Highlights

32.2% Catalan citizens have already voted in the Spanish Elections. The participation rate in Catalonia is slightly lower than that of the last General Elections, in 2015, when 35.2% had already voted by 14.00 (CET). The region with the highest rate of participation so far is Tarragona, with 32.8%, followed by Barcelona with 32.6%, Girona with 31.4% and Lleida with 29%. In the whole of Spain, 37% of the 36,518,100 million Spanish citizens entitled to vote have already done so, a similar figure to that of the last Spanish Elections. Election Day has started without any remarkable incidents and the polling stations, more than 57,000, have been set up as normal.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont stated this Friday that Scotland will have “clear options” to win a second referendum on independence, as some Scottish who voted ‘no’ to independence in 2014 were afraid of being out of the EU if they separated from the United Kingdom. Now that the United Kingdom has voted for ‘Brexit’, this threat no longer exists. “Today they lost both; independence and remaining within the EU”, said Puigdemont, and assured that this should be something “to think about”. The possibility of holding a new consultation over independence in Scotland emerged this Friday, after Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, admitted that a second referendum was “highly likely” to be held after the Scots voted to remain in the EU this Thursday in the EU referendum whereas the UK overall chose to leave.

The Barcelona Games World video game fair, to be held from the 6^th to the 9^th of October, has released more information about its upcoming event in 2016. Previously held in Madrid, the event will now also focus on mobile games, to “open (the fair) to other forms of interactive digital entertainment”, according to Josep Antoni Llopart, director of the fair. This decision was made in part thanks to Barcelona’s “bond” with the Mobile World Congress event. Still, the gamer will continue to be “the centre of the experience”, with over 90,000 expected to attend, competitions and prizes of up to €15,000, and the giants of the sector present (such as Nintendo, Sony, etc.). What’s more, another novelty is that the fair will be used to connect businesses, offer jobs, and help people who would like to do studies in the field of gaming. Lastly, there will be a ‘space for socialisation’ on the fairground, complete with lectures, concerts, music sessions with DJs, fashion shows and competitions.

A recording published this Tuesday by Spanish newspaper ‘Público’ revealed a conversation between current Spanish Minister for Home Affairs, Jorge Fernández Díaz, and the Director of Catalonia's Anti-fraud Office, Daniel de Alfonso Laso, about trying to find dirty laundry and proof to discredit Catalonia’s main pro-independence parties left-wing ERC and liberal Convergència. The scandal comes five days before the 26-J Spanish Elections and puts Fernández Díaz in a very sensitive position, as he is running for the Spanish Elections in Barcelona province. Catalan Government spokeswoman and CDC member, Neus Munté, has called for Fernández Díaz “to offer explanations” and other parties are already urging him to resign.

Alternative left coalition ‘En Comú Podem’ won the last Spanish Elections in Catalonia, obtaining 12 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament. Despite having repeatedly insisted on their aim to keep Catalonia within the Spanish State, their partner in Spain ‘Podemos’ is the only Spanish party which has openly supported holding a referendum on independence in Catalonia. ‘En Comú Podem’, which have been accused by some parties of being “too ambiguous” on this matter, call for turning Spain into a “plurinational state” with “differentiated solutions for Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia”, one of their candidates, Xavier Domènech, told the CNA. ‘En Comú Podem’ gathers together members from Catalan Green-Socialist party ICV, the Catalan branch of the Spanish party ‘Podemos’ and representatives from the 'En Comú' candidacies, which won significant mayoralties in the last local elections, for example that of Barcelona, with social activist and now Barcelona mayor Ada Colau as its strongest asset

Seven Catalan start-ups are in London this week for London Technology Week. Finanzarel, Captio, TECH4FIN, Private Network Investments, Capital cell, ECrowd Invest and Social Currencies Management are in the mission organised by the public business competitiveness and internationalisation agency ACCIÓ. Heading the event is Núria Betriu, Director of Industry of the Catalan Department for Business and Knowledge. She will hold meetings with the Government of Wales and visit British companies and investment funds, as well as present at the event Barcelona's Upcoming Tech Scene: New Horizons in Catalonia. The start-ups will participate in individual meetings and networking activities among other things, in order to experience first-hand one of the ecosystems with the most private and alternative investment culture at an international level.

Left-wing pro-independence ERC is one of the two main parties that form pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’, together with liberal Convergència (CDC). Despite winning the 27-S Catalan elections with this alliance, ERC will run for the Spanish Elections on their own, as they did on the 20^th of December. Indeed, they obtained then 9 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament, their best result ever. ERC candidate for the Spanish Elections, Gabriel Rufián, has insisted on the party’s reliability in comparison with other left parties, such as radical pro-independence CUP, which has opted not to run for the Spanish Elections, and alternative left alliance ‘En Comú Podem’, whose position regarding Catalonia’s push for independence has been repeatedly accused of being “too ambiguous”. “We know we have kept our promises”, Rufián said to CNA.

