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International experts have participated in a day of debate over the hypothetical scenarios and the possible consequences regarding membership or expulsion from the European Union of an independent Catalonia. The panellists ruled out automatic expulsion, as well as automatic membership, in any scenario. Graham Avery, Senior Adviser of the Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre (EPC), underlined that "the most important" element in deciding what would happen to an independent Catalonia would be "the process" through which it achieves this independence. If it was carried out with the agreement of the Spanish Government, the transition towards full EU membership would be quite fast and smooth. If it was done unilaterally, then a wide range of scenarios are possible, with risks and costs rising. However, a majority of experts have stated that even in the worst case scenario, the costs would not be as high as the Spanish Government is saying. In addition, they affirmed that the EU is likely to adopt a pragmatic approach and that a transition regime is likely to be set up, with basic policies and freedoms not being interrupted.

The Spanish banking giant BBVA, which purchased Catalunya Banc last July, is now proposing to shut down 400 branches of the acquired bank and reduce its staff by 2,000 employees (out of a total of 4,400 currently employed), according to trade union sources. At the end of April, the BBVA announced it would close 285 Catalunya Banc branches and reduce the staff by about 1,700 people. However, this Wednesday the Spanish bank has released higher figures and with this action is kicking off the official negotiation period with trade unions before it registers a mass layoff. The adjustment is to start already this year and would be completed by 2017, with the main part of it taking place during 2016. In theory it should only affect the branches that originally belonged to Catalunya Banc (CX) and the employees who were originally working for the former Catalan savings bank, and not those of the BBVA working in Catalonia. In April, Angel Cano, who is the CEO of the Spanish bank, stated that the adjustment would take place within the new integrated structure, not only in regard to the former CX branches and staff.

In order to stand, candidates must collect a minimum of 2,534 support slips from club members. Ramon Adell, president of the Managing Commission that met on Wednesday, has announced that the FC Barcelona presidential elections will take place on Saturday 18 July, pursuant to the dispositions of articles 35 and 43 of the Club Statutes. “We thought that if we did it this way, with a holiday the day after, that would encourage participation”, he said at a specially called conference in the company of the secretary of the Commission, Jordi Calsamiglia.

Lombardy, Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia will work together to develop strategies to foster the Information and Communication Technology sector in both their own territories and at European level, in order to make the continent hold a leading position in this sector at world level. This has been the main conclusion of the main event of the current presidency of the Four Motors for Europe, which is a regional association formed in 1988 by the aforementioned 4 territories in order to develop common projects and lobby at European level. Catalonia currently holds the association's rotating presidency and has made the development of the ICT sector its main objective, particularly focusing on smart city and 4.0 technologies. Lombardy, Baden-Württemberg, Rhône-Alpes and Catalonia signed on Wednesday in Barcelona a shared declaration strengthening their commitment in this field.

Catalonia's Supreme Court (TSJC) has ruled against the petition filed by the Spanish Ministry of Education that asked to reopen the enrolment process for the next school year in order to use registration forms in which parents could explicitly choose whether they wanted their children to be taught in Spanish as an instruction language. In the last few years, the Spanish Government has been undertaking a judicial battle to change Catalonia's school model, which has been developed with an extremely wide consensus over the last 35 years and completely guarantees the knowledge of both Spanish and Catalan, as results show. The model is based on the linguistic immersion principle, through which children are mostly taught in Catalan, although many flexible measures are included. However, the Spanish Government would like to have Spanish as an instruction language as well, despite most of the pedagogic experts considering that if this were the case, many children from Spanish-speaking environments would not have a proficient knowledge of Catalan and would not be bilingual.

The 17^th edition of the annual International Logistics and Material Handling Exhibition (SIL) kicked off on Tuesday in Barcelona and will be on until Thursday 11^th June. Held at Fira de Barcelona's Montjuic venue, the show will host more than 550 companies (45% international) presenting about a hundred innovations for the first time. The event is the only one of its kind taking place in Spain and the second-biggest in Europe. During the opening ceremony, SIL's President, Enrique Lacalle, pointed out that the logistics sector had not been severely hit by the crisis and now "is giving good news" with a4% rise in corporate turnover expected for 2015. In addition, the nature of the exhibition reflects the character of the hosting city: the Catalan capital's port has the largest logistics concentration of southern Europe and the Mediterranean within a radius of 5 Km and also has a geostrategic location. Finally, the main roads and railway connecting the Iberian Peninsula with the rest of Europe pass through Greater Barcelona.

The price of houses and apartments in Catalonia has now accumulated 4 consecutive quarters of annual increases, increasing by 1.8% between January and March 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). After 6 years of falling prices, housing prices have been on the rise since the first quarter of 2014, showing the sector's recovery from the financial crisis. However, despite the annual increases and overall positive figures, housing prices fell in quarterly terms, decreasing by 0.9% compared to the last quarter of 2014. As well as this, the number of housing units sold during last April in Catalonia grew by 13%. In Spain as a whole, housing prices increased by 1.5% in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, with the number of housing sales in April growing by 9.4%.

