Society

Six MEPs from the Committee on Petitions visited the Ebro Delta, in Catalonia’s southern region of Tarragona, to meet the several petitioners who have claimed that Spain’s new National Water Plan (NWP) may infringe the EU Water Framework Directive. Environmentalists say one of Europe's most important wetland areas is under threat as Spain’s new Plan aims to reduce the river’s flow to 3,000 cubic hectometres per year and add 465,000 new hectares of irrigated lands to an already existing one million hectares, which will also contribute to cutting the sediment level dramatically. Besides the risk to the delta’s survival, the Platform for the Defence of the Ebro Delta (PDE) are worried that ultimately these waters could be transferred to other, drier regions of Spain. The visit of the EU delegation comes after 50,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Amposta in Catalonia on Sunday to protest against the plans.

The Catalan Ministry for Health has confirmed this Thursday two new cases of Zika virus infection in Catalonia. One of them is a pregnant woman, the first of this type of case detected in Catalonia. The woman is between 13 and 14 weeks pregnant and is said to have contracted the virus on a trip to Colombia. These new cases are to be added to the other four detected on Wednesday and there are thus now already six people, four men and two women, infected with the Zika virus. Zika is carried by mosquitoes and has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains. It is spreading through the Americas and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the disease linked to the virus a global public health emergency. 

The European body expressed its concerns regarding the use of Catalan and the Spanish State’s other “regional languages” in the administration of justice and in the health service. The Council of Europe called on the Spanish State to “modify the legal frame” and “guarantee that an appropriate proportion of the administration of justice’s workers” has a “practical knowledge” of the Catalan language. The European body, composed by 47 European countries, approved this Thursday “six recommendations” to solve “some important problems” and make sure that the Spanish State respects the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.This is the fourth report of this kind, after similar ones were written in 2005, 2008 and 2012. It states that the situation “has improved considerably” in the last four years, especially due to the Autonomous Communities’ efforts.

Today’s chaos in Catalonia’s railway system, operated by Spanish public train operator Renfe, is to be added to a long list of problems which have occurred on this network during the last decade. On this occasion, 60 short-distance trains and 25,000 passengers were affected by an attempted copper theft in three different train stations in the Barcelona area. This criminal act caused several small fires in the railway installations of Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, La Llagosta and Mollet del Vallès, around 20 kilometres away from Barcelona, which led to 30-minute minimum delays on four different lines. Alternative routes and extra buses have been added to guarantee the mobility of these citizens and according to the Spanish public company in charge of building and maintaining the railway infrastructure, Adif, the consequences will still affect nearly 60,000 people and 200 trains throughout the day.  

Catalan liberal party CDC MEP Ramon Tremosa presented a written question to the European Commission asking if it will allow that those regions with fiscal and legislative power to be able to go beyond their Member States refugees quota. "The pro-independence movement shows with this action it's pro-European and solidarity values" he stated and pointed out that his demand was preceded by the Catalan Parliament's resolution, which agreed to receive refugees over the Spanish quota. Following this, Tremosa criticised the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy for his '"lack of will" in accelerating the reception of refugees and "implementing as quickly as possible the European agreement on distributing the refugee burden". 

The so-called 'Operation Enxaneta' is considered the most important in the fight against drug trafficking carried out in Spain in the last ten years. 35 people have been arrested, 25 of whom have already been sent to prison. 83 kilos of highly pure heroin, 1 kilo of cocaine and 360 grams of marihuana have been intercepted. Several bank accounts have been frozen, and patrimonial assets and more than 1 million euros in cash have been confiscated. The investigation, which started in April, has brought to light heroin's routes and sales channels, starting in Pakistan and finishing in Barcelona and Madrid, amongst other places. 'Operation Enxaneta' was carried out by the Catalan police in collaboration with the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Spanish Police and the Ukrainian Security Service, which intercepted a 71-kilo heroin shipment bound for Catalonia.

A number of different associations met this Wednesday with current Catalan President, Artur Mas, and current Catalan Minister for Social Affairs, Neus Munté, to coordinate on the hosting of refugees. "Catalonia is ready" stated Munté, although she admitted that the Spanish Government haven't told them yet "the number of refugees nor the approximate date of their arrival". In any case, the Catalan institutions and collaborative organisations will be able to host initially between 2,000 and 5,000 people. "These people are living a daily 'Paris'" stated Munté, referring to the refugees escaping military conflicts. She also emphasised that the terrorist attacks in Paris "haven't changed" the government plans in terms of hosting refugees "on the contrary, they have made us more aware of how important it is to work together". 

Current Catalan Minister for Home Affairs, Jordi Jané, warned that the jihadist threat in Catalonia is "grave" and insisted that the Government is "offering its hand" and is "willing to collaborate with everyone" in order to fight terrorism. Although he called on citizens to "carry on with their normal lives" Jané announced some measures partly due to the terrorist attacks in Paris. In the short term, the controlling of road access to the main Catalan cities is to be reinforced, as is the level of surveillance in public spaces. In the longer term, Jané announced a protocol to "detect in time the Islamic radicalisation phenomenon" at school and "avoid allowing a terrorism that wants to change mind-sets" to spread. The protocol has already been designed and will be launched shortly. The aim is to work closely with the education community to identify which pupils are more likely to radicalise. 

