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Catalonia received a total of 1,628,268 foreign tourists in May 2015, an increase of 7.2% compared to May 2014 and the best figure for this month since 2000. According to the survey of Tourist Movements at Borders (Frontur) prepared by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism, in the first five months of 2015 the number of foreign tourists increased by 5.2% in Catalonia, with more than 5.7 million visitors from abroad. In Spain as a whole, the number of tourists visiting between January and May rose by 5.1% to a new record of 22.5 million visitors over the first five months of the year.

Catalonia's GDP has increased by 1.1% during the first quarter of the year compared to the last quarter of 2014, while the Spanish economy grew by 0.9% and that of the European Union by 0.5%, according to definitive figures released by the Catalan Statistics Instituted (Idescat) on Friday. In annual terms, Catalonia's economy increased by 2.6% from March 2014 to March 2015, mostly due to the positive evolution of domestic demand and the strength of the export sector. The figures released this Friday improve upon the provisional data that had been announced in May for the first term of 2015, when it was stated that Catalonia’s economy had grown by 0.9% from January to March. With the 1.1% growth finally registered, Catalonia now accumulates 8 consecutive terms of quarterly growth.

An increasing number of people are fed up with living in concrete jungles. Many think of the countryside as a solution to problems such as stress, a low-paying job and pollution. Due to the start of the economic crisis, this phenomenon boomed, with people beginning to look for an 'alternative way of life' or, at least, new opportunities. Catalonia and the whole of Spain are no exception to this. Here, moving (back) to the countryside nowadays looks like an attractive option to many, especially to young unemployed graduates. However, sustainable agriculture initiatives and the like are the 'junior division' compared to more complex social, cultural and ecological experiments: the eco-villages. Coming in different shapes and sizes, their members share resources and spaces, grow their own food and cover in a sustainable way the energy demand of the buildings they live in. With different missions and features, many eco-villages can be traced back to one or two decades ago and could teach a lot to newcomers.

After running together in every election since 1978, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) and Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (UDC) are splitting apart. The Liberal party CDC, which is the larger force within the centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU (running the Catalan Government since 2010), supports full independence from Spain while the Christian-Democrat UDC does not have a clear stance on the issue and its leadership is against it and is supporting a Catalan State confederated with Spain. After UDC held an internal consultation over the issue last weekend, which split the Christian-Democrats into two camps, crisis within CiU seemed inevitable. On Wednesday, UDC announced it was leaving the Catalan Government but not CiU. The Liberal CDC met that night and, on Thursday morning, announced "the CiU is over"; that they were splitting from the Christian-Democrats for "deep reasons".

EasyJet, the second-largest low-cost carrier in Europe, will open a new operational base at Barcelona-El Prat Airport in February 2016. In doing so, the British low-cost airline will permanently base aircraft and crew at the Catalan airport, upgrading their presence in Barcelona. In particular, the company's hub will create 120 new local jobs – mainly for pilots and cabin crew – and will entail the allocation of three A320 Airbuses at Barcelona-El Prat airport. With this operation, EasyJet aims to provide an enhanced service for business passengers "who will go to and return the same day from destinations such as London and Geneva". The company has been operating in Barcelona El Prat for 19 years, transporting a total of approximately 32 million passengers to and from the Catalan airport.

The 22^nd edition of Sónar, the largest electronic music festival in Europe, roared out of the gate Thursday in Barcelona. Considered the "most ambitious" iteration of the festival in Sónar's history, this year's programme has 147 performances scheduled between the festival's two campuses – Sónar by Day at Fira Montjüic and Sónar by Night at Fira GranVia – from Thursday to Saturday. But apart from the musical acts, there is a greater presence of audiovisual and technological shows than ever before. In addition, Sónar+D is an international tech conference at the festival geared toward artists, entrepreneurs and businesses and features over 120 activities and networking opportunities, showcasing big-name companies like Kickstarter, Google and Vimeo.The festival's biggest attractions include The Chemical Brothers, Skrillex, Duran Duran, Die Antwoord, A$AP Rocky, FKA Twigs, Hot Chip, Flying Lotus, Jamie XX and Arca.

On Tuesday, Laurent Le Bon, Chairman of the Picasso Museum in Paris, visited Horta de Sant Joan (also known as 'Horta' or 'Orta'). This village – located in the Province of Tarragona (south Catalonia) – has a profound connection with the art of Picasso, as the Malaga-born artist lived and painted there during two periods of his life. During the visit – part of a tour of the most important Spanish spots for the painter – Le Bon expressed his full support for the creation of a new Picasso museum in this Catalan village, an initiative promoted by the Picasso Centre of Horta de Sant Joan. "In this place it is still possible to feel the spirit of Picasso", he said. "The artist did not travel much, but here we can see how he revolutionised the way the world is represented through art", he added. Commenting on the idea of opening a new museum in Horta, Le Bon said "it's a project that I believe in. I give it all my support and we will work together."

The Catalan Government approved decrees on Tuesday for the creation of three new delegations abroad, in the Holy See, Portugal and Morocco. TheMinister of the Presidency, Francesc Homs, said the purpose of opening these delegations is to facilitate bilateral relations and defend the social and economic interests of Catalonia abroad. With these new delegations, which are included in the Foreign Action Strategic Plan 2015-2018, the Government of Catalonia will have an international network of 10 offices abroad.

