catalan way

Before the Catalan Parliament's commission investigating fraud and corruption, former President of the Catalan Government Jordi Pujol has testified in order to address his family's alleged fiscal fraud. Pujol was asked to talk before the parliamentary committee despite having been indicted by the judge and having already testified in front of her in January. Pujol, who ran the Executive between 1980 and 2003, did not add any new information and refused to answer many questions, referring to his previous statement before the judge and the previous hearing before the Catalan Parliament in September. He criticised the current parliamentary commission for not sufficiently proving their accusations., Pujol's wife, Marta Ferrusola, who is also indicted and who has previously testified before the judge, also spoke before the parliamentary commission. Ferrusola did not answer many questions but stressed that she "never" travelled to Andorra to manage funds.

Former two time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso had to be kept in hospital last Sunday night after he was involved in a serious accident at the Circuit de Catalunya, in Greater Barcelona. The Spaniard suffered head injuries and concussion and had to be airlifted from the circuit to hospital via helicopter. Alonso was given the all clear after undergoing a series of scans and tests but was kept in hospital overnight for observation because of the nature of his injuries. The Spaniard was completing the 21st lap of the day for his new McLaren team when the accident happened at turn four on the fourth and final day of the test. According to his team, Alonso was “conscious” upon his arrival at the circuit’s medical centre and able to talk to doctors before being airlifted to hospital.

A day after the President of the Catalan Government and leader of the centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU, Artur Mas, announced his plan to further develop the so-called state structures before the 27 September elections, the leader of the left-wing Catalan independence party ERC, Oriol Junqueras, has once again requested to be part of the Executive and sit in Cabinet. Junqueras justified his request in order “to guarantee the indispensable state structures”, such as Catalonia’s own tax administration and Social Security system. The embryonic frame of such structures should be created before the next Catalan elections, which will be called early and will be transformed into a ‘de facto’ referendum on independence from Spain. On Tuesday, Mas had already ruled out the possibility of the ERC sitting in Government and, on Wednesday, the Catalan President stressed that the current Cabinet will only be in office for the next 6 months.

Exports from Catalonia increased by 3.1% in 2014, reaching €60.2 billion, meaning that more than 30% of the Catalan GDP is sold outside of Spain. Furthermore, Catalan exports grew more than those of Spain as a whole, which increased by 2.5% last year, reaching €240 billion. This means that 25.1% of all Spain’s exports come from Catalonia’s economy, some way ahead of the Madrid region, which produces 11.7% of Spain’s total exports. In addition, the growth rate of Catalan exports was much higher than the Eurozone average (exports from which grew by 1.8%) and also higher than that of EU Member States such as France (-0.2%), UK (-11.1%) and Italy (+2%). The figures posted this Wednesday confirm the good health of Catalonia’s export sector and the high degree of internationalisation of its economy.

Last night, the coastal town of Sitges located about 35 kilometres south of Barcelona, brought to a close its famous carnival. This event, known for its extravagance and huge number of visitors, is especially popular among the gay community. For a full week, the whole city is dedicated to the celebration of Carnival, dressing up and organising activities for both children and adults. Sunday and Tuesday’s parades filled Sitges’ streets with tens of thousands of visitors.No less than 1,000 police officers were mobilised for the event, as were fire fighters and health personnel. 38 extra trains and 45,000 additional seats were provided to help visitors attend the event. The Carnival finishes this Wednesday with the traditional ‘burial of the sardines’.

The regional Government of Aragon, run by the People's Party (PP), has removed the last legal trace of the Catalan and Aragonese languages in the region. This action has provoked a civil and political movement in defence of both languages spoken by thousands of citizens in the Aragonese Pyrenees and in “la Franja” (the Strip), a narrow piece of land in the eastern part of the region, bordering Catalonia. Since 1999, the Aragonese Cultural Heritage Act recognised Catalan and Aragonese as “minority languages from Aragon” and as a “specially protected cultural wealth”. However, the regional Parliament, led by the People’s Party (PP) and the Regionalist Aragonese Party (PAR), passed a law that ends this protection and the denomination of "Catalan" and "Aragonese".  

On Monday, the National Executive Commission of the centre-right pro-Catalan State Coalition CiU, which is its leading committee, has explicitly referred to last week's crisis. Last Tuesday, the CiU MPs in the Spanish Parliament voted differently, showing a split within the coalition, coinciding with the two integrated parties: the Liberal and pro-independence force CDC (the largest one) on one side and the Christian-Democrat and pro-Spanish unity party UDC on the other. The CiU's Spokesperson in the Spanish Parliament and leader of the UDC, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, believed the CDC MPs had not obeyed his voting instructions to support the Penal Code's reform, while the Liberal MPs were insisting that the CiU group had previously agreed on abstaining. Now, the CiU leadership considers the crisis to be over and highlighted their "full support" for Duran i Lleida.

