Search: null

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.    

The number of jobless people in Catalonia at the end of the third quarter stood at 659,600, which means 66,500 less than in the same period last year. The 17.49% unemployment rate is the lowest in the last five years, according to the Active Population Survey (EPA) published this Thursday by the Spanish Institute of Statistics (INE). Catalonia is the Autonomous Community which led job creation in Spain:between July and September, 35,800 jobs were created, mainly in the service sector, due to seasonal contracts. In Spain as a whole, unemployment fell by nearly 300,000 people and 182,000 new jobs were created. The overall number of jobless people in Spain now stands at 4.8 million, a figure that hasn't been registered in the last four years and is below the 5 million  psychological barrier. 

The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker assured that he is for a "unified Europe" and against facing "more divisions" in Europe. "We won't accept divisions in Europe anymore. We already suffered a lot during the Second World War, after the war and during the Cold War". Juncker made these statements this morning at an event in Madrid, just before attending the European People's Party meeting that will be held in the Spanish capital and that is set to pass a declaration in defence of the unity of the EU's Member States. Juncker emphasised that "Spain is not a compilation of divisions and compartments, but a coherent set" and took the chance to support Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's administration as head of the Spanish executive. 

The plenary session to constitute the new Catalan Parliament will be on the 26^th of October next. Current Catalan President, Artur Mas, having used up the maximum legal term for doing so, signed this Wednesday the decree which establishes the constitution of the new chamber. However, there are still some pending issues regarding the composition of the new Catalan Parliament. The negotiations between cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' and radical left pro-independence CUP regarding who will be President have yet to be concluded and the future composition of the Parliament's Bureau isn't clear either, as anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans, alternative-left coalition 'Catalunya Sí que es Pot', Catalan Socialist Party PSC and Catalan People's Party PPC demand that 'Junts Pel Sí' not have an absolute majority in the Bureau. 

Breaking down BATE Borisov proved to be as tricky as Luis Enrique had suggested before the game. The first fifteen minutes were a monologue in the BATE half, the visitors playing with confidence and generating chance after chance. All that changed in practically the first move after the break. Rakitic, who stepped in to take Sergi Roberto's place, sent a trademark long-range strike unstoppably into the top left corner of the BATE net. It wouldn’t be long before he was celebrating his second. In the 64th minute he received an exquisite assist from Neymar and cheekily tipped it over BATE keeper Chernik to extend his team’s lead. Three points that leave them in a strong position at the top of Group E with seven points, three clear of second placed Bayer Leverkusen.

Liberal party CDC headquarters have once again been searched by the Spanish Guardia Civil and the party's treasurer, Andreu Viloca, has been arrested. This Wednesday's actions are part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregular financing of the party to find out whether companies paid a 3% commission to the CDC foundation in exchange for public contracts. In the first phase of the so-called operation 'Petrum', in July, Spanish police arrested Jordi Sumarroca, CEO of Teyco and son of one of the founders of CDC, Carles Sumarroca, and two other members of his family. The second phase already included a search of CDC headquarters. On Tuesday, the police also arrested 7 businessmen accused of having allegedly paid irregular commissions to the party in exchange for public contracts. Catalan President Artur Mas described these operations as "exaggerated" and assured that both CDC and the President himself are "big game targets" due to the pro-independence process in Catalonia.  

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York inaugurated this Tuesday 'Joaquín Torres-García: The Arcadian Modern', a retrospective of Torres-García's works in painting, sculpture, fresco, drawing and collage. The exhibition, composed of 190 pieces, is the first of this Catalan-Uruguayan artist to be displayed in the US in the last 45 years. One of the most renowned artworks included in the retrospective is one of the four large murals that the artist designed for the 'Saló de Sant Jordi' one of the most iconic rooms in the Catalan Government's headquarters, 'Palau de la Generalitat'. The mural has been dismantled and moved to New York especially for the occasion.  The exhibition on Torres-García is set to go to Madrid and Málaga after its run at the MoMA.

The Catalans are in Belarus for their third UEFA Champions League match in Group E, tonight against BATE Borisov. A total of 20 players have made the journey while the injured Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Rafinha stay at home, as do Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal due to the FIFA suspension. Speaking to the press shortly after arriving in Belarus, Barça boss Luis Enrique commented that the club is "in one of the toughest groups and we are not expecting it to be easy". On the absence of Leo Messi, he added that the team "works as unit" and "it's not a question of another player taking over his role." The Catalans currently top the table with four points from the first two fixtures. Barça's Champions League title defence began with a 1-1 draw at AS Roma. That was followed by a 2-1 defeat of Bayer Leverkusen at the Camp Nou.

Left wing pro-independence ERC has proposed former president of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Carme Forcadell, to be President of the Catalan Parliament. Forcadell, responsible for the massive rallies on Catalonia's National Day in 2012, 2013 and 2014, assured that she will try to make a Parliament "for everybody", referring to anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans, Catalan Socialist Party PSC and alternative left coalition 'Catalunya Sí que Es Pot'. "This is getting serious" stated 'Junts Pel Sí' top member Raül Romeva, who regarded Forcadell's candidacy as proof that the process "has already started". The agreement of cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' established that ERC would be in charge of choosing a candidate for President and Spokesperson of the Parliament, while liberal party CDC would designate the President of the Parliamentary group.