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The final phase of construction of the Sagrada Família basilica in Barcelona has begun. In two years’ time, the six central towers will already be visible and by 2023 they will be complete, making it the tallest religious building in Europe. Barcelona’s most iconic building is expected to be completed by 2026, to coincide with the 100^th anniversary of architect Antoni Gaudí’s death. The construction work is currently focused on the transept, a room that wasn’t planned by Gaudí, and that is set to bear the weight of Jesus tower, the biggest one, which will be 172.5 m high. The transept room will also be used as a landing space for visitors before they start the ascent to the tower. Audiovisual projections showing the progress of the work on the building will also be exhibited in the transept room, which has already been set up with stone stands for visitors. The work on Sagrada Familia represents 25 million euros in annual investment and the basilica is visited by more than 3 million people every year.

The Manga Fair opened its doors this Thursday in Barcelona and will be the meeting point for comic and Japanese culture lovers until Sunday. This year the event has increased both the number of visitors and that of the companies and professionals taking part, and consequently the fair’s exhibition space in Montjuic’s Fira de Barcelona has been extended to 60,000 m². The fair commemorates this year the 30^th anniversary of one of the most iconic characters of Japanese culture and the international video games industry: Super Mario Bros. Another outstanding exhibition at this 21^st edition shows the influence of Gaudí’s architecture within Japanese culture and the work of Japanese architects in Barcelona. The 70^th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings is also a topic which is taken into account at the fair and around which some exhibitions are centred. The organisers of the fair expect to welcome more than 130,000 visitors. A good sign of this high participation is the tickets for the weekend, which have already sold out. 

More than 7,000 catalans living abroad couldn’t exercise their democratic right to vote in the past 27-S elections. Catalan Minister for Public Administration, Mertixell Borràs accused Electoral Roll Office of “violating fundamental rights” by denying the government’s petition to extend the postal vote for those Catalans living abroad but contradictorily accepting to do so for soldiers and Catalans living in other parts of Spain.. “We warned that we won’t stand on the side lines and we haven’t” stated Borràs and announced that the Catalan Government presented an appeal to the Supreme Court to “assume responsabilities”. “It is clear that irregularities did happen in the months and weeks before the 27-S” and “someone must be held accountable, whether it is someone in the Postal Service, the Foreign Ministry, or the Electoral Roll office” she stated. “We have to make sure that this won’t happen again and that such an absurd situation won’t  go unpunished”. 

FC Barcelona have some work to do in the second leg of their Copa del Rey round of 32 tie with Villanovense after the plucky third tier side managed to hold them to a surprise 0-0 draw on Wednesday night. Luis Enrique opted for a very different starting line-up to the Barça team we are used to, with Douglas at right back and Masip in goal getting their first starts of the season. The promising young Cameroonian Wilfrid Kaptoum made his first team debut in midfield in partnership with Gumbau and Samper, while Adriano was fielded in an unfamiliar attacking role alongside Sandro Ramírez and Munir. The Catalans never quite managed to settle, and rather than sit back and defend, the home side had clearly come out to play ball too. As the half progressed, Villanovense grew in confidence and the crowd in the Romero Cuerda were loving every moment of it. There was a lot more urgency to Barça’s style after the break, but despite dominating a massive 75% of the possession, there was nothing in the way of clear-cut chances until Sandro fired a screaming shot from the edge of the area that only just failed to find the target.

Catalonia received more than 190 million euros from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, the most important initiative in the EU in terms of innovation and R&D. In the past year and a half, Catalan innovative companies and research projects received 2.6% of the total that the EC has given out so far, representing a higher figure  proportional to Catalonia’s population weight within Europe (1.5%).“Catalonia’s R&D system is one of the most productive and successful in Europe”stated general director of Recerca, Josep Maria Martorell, head of the entity which executes and promotes research and innovation initiatives in Catalonia. “During the first year of Horizon 2020, Catalonia has multiplied by 3.5 what was raised in the first year of the previous European funding programme, the FP7”he added. Most of the 142 companies which received Horizon 2020 funds were SMEs and this allowed them carry out feasibility analysis and be able to fund their R&D activities, so that their projects could be launched. The Horizon 2020 programme, launched last year, has an 80 billion euros budget until 2020.

