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The Catalan President, Artur Mas, has met with the UK Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg at a summit of European Liberal leaders. He stressed that Catalonia is doing “its homework” despite the excessive and “continuous fiscal drainage” from the Spanish State, which “is unprecedented in Europe”. “European leaders must understand” Catalonia’s situation, Mas said. “We need to explain ourselves” […] “because otherwise the only image that is received abroad is distorted”. He also explained that Catalonia’s GDP is the size of Portugal’s and Finland’s, and has an export level similar to Denmark. Mas also criticised Rajoy’s recent tax increase.

Hoteliers around Catalonia faced a difficult Christmas tourist season with occupancy rates that were below 50% in some areas. The only exceptions could be found in areas where snow attracted skiers, such as Val d’Aran and adjacent counties. In those areas there was an occupancy rate of between 70% and 85%. Rural tourism suffered its poorest results and does not forecast a recovery for 2012.

The Argentinean star is named by FIFA as the best player of 2011. This is Messi’s third straight Ballon d’Or Award. Messi equals Platini, Cruyff and Van Basten, the only players to ever win three Ballon d’Or titles. The Barça boss, who won 5 titles with FC Barcelona in 12 months, beat last year's winner, José Mourinho, and Sir Alex Ferguson. Guardiola dedicated the title to his assistant coach, Tito Vilanova. Besides, 5 Barça players are in the FIFA's Best Eleven of the Year: Alves, Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta, and Messi. Two of them are Catalan and four are home grown players.

Espanyol and Barça shared the points in the season’s first Catalan derby after FC Barcelona hit the woodwork on three occasions. Cesc Fàbregas opened the scoring within the first quarter of an hour and Alvaro hit a late equaliser. The draw leaves Barça five points behind Real Madrid in second spot.

The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government has said that the new Spanish Economy Minister’s proposal goes against the Constitution and Catalonia’s self-governance. The Basque Country is also against the measure announced by Luís de Guindos in an interview with the Financial Times. He said that the crisis “was an opportunity to impose hard conditions and measures” on the Autonomies; he also added that before the Autonomies pass their budget, the Spanish Government will have to approve it. The next day, the Spanish Vice President refused to go into detail on the issue but stated that every administration has to commit to the deficit objective.

The night of January 5th is the most important and magical nights of the year for thousands of children in Catalonia. It is when the Three Wise Men –or the Three Kings in Catalan– bring presents. Traditionally in Catalonia, presents are not delivered by Santa Claus on the evening of December 24th, but instead on the evening of January 5th by the Three Kings who arrive in all Catalan towns. Parades are organised to welcome them. Afterwards, when the children are sleeping, they enter through the window or balcony and leave presents for every family member.

Barça clearly defeated Osasuna in the first game of the new year, thanks to 2 goals each from Cesc and Messi. FC Barcelona are well on their way to going through to the quarter-finals of the Spanish Cup.

The Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, whose headquarters are based in Barcelona, has resigned to become Morocco’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. King Mohamed VI appointed Youssef Amrani to counterweight the actual Foreign Affairs Minister, from the moderate Islamists. Amrani’s resignation means that the UfM has once again been left without a figure head in the past year, after Massadeh’s resignation in early 2011.

The Catalan opera diva, acclaimed worldwide, gave a concert at the Gran Teatre del Liceu surrounded by her friends, colleagues, pupils and a grateful audience. Only three days away from reaching half a century of performances at Barcelona’s opera house, Montserrat Caballé also celebrated this special anniversary by unveiling an exhibition on her career in the same venue.

Artur Mas, President of the Catalan Government, has reflected on his first year in office. Mas justified the budget cuts his government has made in order to avoid “a collapse” in public services. He also criticised the recent trend of patronising the Autonomous Communities and claiming that they are responsible for Spain’s financial problems. That, he believes, has made them scapegoats. “The Autonomies are a very important part of the State”, “they provide almost all public services to citizens”, he stressed. In addition, Mas insisted that Spain’s debt and deficit is mainly due to the Spanish Government’s overspending over many years and not the fault of the Autonomies or the municipalities.

At the end of 2011 there were 614,244 people registered as unemployed in Catalonia, 9.17% more than a year ago. However, unemployment dropped in December by 1,425 people, after it stabilised in November, leaving September and October as the worst months of the year. In stark contrast to Catalonia, the rest of Spain experienced an increase in unemployment in December and 2011 ended with 4,422,359 people signing on the register, 7.86% more than at the end of 2010.

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics has named the FC Barcelona midfielder the best playmaker in the world for the fourth year in a row. Leo Messi and Andrés Iniesta are second and third behind Xavi.

Car sales drastically decreased last year, with the only exception being luxury vehicles. Less than 120,000 cars were sold in Catalonia, a figure similar to that of 1993. In Spain as a whole, car sales fell by 17.7%.

In a radio interview, Luis de Guindos, said he is supportive of the budget austerity measures put in place by the Catalan Government over the last 12 months. In addition, the new Spanish Minister for the Economy stated that the drug prescription fee proposed by the Catalan Government is Catalonia’s responsibility, contrary to that said by the previous Spanish Government. In addition, the Catalan Health Minister explained that the drug prescription fee would include exceptions “basically” based on personal “economic reasons”.

2011 has been a year marked by the austerity measures undertaken by the new Catalan Government, who took office just one year ago; budget cuts to reduce the public deficit and fight the financial crisis, which sparked protests. Socially, 2011 has been a tense year, with the highest unemployment figures in a decade, strikes, and the ‘indignados’. It has also been a year of political changes: the Catalan Nationalists (CiU) have consolidated their position as Catalonia’s hegemonic party and the PP won in the whole of Spain except in Catalonia and the Basque Country. International opportunities have arrived: the Mediterranean Railway Corridor has been declared a European Union priority, Barcelona has been confirmed the Mobile World Capital and ‘Pa Negre’ will represent Spain at the Oscars. And FC Barcelona is the best team in the world!