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The plan has a €420 million euro budget for 2012 and aims to foster quality education by changing the current system based on subsidising training courses offered by job-placement organisations and municipalities for another model based on framework contracts and grouping the actors involved. The Catalan Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations explained that the new plan would include specific policies aimed at young people, the disadvantaged, as well as for the sectors and territories hardest hit by the economic crisis.

Leo Messi’s four goals on Sunday night against Valencia have taken his overall tally in the Spanish League to 146. The 146 goals he has scored even place him above the legendary FC Barcelona player César Rodríguez as Messi looks set to smash records galore.

Barça came back from an early goal by Piatti for the visitors to bury Valencia with four goals from Messi and a fifth from Xavi to round off a fantastic performance that showed FC Barcelona are still up for the fight for the Spanish League title.

Catalan actors such as Jordi Bosch, Marta Marco and Jordi Boixaderas will go on stage to represent a “poem which treats and mistreats the spectator”. It tells the story of a businessman who wants to monopolize the world and ends up by taking other businesses to bankruptcy.

The salary drop is to be added to the 5% cutback in 2010 and the 2011 salary freeze despite the increase in inflation. Trade unions denounced that since May 2010, Catalan public employees have lost 20% of their purchasing power. In addition, trade unions have abandoned negotiations as they say the Catalan Government is imposing the measures. The Vice President, Joana Ortega, stressed that the measure is “temporary”, in principle only for 2012; however she did not discard the idea of repeating it in 2013 if the economic situation requires so. The measure will save €180 million this year, which is part of the €625 million package to be saved that affects public employee labour conditions.

The Spanish Minister for Public Works and Transport, Ana Pastor, announced she would prioritise the Central Railway Corridor, which would link the Gibraltar area with Madrid, Zaragoza, Toulouse and the rest of Europe through the Central Pyrenees. The European Commission announced in October it would not fund the Central Corridor, but those along the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coasts, where the main industrial centres and ports are located. The Catalan business community and political parties have pushed for the Mediterranean Corridor. Their fear was that the current crisis combined with prioritising the construction of a second corridor might push resources away from the Mediterranean.

The Spanish Economy grew by 0.7% last year, however decreased by 0.3% in the last quarter, because of the “contraction in domestic demand”. The Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, said he would review the 0.8% growth prediction for 2012, since the latest data points to an economic slowdown. Besides, the Spanish Deputy Minister for the Economy, Fernando Jiménez Latorre, stated that data for the first term of 2012 “will be similar” to that of the last quarter of 2011 “or a bit worse”; if confirmed, it would mean a recession.

Carnival celebrations in small towns around Girona remain a huge social event and a great occasion for having fun with friends. Throughout this whole week small villages in the province of Girona celebrate the ‘Carnestoltes’, a whole set of celebrations based on the Carnival theme. Despite the economic crisis and many budget cutbacks, the festivity remains a hugely strong tradition and offers a mix of fun and excess before Lent begins.

As agreed, the PP abstained during the vote on the Catalan Government’s budget for 2012. The final text was approved with the 62 votes from CiU MPs, which controls the Catalan Government, the one vote from an independent MP, and the abstention of the PP. The rest of the parties have voted against it, in a tense plenary that has formalised the distance between the Government and the Left-Wing opposition parties. The details of some of the budget’s measures will have to be approved in one month, because three minority parties have asked for a “constitutionality” check.

FC Barcelona have given their fans the perfect Valentine’s Day gift – a convincing win away to Bayer Leverkusen at the Champions League that puts them well on course for a place in the quarter finals. Alexis (2) and Messi scored the goals for Barça.

The Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), which controls the Catalan Government, and the People’s Party (PP), the third political party in Catalonia’s Parliament, have agreed to reduce some of the fees from the original proposal, reduce the number of public companies, build new schools and community health centres, and allocate more money to municipalities and victims of terrorism. Furthermore, the agreement goes beyond the budget and foresees the development of laws and plans to foster employment, entrepreneurship and a spending limitation. CiU has denied that it has a “stable agreement” with the PP for the entire term. The PP has demonstrated its new central role in Catalan politics. Every opposition party has criticised the agreement.

Fathallah Sijilmassi is the substitute of Youssef Amrani, who quit after less than one year in office to become Morocco’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister. Sijilmassi was Director General of the Moroccan Agency for Investments, and previously served as the Moroccan Ambassador to Paris and earlier to the European Communities. The Union for the Mediterranean has its permanent Secretariat based in Barcelona. The UfM brings together the 27 European Union Member States and 16 countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea.

The Champions League returns at a good time for Barça following the weekend’s slip up in Pamplona, which left them 10 points adrift of the Spanish League leaders, Real Madrid, leaving no time for regrets, as they pick up the title they won at Wembley last season. Barça take up the defence of their Champions League title in Germany on Tuesday evening (20.45 CET), taking on Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16.

After last week’s minor train accident, the Spanish Minister for Transport, Ana Pastor, wanted to personally check Barcelona Metropolitan Area’s railway infrastructure. Pastor has recognised that the Spanish Government had not invested the required amount in railway infrastructure in Catalonia. She said that €5.748 billion has not been invested. Many Catalan voices have criticised the Spanish Government’s lack of investment in key transport infrastructure for Catalonia’s economy.

15,644 companies opened for business in Catalonia last year, which represents an 8.76% increase compared to 2010. However, in 2011, there was also a 3.17% increase in the number of companies that shut down.