Castellers, Catalan traditional human towers, were performed this weekend at different spots in London. The British capital hosted the First International Castells Festival with great success, both in terms of the quality of the towers which were built and the warm welcome of Londoners. “Castells have a strong conciliatory component”, explained Jan Creixell, head of ‘Castellers of London’, “no matter where you come from or how old are you, it is a great excuse to gather different people together”. The local group, ‘Castellers of London’ invited their partners from Paris, ‘Geperuts’ to strengthen the relationship between both groups and also show off castells to an international public. In fact, groups of Castellers are starting to grow worldwide, including ‘colles’ from China, Chile and Montreal amongst many others.

Sónar Festival began its 23^rd edition on Thursday with its first daytime sessions, welcoming the acts The Black Madonna, Kenny Dope (formerly Masters at Work), Mad Professor, sharing the stage with The Spanish Dub Invasion, British MC Lady Leshurr, and a classical piano recital by James Rhodes to the Barcelona sun. This total of 130 eclectic acts are being hosted at the Montjuic fairgrounds, where thousands of participants attended, and will presumably attend again on Friday and Saturday, where the night-time performances will be held at the Gran Via Exhibition Centre. Additionally, Sónar+D also kicked off on Thursday, serving as the intellectual and collaborative sister event to Sónar, holding conferences and activities revolving around the “future of culture, arts and technology”, according to curator, José Luis de Vicente.

Catalonia would be the eleventh country in the EU in terms of exports if it were to become independent, and would be ahead of Austria, Denmark and Finland. Catalan companies’ exports to the rest of Spain and to the whole of the EU represent 47.7% of Catalonia's GDP, which is 14 percentage points higher than the EU average (33.2%). 2015 marked a new record for Catalan exports, reaching 102,487 million euros and Catalan companies which export regularly already represent 34.4% of the Spanish figure overall. Regarding exports per capita, an independent Catalonia will rank ninth, with 13,650 euros, ahead of France, United Kingdom and Portugal. These figures were released by the public business competitiveness and internationalisation agency, ACCIÓ.   

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, responded this Thursday to those who claim that the pro-independence process is provoking “company drain” in Catalonia and assured that this is “false”. During the presentation of Catalonia’s Economic Report at the Chamber of Commerce, Puigdemont pointed out that 815 companies moved their tax base in 2015, which represents 0.32% of the total of companies with salaried employees and 14% less than in 2014. He also explained that Madrid lost 1,035 companies’ tax addresses last year, 0.5% of the overall number of companies in this Autonomous Community. Thus, Puigdemont lamented that some try “to spread the rumour” of an economic reality in Catalonia which “doesn’t help to create an atmosphere of confidence”, but which on the other hand “foreign investors do have”.

13 Catalan SMEs have been selected by the London Stock Exchange among the 1,000 most inspiring in Europe. This 1,000-component list is comprised of small and medium companies that “have a more pronounced growth in the EU”, explained the Director of Government Relations at the London Stock Exchange, Xavier Solano. The report was presented in Brussels, and the event was attended by two of the selected Catalan SMEs, KpSport and Liquats Vegetals. This project should help small and medium companies receive funding, which has “always been a little difficult”, according to Director of Operations at KpSport, David Pons. Solano spoke about the importance of giving these SMEs “visibility and support” so that they can continue to create jobs, also recognising the importance of presenting the report to the European Parliament. Additionally, liberal CDC MEP Ramon Tremosa emphasises “the importance of promoting the initiative on a European level.”

Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ obtained 40 MPs in the last Spanish Elections, held in December 2015. This was the highest figure ever achieved by a Catalan party. Indeed, besides being one of the most fierce opponents to Catalonia’s push for independence and having denied Catalonia’s right for self-determination, this young party was born and raised in Catalonia and has a Catalan candidate running for Spanish President, Albert Rivera - two aspects which have been emphasised by the party during this recently started electoral campaign. In a press conference at CNA headquarters,‘Ciutadans’ candidate for Barcelona, Juan Carlos Girauta, also defended his condition of being Catalan and called for those “pro-independence supporters” who chose this option because they were “upset” with Spain, to vote for ‘Ciutadans’. “We want to explain to them the advantages of our project”, he said, which is “building a Spain which is worth it”. 

The possibility of holding a unilateral referendum on independence has not been rejected by the Catalan Government. According to Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté, this option will be considered as long as it has “total democratic legitimacy” and “international homologation”. However, Munté emphasised that the roadmap towards independence, which foresaw an 18^-month term of office and constitutive elections afterwards, is still “in force”. “We don’t give up on the pro-independence roadmap but we are open, of course, to listening to all those options which would go in the same direction”, she stated. The possible celebration of a unilateral referendum on independence was first raised by radical left pro-independence CUP in the last weeks and it has been brought into the spotlight of the Spanish electoral campaign by several Catalan parties.

Girona’s ‘El Celler de Can Roca’ is considered the world’s second-best restaurant by ‘Restaurant’ magazine. Thus, the establishment run by the three Roca brothers has ceded its crown, which it obtained in 2015 and 2013, to the Italian restaurant ‘Osteria Franciscana’. The gala event, moved from London to New York for the first time, also awarded chef Joan Roca as best chef. “This is very important, because it represents mutual understanding and recognition from chefs that I truly admire” stated Roca. Catalan restaurant ‘Tickets’, by Albert Adrià climbed from the 42^nd position it occupied last year to 29^th this year. Adrià was dessert chef at El Bulli, which was run by his brother Ferran Adrià and was recognised as the best restaurant in the world on five occasions.