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The Spanish public company in charge of building and maintaining railway infrastructures, Adif, has confirmed the awaited date. Adif will have all the work finished by the end of this year, including the overhead line set in the tunnels crossing Barcelona and Girona. This will enable the train service linking Barcelona and Girona to the French city of Perpignan to be operational by April 2013. This work, funded and managed by the Spanish Government, has accumulated many years of inexplicable delays before connecting Spain’s high-speed network to Europe.

Catalonia hosts one of the world’s five active potash mines. The company Iberpotash has started to implement its Phoenix Plan, which foresees investing €600 million until 2020. The first phase of the project is the construction of a 4.7 kilometre tunnel to transport the potash mineral extracted from the mine to the treatment plant. The tunnel represents an important environmental improvement, as lorries carrying potash will no longer pass through the town of Súria. They will pass through the tunnel 900 metres under the ground. This first phase will enable the improvement of the mine’s productivity to between 30 and 40%.

If Barça and Real Madrid get through the previous rounds, they would meet in the semi finals on 23rd and 30th January. Defending champions FC Barcelona, will be taking on the Division 2B Alavés in the round of 32 of the Copa del Rey. The first leg is on 31st October in Vitoria and the return at the Camp Nou will be on 28th November.

A study developed by researchers from Barcelona’s Center of Regenerative Medicine and California’s Gene Expression Laboratory of the Salk Institute identified a mutation in the nucleus of human neural stem cells that is linked to Parkinson’s, which may help to diagnose the disease and open a new field for targeted treatments. The prestigious journal ‘Nature’ published the study, which could also help to explain why the Parkinson’s disease is often associated with clinical depression and anxiety. The Center of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona is directed by Juan Carlos Izpisúa, who participated in the study; it is located in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, next to the Hospital del Mar.

The Catalan company presented its strategic plan for next two years, which fosters its main hub, Barcelona El Prat Airport, by adding 28 new routes from next summer. Vueling plans to transform Barcelona Airport into the main European hub for short and medium distance flights. Currently, it is already the second continental hub in this category. Furthermore Vueling will strengthen its offer to business travellers by unveiling the ‘Excellence’ flying class and direct flights between Barcelona and London-Gatwick or Frankfurt. In addition, the Catalan airline will end 2012 with a profit for the fourth consecutive year.

29.5% of Catalans are at risk of social exclusion. This is the conclusion of the 2011 survey of living conditions and habits of the population of Catalonia. This percentage is related to the AROPE rate used in the European Union which not only analyses the income poverty level but also looks at severe material deprivation and households with very low work intensity. The results of the survey highlight that Catalonia was in a worse situation in 2011 than Spain (with 26.7% of people at risk of social exclusion) or the European Union (21.6%). Furthermore, 21.9% of Catalans live on an income below the poverty threshold.

The chemical industries based in Tarragona, such as BASF, Dow Chemical and Repsol, expect their turnover to increase by 4% in 2012 compared to a year ago. In 2011, they exported 60% of their production, while in 2000 they were only exporting 30% of it. Furthermore, they have requested transport infrastructures to be improved and criticised the increase in energy taxes. About Catalonia’s hypothetical independence, they stated they “will respect what will be decided and will adapt to it”. These companies represent around 7% of Catalonia’s GDP.

The day the United Kingdom and Scotland signed the agreement to organise the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, the Spanish Justice Minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, states that the Spanish Government will not agree to organise or even negotiate on a referendum on Catalonia’s independence. Furthermore, the same day, Jaime Mayor Oreja, the leader of the Spanish Euro MPs from the People’s Party (PP), proposed “facing” the Catalan independence movement as was done earlier with ETA’s terrorism. Two weeks ago, Mayor Oreja had already linked the Catalan independence movement with the Basque terrorist group ETA. The Catalan President, Artur Mas, said that if Madrid does not authorise the referendum, Catalonia will appeal to European and international institutions.

The world’s most important international film festival specialising in fantasy and horror films ended its 45th event in the Catalan coastal town of Sitges. Leos Carax wins the Best Director award. ‘Chained’, by Jennifer Lynch, receives the Jury’s Special Prize and the Best Actor Award for Vincent d’Onofrio. Alice Lowe, with ‘Sightseers’, wins the Best Actress Award. The festival has increased spectator figures by 3% compared to last year.

Barça’s young centre half was officially presented this Monday at his new club Mallorca, where he will stay on loan until June 30th. The Catalan player travelled to Mallorca the same day for a medical check-up and later he was presented as a new player of the Balearic team. Fontàs suffered a serious knee injury last season.

The Catalan Government increased the amount initially requested from the Spanish Government Liquidity Fund for the Autonomous Communities (FLA) adding €410 more million in order to include payments to service providers and local councils. The Spanish Government and the Catalan Executive have included more types of payments eligible for receiving funds from the FLA. At the end of August the Catalan Government requested €5.02 billion to pay for debt maturities and some ordinary payments. At the same time, the Spanish Government does not respect investment agreements in Catalonia and ensures that Catalan citizens suffer from a permanent fiscal deficit calculated to be some 8.5% of the GDP (around €17 billion).

An official study issued by the Catalan Finance Ministry shows that Catalan citizens have given €24.77 billion more to the Spanish pension and unemployment funds than they have received back from it. The study takes into account the contributions of Catalan citizens and companies between 1995 and 2010. Without the Catalan contributions, the Spanish Social Security system would have had a €86.33 billion deficit in the same period. The Catalan contribution to the Social Security system was negative in 1995-1996 and 2009-2010, while between 1997 and 2008 it showed a budget surplus. Without Catalonia, Spain’s Social Security would have only had a budget surplus between 2003 and 2007.

The FC Barcelona’s defender is recovering from his liver transplant and he is doing specific training work at the Val d’Aran County, which hosts a National Park. During his stay, where he will be following a specific plan, the French defender will be combining aerobic work with activities on the field, which will start to include exercises with the ball.

A poll taken by the Catalan Survey Institute points out that only 19.9% of Catalans would be against organising a referendum asking if Catalonia should be a new independent European state. 6% would be undecided. The poll also reflects electoral preferences in the next Catalan elections, scheduled on 25th November. 26.3% of citizens would vote for the ruling Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), which would clearly win the elections. However, those undecided represent 34.6% of the people interviewed. The votes for the main opposition party in Catalonia, the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), would plummet to only 3.1%. The parties clearly supporting the self-determination (CiU, ERC and ICV-EUiA) would become Catalonia’s first, second and third parties.

José Ignacio Wert, the Education Minister, made this statement at the Spanish Parliament, while defending the recentralisation measures he is trying to implement. Wert’s words have provoked major outrage in Catalonia. The Catalan Government, all the non-Spanish nationalist parties, trade unions and civil society organisations have qualified Wert’s statements as being “totalitarian”, “a barbarity”, and “pre-Constitutional”, reminding them of Franco times. Furthermore, many citizens channelled their outrage for Wert’s words through Twitter, making the related hashtag Spain’s main trending topic. Besides, results show Catalan students have better results in Spanish than Spain’s average.