The Parliament Bureau has temporarily suspended the declaration that pro-independence forces ‘Junts Pel Sí’and CUP handed over on Tuesday to start the “disconnection process”from Spain. The decision comes in response to the request of two other groups represented in the Catalan Parliament, the second most voted list in the 27-S elections, anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC). The Catalan People’s Party (PPC) also supported the petition but didn’t present any formal request to stop the pro-independence forces’declaration, as they haven’t constituted themselves as a parliamentary group yet. In fact, it is necessary that all the forces in the Chamber are constituted as parliamentary groups, otherwise the Parliament’s Bureau won’t be able to listen to all the spokespersons and make a definitive decision on how to proceed with the declaration.

Barça begin the defence of the Copa del Rey title won last season with a visit to Second Division B side Villanovense in the first leg of their last 32 tie. The club from the town of Villanueva de la Serena face the biggest day in their 23 year history and have increased the capacity of their Romero Cuerda Stadium from 3,000 to 11,000 especially for the visit of the blaugranes for the game which kicks off this Wednesday at 8.30pm CET. The blaugrana coach named his squad after the session and although there were some notable absentees from the 16 man list,  Luis Enrique revealed that he would have liked to have selected more B team players in the squad. "We are limited in the number of Barça B players that we can use. I would like more players to rest, but that's what the rule is and it has to be followed.” he stated. Barça have won their last nine matches in the Copa del Rey, culminating in the victory over Athletic Bilbao last season in the final at Camp Nou.

Spanish police entered this morning the house of the President of the Catalan Government between 1980 and 2003 and founder of the centre-right Catalan nationalist coalition CiU in the 1970s, Jordi Pujol. The officers searched for documentation related to Pujol’s eldest son, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, who is currently indicted for alleged fiscal fraud and money laundering and at the centre of most of the ongoing judicial investigations involving the family. 15 other addresses were also searched this morning by Spanish police, including Jordi Pujol Jr’s office and other residences and companies related to Pujol’s eldest son’s businesses in Barcelona and Madrid. The operation is run by the Spanish 'Audiencia Nacional', which is a court investigating and ruling on organised crime, terrorism and international fiscal offences. Earlier this year, former Catalan President and founder of the centre-right Catalan nationalist coalition CiU in the 1970s Jordi Pujol, his wife Marta Ferrusola, and most of their 7 children testified before the Barcelona-based judge investigating the case.

Cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP, the two main forces supporting Catalonia’s independence in the Parliament, handed over an agreed declaration which establishes “the start of the process to create the independent Catalan State in the form of a Republic”. The document states that “the process of democratic disconnection won’t be subject to Spanish institutions’ decisions, particularly those from the Spanish Constitutional Court, which is regarded as discredited and without competences”. In fact, the declaration urges the new government to “obey exclusively those mandates produced” by the Parliament. The document considers it appropriate to start within a maximum of 30 days the processing of the laws for the constituent process, social security and the creation of a Catalan public tax office. The proposal will have to be voted on in an extraordinary plenary session to be held before the new president is instated.

Catalonia constituted today the first Parliament with a pro-independence majority amongst its members. Number two of cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' ('Together for Yes'), Carme Forcadell has been elected the 8th President of the Parliament (since the chamber was restored after Franco's dictatorship), and is the second woman to hold the charge, after her predecessor Núria de Gispert. "This 11th term of office, is the last from the autonomic period" stated Forcadell during her taking office speech and emphasised that the chamber will turn from a "regional limited Parliament" into a "national and sovereign" one. Forcadell, former president of Catalan National Assembly (ANC), the grass-roots association responsible for the massive rallies on Catalonia's National Day in 2012, 2013 and 2014, obtained 77 votes from 'Junts Pel Sí', radical left pro-independence CUP and half of the members of alternative left coalition 'Catalunya Sí que es Pot'. 57 MPs voted blank and there was 1 invalid ballot.