Tensions over the issue of independence between the two parties forming the CiU coalition have caused a government crisis in Catalonia. Three ministers from the Christian-Democrat party UDC, the smaller party within the CiU, have left government after their allies of 37 years, CDC, presented them with an “ultimatum”. The governing council of UDC decided on Wednesday, with 16 votes in favour, 10 against and 2 abstentions, that Vice-president Joana Ortega, Minister of Agriculture Josep Maria Pelegrí and Minister of Home Affairs Ramon Espadaler, who is also the secretary general of UDC, should quit Artur Mas’ government. UDC voted on Sunday by a slim majority in favour of an ambiguous stance on the issue of independence, in which the party supported the right to self-determination but fell short of stating whether or not Catalonia should actually vote ‘yes’ to full independence from Spain. Following the result, the Liberal party CDC, led by Mas, urged their coalition partners to state clearly whether or not they are for independence. Elections to the Catalan Parliament are expected to be held on the 27 of September, and may be considered a plebiscite on independence. Tensions between CDC and UDC over the reluctance of the latter to clearly support independence make it unlikely that they will run together, although UDC has said it will still provide parliamentary support to CDC in the coming months and won’t split the coalition at local level.

Between 1993 and 2014, a growing trend of foreign investment was registered in Catalonia, a study by Barcelona’s Chamber of Commerce shows. This upward trend continued unbroken in the long-term, not even being interrupted by the decline of -15.8% recorded in 2014. According to the study, it is not possible to conclude that – over the period analysed – investment in Catalonia "has been adversely affected by the political context", in particular the Catalan self-determination process. In addition, for 2015 – even after just the first few months of the year have passed – the business environment seems to suggest that investment in productive capacity will be higher than in 2014.

The centre-right pro-Catalan State two-party coalition CiU, which runs the Catalan Government, may be on the verge of splitting up after three-and-a-half decades, and having run together in all the elections. The smaller force within the CiU, the Christian-Democrat party UDC, is going through serious internal tension over Catalonia's independence debate. The party leadership does not support independence, while a significant part of its members does. Added to this, the larger force within the CiU, the Liberal party CDC, is now the main party within the pro-independence camp. However, UDC does not have an official stance on independence and has been avoiding the issue so far, supporting Catalonia's right to self-determination, the organisation of a referendum on this issue and the creation of a Catalan State with full sovereignty, but without specifying its stance on the crucial point: whether this state would be fully independent or would be confederated with Spain. On Sunday, the party held an internal consultation on the party's role in the self-determination process. The vote became a plebiscite on the UDC's leadership. 51% of the members supported the leadership's approach and 46% voted against it.

For the first time in 11 years, the internationally-renowned Basque artist Eduardo Chillida has an exclusive exhibit on display in Barcelona. Since 20 April, the Mayoral Gallery has hosted the Chillida exhibition, 'Awakening' ('Despertar'). The exhibition is comprised of a carefully curated selection of sculptures, drawings and prints, as well as supplementary material for his monumental works photographs and the video 'Art and Dreams' ('El arte y los sueños'). Among the works are two emblematic sculptures, 'La estela' and one of the pieces from the series 'Trembling Iron' ('Hierros de temblor'). Barcelona displays 3 large-scale sculptures of Chillida in the Gothic Quarter and in parks. In 2004, the Jordi Barnadas art gallery hosted the last individual exhibition devoted to the artist held in the Catalan capital.

"Between 2015 and 2016 the Catalan Government will open new Trade & Investment offices in Belgrade, Tehran, Accra, Tel Aviv and Lima and enlarge its San Francisco-based one", Catalan Business Minister, Felip Puig, announced on Monday. Similarly, the Catalan Executive recently launched a new 'technological antenna' in Boston (Massachusetts) and will soon do the same in Panama, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Senegal and Angola, enlarging its network of business promotion offices abroad. The Minister said that in 2014, Catalan companies exported more than 51% of the Catalan Gross Domestic Product and the Executive is set on further enhancing their internationalisation. "Official data seem to confirm that companies with a stronger global presence suffered the economic crisis less and the Government wants to support them", he concluded.

Ada Colau is the new Mayor of Barcelona. It is the first time that the Catalan capital has a woman as Mayor. Colau, who led the alternative left and green coalition Barcelona en Comú, won the last municipal elections – held on 24 May. However, she lacked support to reach the absolute majority in the City Council and be elected Mayor. During the last 3 weeks, she has been negotiating with the other leftist parties over forming a coalition government or at least obtaining their support and reaching the 21 vote minimum necessary in the City Council’s mayoral election. None of the other parties have so far agreed to form a government coalition with Colau, but 3 of them have backed her to be elected Mayor. They are the left-wing Catalan independence party ERC, the Catalan Socialist Party PSC and the radical independence and alternative left party CUP.

The 22nd edition of Barcelona’s Sónar festival – one of Europe's most well-known electronic music events – is about to kick off, taking place between the 18th and 20th of June. This year, Sónar's activities are divided into two main locations: Sónar by Day and Sónar+D (the professional event on digital creative industries) will be held in Fira de Barcelona’s Montjuic venue, with Sónar by Night taking place at the Fira GranVia L'Hospitalet venue. The festival features 147 concerts (morning, afternoon and night sessions) in addition to 120 activities related to Sónar+D, which this year makes an ambitious leap forward in comparison to previous editions. The eclectic 2015 line-up includes several internationally renowned artists. Among the most famous ones appearing on stage will be: The Chemical Brothers, Autechre, Skrillex, Hot Chip, Die Antwoord, Flying Lotus, Jamie XX, Arca and Duran Duran.