. Besides the risk to the delta’s survival, the Platform for the Defence of the Ebro Delta (PDE) are worried that ultimately these waters could be transferred to other, drier regions of Spain. The visit of the EU delegation comes after 50,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Amposta in Catalonia on Sunday to protest against the plans.

The new Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs will be taken before the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) after Spain’s executive considered it to be in a “conflict of jurisdiction” and beyond the competences in matters of foreign action specified in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy.Thus, the Spanish government aims to stop the “internationalisation of the Catalan process”, the launching of which the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, defended  during his investiture ceremony. For his part, the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, assured that Catalonia “has done, does and will continue to do foreign action”. Former MEP and pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ leader Romeva also insisted on the “legitimacy” of the new department. In the same vein, the Catalan government’s spokeswoman, Neus Munté, assessed Spain’s announcement as typical of a “decadent” government.

The Catalan Ministry for Health has confirmed this Thursday two new cases of Zika virus infection in Catalonia. One of them is a pregnant woman, the first of this type of case detected in Catalonia. The woman is between 13 and 14 weeks pregnant and is said to have contracted the virus on a trip to Colombia. These new cases are to be added to the other four detected on Wednesday and there are thus now already six people, four men and two women, infected with the Zika virus. Zika is carried by mosquitoes and has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains. It is spreading through the Americas and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the disease linked to the virus a global public health emergency. 

The current Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, announced that the processing of the three laws which would prepare Catalonia for its disconnection process from Spain may be taken before the court. According to Rajoy, Spain’s legal services will analyse these laws and if evidence that they “could contradict what it is said in the Constitution” is found “the Spanish government will act as is has done up to now”. “The government is temporary, but the State, the Constitution and the laws are still in force” he warned. Rajoy also announced that the executive will approve this Friday a conflict of jurisdiction to be presented to the Spanish Constitutional Court regarding the creation of the new Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 

Valencia were supposed to be a tough test, but Luis Enrique’s squad passed with flying colours, squashin Valencia by a score of 7-0 and leaving FC Barcelona's coach a happy man. Luis Suárez's four goals outdid Messi's three and Barça will take towering lead to Mestalla for next week's second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals. The monumental win extends FC Barcelona’s unbeaten streak to a whopping 27 games across all competitions, just one shy of tying the Club’s all-time record. It is also their seventh straight victory at Camp Nou, during which they have scored 30 goals and given up only three. "After the number of games we’ve played recently, to see the team respond with fluidity and confidence is deserving of congratulations,” stated FC Barcelona’s coach, Luis Enrique Martínez. "We have a very important objective — to continue conquering titles and providing enjoyment to the fans," he said.

“Catalonia’s push for independence is for real and you have realised too late” stated Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, addressing the future Spanish government. During the first session of control in the Parliament, Puigdemont criticised the difficulty of the Spanish government in reaching an agreement. The Parliament has also approved this Wednesday an extension of the public budget for 2015,thanks to 5 votes in favour and 4 abstentions from radical left pro-independence CUP. Cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and CUP described this extension as “fundamental” to launching the social action plan. The pro-independence parties also lodged this Wednesday the request to start creating the legal framework which would allow the disconnection process from Spain to be started.

This Wednesday, Spain’s king Philip VI requested Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sánchez to start the negotiations with the other groups in the Spanish Parliament so that the first investiture debate can take place. Sánchez assured that he is “aware of the difficulties” but expressed his will to “unblock the current situation” in Spain. PSOE obtained 90 seats from the 350 in the Spanish Parliament and would therefore need the support of both alternative left ‘Podemos’ (68 seats) and anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans (40 seats) to reach the absolute majority. However, Podemos has openly expressed its support for holding a referendum in Spain, while both PSOE and Ciutadans have repeatedly rejected the possibility of holding such a poll. The Conservative People’s Party (PP), the party currently governing Spain, obtained 123 MPs in the 20^th of December Spanish elections. 

The initiative will set up Catalonia as a point of reference in Europe regarding this kind of medicine. The agreement between the Catalan government and a consortium led by the Beijing government also includes actions in the fields of higher education, research, health and culture. For example, an official master’s degree in Chinese traditional medicine will be taught in collaboration with two Catalan universities, the Universitat de Barcelona (UB) and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), and alongside with Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. The project has been promoted by the Catalan Ministry for Business and Knowledge, through the area which focuses on attracting foreign investment, ACCIÓ – Catalonia Trade & Investment, and the Secretary for Universities and Research.