FC Barcelona has announced that the first team manager, Luis Enrique Martínez, and the rest of his coaching staff will be staying at the Catalan club for an extra season, as they were initially finishing their contracts in June 2016. Now, the new contract will expire on 30 June 2017. The new deal was signed on Tuesday afternoon, where the first team manager was joined by assistant coaches Juan Carlos Unzué and Robert Moreno, technical auxiliary Joan Barbarà, physio Rafel Pol, goalkeepers’ coach José Ramon de la Fuente and psychologist Joaquín Valdés. "We are naturally very happy. After the wonderful year we’ve had, with difficulties but a very happy ending, we are more than thrilled about the hope of winning more titles", stated Luis Enrique.

The 10^th edition of Barcelona Design Week started Monday with a programme of more than 70 activities, under the slogan 'Design is here!' ('el Disseny és aquí'). The event is a call for companies, designers and other agents of the business, innovation and creativity fields, and it is also open to the wider public, with event locations scattered throughout Barcelona. Barcelona Design Week also marks the beginning of the 5^th Barcelona Design Festival, which is being held from 8 June to 5 July. Among the new features is the 'Design is Future Congresstival,' midway between the conference and the festival, which delves into the world of innovation through design.

FC Barcelona has announced that Dani Alves has accepted its proposal for the renewal of his contract, which expires on June 30 of this year. The new settlement means the defender will remain at the Catalan club for a further two seasons, through to 30 June 2017, with the option of a third additional season. It all means that the Brazilian will be staying around for what will be his eighth season at the club. He joined from Sevilla in 2008 to form part of the new project under manager Pep Guardiola. The full-back has gone on to appear in 343 matches for Barça, more than any other foreigner in the history of the club. His 19 titles break down as follows 5 Ligas, 3 Champions Leagues, 3 Spanish Cups, 2 European Super Cups, 4 Spanish Super Cups and 2 Club World Cups.

The leader of the alternative left and green coalition Barcelona en Comú, Ada Colau, has announced that she will attend the massive demonstration for independence scheduled for Catalonia's National Day (11 September). In 2014, the demonstration gathered more than 1.8 million people in Barcelona. Colau won the municipal elections 2 weeks ago and therefore is likely to become the next Mayor of the Catalan capital. Last week, she said she would not join the self-determination road map agreed between the centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU and the left-wing independence party ERC because she refuses to reach agreements with the right-wing CiU. Pro-Spanish unity media started to speculate that she did not support Catalonia's self-determination process. This Monday Colau highlighted her commitment to the process and announced her will to contribute "to a constituent process that should allow for real sovereignty", expanding the current process' plurality.

In times of economic crisis, the Mariano Rajoy-led Spanish Government has been making recentralisation a main driver of its political agenda, using the economic recovery as the reason for passing the reforms. An additional step in this direction was taken on Monday with a new regulation forcing Spanish Autonomous Communities to seek permission from the Spanish Ministry of Finance before granting loans and guarantees to private companies located in their territories. From now on, Madrid's permission will be conditional upon the applicant's compliance with deficit targets. The new regulation substantially curbs the Autonomies' powers to shape their industrial policies, following a reform passed in May that modifies both the Organic Law for Financing the Autonomous Communities and the Organic Law on Budgetary Stability and Financial Sustainability.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reviewed and improved its economic growth forecasts for Spain, going from a 2.5% growth rate for 2015 forecast in April to a 3.1% one foreseen this June, and from 2% to 2.5% for 2016. However, the IMF has also issued recommendations and warnings, emphasising that Spain will have to carry out "additional fiscal efforts" and "structural reforms" in order not to jeopardise the country’s economic recovery. The IMF recommends that Spain reduce the costs of public healthcare and education by making users pay for part of the services. According to the international organisation, Autonomous Community governments – such as Catalonia's – should have greater fiscal responsibilities in such systems since they exclusively manage them. In this vein, the IMF has praised the fiscal consolidation efforts undertaken over the past few years by regional governments and has asked for an increase in their funding and fiscal powers, as well as for the adapting of the deficit targets to their needs.

The price competitiveness index for Catalan industry in relation to other industrialised countries improved by 0.4 points in the last quarter of 2014 compared to the same period of 2013, according to figures released on Monday by the Statistical Institute of Catalonia (IDESCAT). This improvement is particularly noticeable when compared against newly industrialised Asian countries, over which Catalan industry held a 2.7 percent advantage in competitiveness. A recent decline in the Euro's value has aided in facilitating the attractiveness of Catalonia's industrial products in the market. The favourable exchange rate has helped offset the loss of competitiveness of industrial prices compared to other industrialised countries.

FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC have struck a deal to bring Aleix Vidal to the Camp Nou, with the 25-year-old signing a five-year contract that will keep him at the Catalan club until June 2020. Vidal – a pacey right wing back – was officially presented on Monday, after a morning of medical tests at the Hospital de Barcelona and the Centre Mèdic at the Ciutat Esportiva. Aleix Vidal is delighted to have signed for FC Barcelona, and that was more than obvious from what he had to say in Monday’s press conference at the Camp Nou. “Apart from the day my daughter was born, this is the most special day of my life” he said, describing it as a homecoming after he spent one year at the club playing for the U14 B team. He was joined in the pressroom by Vice-President Jordi Mestre, who explained that the player’s transfer fee from Sevilla was 18 million euros, plus a further €4 million in variables.