The only one? Not anymore. Last night, the televised debate among the leaders of the 6 parties with parliamentary representation ended in a compromise for a second debate tomorrow, this time only between the 2 main leaders: Artur Mas from the CiU and the most likely new president, and the incumbent, José Montilla from PSC, who will likely be defeated according to the polls.
Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds – Esquerra Unida i Alternativa (ICV-EUiA) is a coalition of several political forces, which has 2 main pillars. The main one is the ICV, which is an Eco-Socialist party, and strongly Catalanist. The second one is EUiA, which is a coalition of small pro-Communist parties, linked to the Spanish Izquierda Unida. ICV-EUiA has been in the 3-party governing coalition for the last 7 years. Its current leader is Joan Herrera.
Leo Messi just keeps on smashing records and there seems to be no limit to what he can achieve. His brilliant performance in Almeria was rounded off with another hat trick –his seventh for the team – as well as two assists.
Barça have subjected Almeria to a rout in a show of attacking brilliance, going 5-0 ahead in just 36 minutes thanks to goals from (2), Iniesta, Acasiete (own goal) and Pedro. Bojan (2) and Messi added three more on a historic night.
The new centre was inaugurated this morning in Montblanc, coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the DO’s Regulatory Board. The centre will be used for the promotion of DO Conca de Barberà wines.
The Catalan capital holds an exposition of more than 300 antiquity pieces from the Arabian civilisation. This is the first time that some of these treasures can be seen abroad, so the show is a great opportunity for archaeology lovers
Albert Rivera leads this party, which ran for the first time in the last elections and got 3 seats in the Catalan Parliament. Polls predict they could repeat these results or increase by 1 seat. Ciudadanos (meaning “Citizens”) defends the use of the Spanish language, stating that it is in danger in Catalonia. The party was born as a reaction to the debate on the Catalan Statute of Autonomy’s reform.
Josep Guardiola is only thinking about FC Barcelona's game against Almería on Saturday instead of paying any attention to the encounter with Real Madrid the following week.
Artur Mas, José Montilla, Joan Puigcercós, the PPC, ICV-EUiA, CiU, Ciutadans, the Catalan Parliament, the Catalan Government… What is all this? Those not familiar with the Catalan political ecosystem maybe become easily lost. Here you will find some keys to better understand what’s going on these days.
The president of the Institute of Catalan Studies, Salvador Giner, responds, “Catalan is spoken by 10 million people in 4 different countries”.
The Cuban pianist presented his new album ‘Chucho’s Steps’ at his performance during the Barcelona International Jazz Festival. He was accompanied by ‘The Afro-Cuban Messengers’.
The Masella and La Molina ski areas will open their slopes for skiers this weekend. They expect to sell over 2 million ski passes.
Miquel Valls, president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, says, “Catalonia is the first economic region in Spain, it makes up 19% of the GDP and has solidarity with the rest of the regions”.
A Catalan company offers daily delivery of healthy and fresh vegetables harvested from the orchards to the big cities of Barcelona and Madrid. The family Barrabeig and Barraquer has found a niche market in the agricultural sector.
The ski vacation tour operator plans to operate 6 flights a week from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin and Belfast to the Lleida-Alguaire Airport. This new airport serves Lleida city as well as Lleida's Pyrenees.