Unemployment in Catalonia grew by 0.47% in January, which represents a 11% decrease in comparison to the same month last year. Thus, the first month of the year saw 2,412 people added to the unemployment list, which now totals 518,080 and represents the best January in terms of unemployment since 2007, according to the Spanish Ministry of Employment and Social Security. The number of contracts in January dropped by 5.91% and totalled 202,894, representing 12,752 less than in December. This is mainly due to the termination of many seasonal contracts. In the whole of Spain, the number of unemployed grew by 57,247 people and now totals 4,150,755. 

The 17^th edition of Barcelona’s 080 Fashion week started this Monday and is taking place at the iconic Casa Llotja de Mar in Barcelona throughout the week. The opening catwalk featured the previous edition’s National Award to Emerging Designer winner CarlotaOms. The eventwill combine offerings from newcomers such as Pau Esteve with those of consolidated firms such as Custo Barcelona and Sita Murt. Besides the fashion shows, 080 Barcelona Fashion will also host many other parallel activities bringing together different points of view on fashion. One of the highlights of this edition is the presence of Manolo Blahnik, the shoe designer and global icon, who will present his book ‘Fleeting Gestures and Obsessions’. The event will also pay tribute to designer Pedro Rodríguez.

The Catalan Film Academy celebrated this Sunday its annual Gaudí Awards ceremony, which recognises Catalan productions with a significant presence of Catalan artistic and technical staff.The debut film ‘El camí més llarg per tornar a casa’ directed by Sergi Pérez won the award for best film in Catalan language. ‘Truman’, starring Argentinian actor Ricardo Darín, won in six categories, including best film in non-Catalan language, best director for Cesc Gay, best actor in a leading role for Darín and best supporting roles for Javier Cámara and Dolores Fonzi. ‘El Rey de la Habana’ (‘The King of Havana’) and ‘Anacleto Agente Secreto’ (‘Anacleto, Secret Agent’) won four Gaudís each. 

If Catalonia proclaims its independence, the international community will in the end “accommodate itself to the new reality”, stated former Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson. “Don’t be scared by scaremongering. In the end, all nations and all political leaders have to accommodate themselves to new realities” he assured in an interview with CNA. Although he predicted that proclaiming independence outside of the law will at first be considered “illegal” for the international community, “freezing Catalonia out forever” would be “nonsense”. Baldvin Hannibalsson recognised the Baltic States’ independence in 1991, when neither the United States nor the European powers dared to do so for fear of confronting the USSR.

The Catalan banking group Banc Sabadell earned €708.4 million in 2015, according to figures published by the company. This result is 90.6% higher than that obtained in 2014. The good result of Banc Sabadell in 2015 is mainly due to the integration of the UK bank TSB in June, which added accounts worth €122 million. Without this operation, Banc Sabadell’s net profits would only had grown by 57.8%. Thus, net interest income, which measures the bank’s ordinary activity of receiving deposits and authorising credit, was €3.203 billion, 41.7% higher than in 2014. The internationalisation of Banc Sabadell has already been consolidated and 32% of the credits were authorised abroad. In 2014, this percentage was 6%. The default rate, which has dropped to 7.79%, 5 points less than in 2014, also contributed to Banc Sabadell’s positive result.

Catalonia’s most important bank and one of the most significant companies in the whole of Spain, CaixaBank, obtained net profits of €814 million in 2015. This figure is 31.4% higher than what the entity earned in 2014. According to CaixaBank’s president, Isidre Fainé, this result is due to the gross margin, which reached €7,726 million (11.3% more than 2014), the containment of recurrent expenditure (which dropped to 1.2%) and a lower level of default allocations (the rate of which dropped to 23.6%). In fact, the default rate fell to 7.9%, including Barclays’ loan portfolios. In September 2014, CaixaBank bought the Spanish section of Barclays, Barclays Bank SAU, for €800 million.

The Parliament started to constitute this Thursday the 29 committees of this term of office. One of the most controversial is the Study Committee for the Constitutive Process, which has been set up to put in place the basis of the pro-independence process. Muriel Casals, former president of the cultural association promoting the Catalan language and culture, Òmnium Cultural, described the committee as a place “to share and contrast different opinions”. Another significant committee which has officially constituted is that for Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, Institutional Relations and Transparency, despite the Spanish executive’s decision to take this new department before the court due to its alleged violation of some of the Spanish government’s competences. The constitution of the committees marked the beginning of the Parliament’s legislative action.