The Catalan project 'Guifi.net', based on an open Internet, was amongst the five winners at the first edition of the European Broadband Awards. It was awarded best project in the category on innovative model of financing, business and investment. 'Guifi.net' was founded in 2004 and aimed to connect those rural areas in Catalonia and in the rest of the Iberian Peninsula which had difficulties getting a good Internet service. Now, it is present in more than 30,000 homes. Its president, Ramon Roca, regarded the prize as “a recognition of more than 12 years of hard work”. A total of 48 projects from 17 Member States took part in the European Broadband Award’s competition, an initiative aiming to identify the five best projects of high-speed broadband networks – the so-called Next Generation Networks (NGN) delivering at least 30 Mbps in urban, suburban and rural areas.

Under the slogan ‘Defend refugees. Achieve world peace’a dozen Nobel Peace Laureates, professors, students and worldwide organisations will tackle the refugee humanitarian crisis and try to offer practical solutions. At the presentation of the 15^th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Barcelona, current Catalan President, Artur Mas, assured that the Catalan capital and the whole of Catalonia “are ready”to welcome those who run from war. He described Catalonia as “a good laboratory”of social cohesion and reception experiences on an international scale, as it has repeatedly welcomed people from all over Spain and was the point of departure for many Civil War exiles. Barcelona City Hall’s First Deputy Mayor, Gerardo Pisarello, highlighted Barcelona’s efforts to become a world leader in peace and in respecting human rights.

Catalonia received more than 190 million euros from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, the most important initiative in the EU in terms of innovation and R&D. In the past year and a half, Catalan innovative companies and research projects received 2.6% of the total that the EC has given out so far, representing a higher figure  proportional to Catalonia’s population weight within Europe (1.5%).“Catalonia’s R&D system is one of the most productive and successful in Europe”stated general director of Recerca, Josep Maria Martorell, head of the entity which executes and promotes research and innovation initiatives in Catalonia. “During the first year of Horizon 2020, Catalonia has multiplied by 3.5 what was raised in the first year of the previous European funding programme, the FP7”he added. Most of the 142 companies which received Horizon 2020 funds were SMEs and this allowed them carry out feasibility analysis and be able to fund their R&D activities, so that their projects could be launched. The Horizon 2020 programme, launched last year, has an 80 billion euros budget until 2020.

Spanish police entered this morning the house of the President of the Catalan Government between 1980 and 2003 and founder of the centre-right Catalan nationalist coalition CiU in the 1970s, Jordi Pujol. The officers searched for documentation related to Pujol’s eldest son, Jordi Pujol Ferrusola, who is currently indicted for alleged fiscal fraud and money laundering and at the centre of most of the ongoing judicial investigations involving the family. 15 other addresses were also searched this morning by Spanish police, including Jordi Pujol Jr’s office and other residences and companies related to Pujol’s eldest son’s businesses in Barcelona and Madrid. The operation is run by the Spanish 'Audiencia Nacional', which is a court investigating and ruling on organised crime, terrorism and international fiscal offences. Earlier this year, former Catalan President and founder of the centre-right Catalan nationalist coalition CiU in the 1970s Jordi Pujol, his wife Marta Ferrusola, and most of their 7 children testified before the Barcelona-based judge investigating the case.

Liberal party CDC headquarters have once again been searched by the Spanish Guardia Civil and the party's treasurer, Andreu Viloca, has been arrested. This Wednesday's actions are part of an ongoing investigation into alleged irregular financing of the party to find out whether companies paid a 3% commission to the CDC foundation in exchange for public contracts. In the first phase of the so-called operation 'Petrum', in July, Spanish police arrested Jordi Sumarroca, CEO of Teyco and son of one of the founders of CDC, Carles Sumarroca, and two other members of his family. The second phase already included a search of CDC headquarters. On Tuesday, the police also arrested 7 businessmen accused of having allegedly paid irregular commissions to the party in exchange for public contracts. Catalan President Artur Mas described these operations as "exaggerated" and assured that both CDC and the President himself are "big game targets" due to the pro-independence process in Catalonia.  

United Airlines will offer a daily direct flight to connect Barcelona with Washington DC. The new route will be operative next summer, starting on the 25^th of May and continuing until the 6^th of September. The flight will depart from Barcelona El Prat airport at 11.30am each day and arrive at Dulles airport in Washington DC at 2.45pm the same day. In the opposite direction, the flight will leave Washington DC at 6.10pm and land in the Catalan capital at 2.45pm that the same day. This new connection has been announced two weeks after another new non-stop intercontinental flight started to operate to Barcelona, which has connected El Prat airport with Sao Paulo since the beginning of October. 

Porcine Sanitation Group (GSP) in Lleida region, together with the Catalan Ministry of Agriculture, has launched 'Portal de Casos Clínics' ('Portal of Clinique Cases'), an innovative website to help veterinary tasks in the porcine sector. The application, a first in Europe, enables the professionals to do a follow up of the state and evolution of porcine illnesses in real time. The aim is to help veterinarians to diagnose as well as anticipate problems and optimise the resources and time used for treatment. This sanitary tool has already 7,000 cases indexed. The launching of the website is another step forward for GSP, a non-profit association which aims to improve the sanitary standard and profitability of porcine companies in Catalonia.