The Catalans rode the brute strength of their Uruguayan striker to another come-from-behind victory in La Liga, this time by a score of 3–1 at Camp Nou. Eibar opened the scoring in the 10th minute on Sunday, when Borja González struck home a long rebound following a diving stop by Barça goalkeeper Claudio Bravo. The Uruguayan first drew Barça even at 1–1 on the stroke of 22 minutes when he headed home a beautiful one-touch volley from Sandro Ramírez. Three minutes after the break Suárez put Barça into the lead with his second goal. Suárez's sealed his hat-trick, his second since debuting for Barça exactly one-year ago to the day, and the win, in the 84th minute. The victory was Barça’s third straight across all competitions, following last week’s win over Rayo and Tuesday’s Champions League triumph at Bate Borisov, and allows them to keep pace at the top of the La Liga table.

From the 26^th of October to the 1^st of November, the 55 cultural amenities, including theatres, festivals and museums that take part in 'Apropa Cultura' will try to make their presence more visible. 'Apropa Cultura' is a pioneer initiative in Europe which aims to open culture to those sectors of society which are at risk, such as people with intellectual and physical disabilities, women who have fallen victim to domestic violence and people with drug addiction problems, amongst others. During this week, nearly 1,500 social organisations will hold meetings between social groups and artists during more than 200 cultural outings. For their part, the amenities involved in 'Apropa Cultura' will extend their cultural programme and make cheaper tickets available, set aside for these target groups. 

Current Catalan President, Artur Mas stated this Friday that "the public tender system of the Catalan Government is flawless. There are no mistakes nor possibilities to influence it in a partisan or personal way", regarding the accusations of bad practice in relation to assessing public contracts. Mas appeared before the Parliament to comment on the recent phase of the 'Petrum' anti-corruption operation, which investigates whether companies paid a 3% commission to the party foundation 'CatDem' in exchange for public contracts. "The CatDem did receive contributions from companies, it is legal, public and specified in many documents" stated President Mas "if we don't like the legal system, we must change it rather than criminalise it" and added that "other parties' foundations have also received commissions from these companies". Mas also slammed the Spanish Guardia Civil searches as "a show" that pursues "hurting rather than investigating".

Catalonia is still the leading Autonomous Community in Spain in terms of tourism, even before the Balearic Islands, and accounts for 25.1% of the overall total of visits by foreigners. 1,797,966 tourists from all over the world visited Catalonia in September, according to the poll 'Frontur', published this Thursday by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism. The figure is 0,1% lower than in the same period last year, when 1,801,736 foreigners visited Catalonia and is due to the decrease in the number of Russian and Italian visitors. Tourists from the UK still lead the ranking of foreign visitors, followed by Germans. Visits from France and the US grew the most. Nearly 14 million international tourists visited Catalonia from January to September, which is 3.2% higher than the same period last year.

The Spanish People's Party promoted a resolution this Wednesday during the European People's Party (EPP) Statutory Congress in Madrid to guarantee that the party won't recognise the legality of secessionist processes in EU. "Any self-proclaimed sovereignty process aimed at unilaterally declaring the secession of territories forming part of Member States is beyond the realms of legality and, therefore, will not be recognized as legal by the other Member States" reads the text. The resolution was approved by simple majority and all 16 MEPs from Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) voted against the resolution. "We support a position which is balanced between autonomies' rights and territories' integrity" stated CSU's spokesman at the EPP meeting, Reinhold Bocklet. "We don't like to be involved in Spain's internal problems" he concluded. Other groups also voted against the resolutions and there were many abstentions, in a Statutory Congress that was attended by 14 Heads of Member States.