brussels

Romeva says snap election isn’t “on the table” while Spanish government demands it in order not to suspend Catalonia’s self-government

European politicians spoke out against Spain’s disregard for “democracy and human rights”

EU approves Italian group’s takeover of toll road operator with Spanish ACS construction firm due to present rival bid

European Commission president admits he is “deeply concerned”

Only 30% of 120,000 asylum seekers have been relocated since 2015, in what Catalan Refugee Aid Commission is calling a "resounding fraud"

MEPs from different EU parties condemn action of Spanish police against Catalan executive, though European Commission declines to comment

SMALLE Technologies and Carinsa selected with 64 other small and medium-sized companies from all around Europe

Francesc de Dalmases states Catalans will vote in October 1 independence referendum in meeting with think tanks, States representatives and foreign journalists

The Spanish Minister of Health, Dolors Montserrat, defended on Wednesday that the current political debate in Catalonia, where the government plans to hold an independence referendum in autumn, does not damage Barcelona's candidacy to host the European Medicines Agency. In comments to the press from Brussels, where she held meetings with the Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis and the Secretary-Generals of the Commission and the Council, Montserrat said that “no one” had raised the issue of independence. “We are the government of all Catalans and we want the EMA in Barcelona. I am strongly convinced that (the independence debate) does not affect this at all. No one has asked me about it,” she insisted. Montserrat said that the Catalan capital is already “ready” to host the 900 EMA staff members at the iconic Torre Agbar building and said that Barcelona “fulfills” all the criteria.

Spanish diplomats tried to pressure the moderator of an event with former Catalan president, Artur Mas, in Brussels. The correspondent from the French newspaper Libération, Jean Quatremer, admitted on Tuesday that when he agreed to present the event with the former Catalan president, he received some “news from Madrid”. “They called to ask me why I had accepted, and if I was sure about what I was getting into, and obviously I was,” said the correspondent, stressing that he is not in favor of independence. During the conference, Mas defended the demands for a referendum in Catalonia and said regretfully that “the only” dialogue that the Spanish state offers to the Catalan people is with “the judges”.

Early this morning, the Catalan police force (Mossos d’Esquadra) carried out an important anti-jihadist operation in six Catalan municipalities. There were 9 arrests in 12 major raids in Barcelona and the surrounding municipalities of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cornellà, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Ripollet, and Masquefa. The Catalan Minister of Home Affairs, Jordi Jané, announced that some of the “arrests made today are in connection with the terrorist attacks in Brussels”. He added that there is no evidence of any planned attack in Catalonia. Jané highlighted the collaboration between the Catalan and Belgian police forces.

Catalonia is seeking an agreement with Spain to celebrate an independence referendum but if Madrid continues to refuse to negotiate, the vote will go ahead anyway in 2017. This is the message that the Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, will send to the European Parliament in a conference on Tuesday evening that is expected to be attended by about 300 people, including MEPs, international journalists and diplomats. Puigdemont will be accompanied by his two most senior ministers: Vice President Oriol Junqueras and Minister of Foreign Affairs Raül Romeva, both former MEPs and both in charge of organising the referendum. The talk has caused a stir amongst Spanish unionist MEPs, who have urged their colleagues to avoid it. The leader of the Spanish People’s Party in the European Parliament, Esteban González Pons, wrote to all his Brussels colleagues saying that the referendum plans are “an unconstitutional act, which goes not only against Spain, but also against the deepest principles and values of the EU”. Puigdemont, said on Twitter that the so-called “dialogue operation” of the Spanish Government with Catalonia “has already arrived in Brussels”. In an ironic remark following González-Pons’ letter, the Catalan President regretted the Spanish People’s Party (PP) stance on the issue.

The exhibition ‘Ramon Llull and the encounter of cultures’ landed on Wednesday at the Espai Catalunya Europa in Brussels and will remain open until January. This itinerant exhibition of the IEMed – the European Institute of the Mediterranean – is part of the events organised in commemoration of the 700^th anniversary of the death of Ramon Llull. The aim of the exhibition is to “explain a little more about what was the world of Ramon Llull” and the role he played “in establishing a dialogue between cultures, civilisations and different religions”, the Executive President of IEMed, Senén Florensa, told the Catalan News Agency. The exhibition has already visited Tarragona, in southern Catalonia; Vic, in central Catalonia; Valencia; and Barcelona. 

Catalonia’s Supreme Court said that Altafaj, head of the Catalan Government Delegation in Brussels, cannot use the title of Permanent Representative to the European Union. The judicial decision came after a complaint by the Spanish Government, which considers that such a title can only be used by member state diplomats. “There is nothing against the Catalan Government having a representative to the European Union or my current role”, said Altafaj. The Catalan diplomat in Brussels described the case against his title as “absurd”. “I am representing the Catalan Government to the EU with more determination than ever”, he said.

European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis assured this Friday that Brussels’ intention “is not to influence votes in member states and regions”, referring to the upcoming 27-S Catalan elections, and outlined that they are “a choice of voters”. Dombrovskis comments came after European Commission spokesman Margarities Schinas warned on Thursday that in the event of becoming an independent state, Catalonia “will become a third country and may apply to become a member of the EU”. Dombrovskis, former Prime Minister of Latvia and European Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue recalled that the European Commission “does not normally comment on party politics in member states or their regions”. “We are ready to work with democratically elected or appointed authorities of member states”, he emphasised