The Catalan company announced on Monday that it will start working in Japan, the world's second-largest market for travel agencies. The Barcelona-based firm highlighted "the importance and potential" of Japan, hoping to gain a high market share within the country. Starting business activities in Japan represents "a gigantic step" for eDreams' internationalisation strategy, stated the company. The land of the rising sun is considered to be the largest travel market in the Asia-Pacific region. eDreams' total amount of online bookings is some $30.8 billion. The company expects this type of booking to represent 40% of total bookings by the end of the current year. Including Japan, eDreams operates in 44 different countries, on 5 different continents.

Every day in every hospital in the world blood is needed. The only way to get it is from donations, since blood cannot be created artificially. Each altruist action may serve to help three different patients. In Catalonia, for the system to work optimally 1,000 donations a day would be needed but the average donation figure is lower. Everyone can donate if they weigh over 50kg, since a donation is 450ml of blood and a minimum weight is required. Men can do it four times a year and women three times. There are now various mobile units that travel throughout Catalonia to make donating more accessible to donors.

Hunters and park rangers are currently working together to try to contain the outbreak of Scabies in the wild population of Iberian ibex in the mountainous area of Terra Alta, in the south of Catalonia. This is the last surviving population of this local species throughout Catalonia, after it became extinct from the Pyrenees. Negotiations between the two parties began late last month after the Catalan Government's Department of Agriculture granted permission to hunt and kill the infected specimen before the disease spreads. A previous case in 1987, which eliminated 97% of the goat population, has meant that the Department of Agriculture is not taking this news lightly and want a swift yet controlled extermination of the diseased animals in order to prevent the extinction of the species in Catalonia.

‘The Bewitched Love’, a well-known musical piece composed by Manuel de Falla celebrates a century on stage this year. Catalan theatrical company La Fura dels Baus, world-reknown for their innovative, provocative and technological creations, is commemorating the anniversary by preparing a musical performance which includes flamenco dance, fire and water as part of the play. The show is going to be called ‘El amor brujo: el fuego y la palabra’ [The Bewitched Love: the fire and the word], and will premiere on 10 July in Granada before travelling to the Castell de Peralada International Festival in Girona. 

For the first time in seven years, the number of houses and flats being built in Catalonia has increased. The figures for 2014 show that between 4,300 and 4,500 new properties have appeared on the market after seven years of decline. According to Lluís Marsà, President of the Promoters Association of Barcelona, the housing market is recovering due to the improving economy. Marsà says there is still one big obstacle remaining to consolidate the recovery of the sector: “The lack of bank financing which keeps people from purchasing new housing.” While this is a positive development, the housing market has still a long way to go. According to Marsà, “it will probably take 3 or 4 years to fully recover.”

A university research project by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) has found that married people are healthier than single people. Researchers have proved that marriage has positive effects on the health of people aged 40 and over. The reason for this link between health and marriage is the couple’s role in taking care of each other. In addition, married people are more likely to have health insurance, the study found.The researchers also highlighted that people who are more inclined to marry are innately healthy. In many instances they have particular physical and psychological features, linked to gene quality and good health, which result in them being more attractive and therefore having a greater possibility of getting married. 

Prices in Catalonia dropped by 1.4% in January compared to the figures for December, which represents the biggest monthly decrease ever registered on the records of the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE) (since 2002, when comparable data started to be compiled). Furthermore, the annual inflation rate posted at the end of February reached -0.9%, which is the lowest figure since July 2009, in the middle of the first economic recession. The sustained decrease of oil prices is the main reason for such results and Catalonia has now accumulated 3 consecutive months with negative rates within the Consumption Price Index (IPC) in annual terms. In Spain as a whole, prices dropped by 1.6% in monthly terms at the end of January, which is also the biggest decrease within the series of comparable records. Furthermore, Spain’s annual inflation reached -1.3%, the lowest since July 2007. 

In 2014 in Catalonia, not only has there been a rise in the number of overnight hotel stays but also a substantial growth in the number of visitors. Hotel figures show 50,018,636 overnight stays last year, a 1.5% increase over 2013. Catalan hotels received a total of 16,754,342 visitors, an increase of 3.4% over last year. The Catalan tourism infrastructure played host to 62% foreign residents (10.3 million) and 38% (6.3 million) of residents from Spain. December is increasingly becoming an important month as the number of overnight stays climbed to around 2 million (1,983,259), which represents 6.1% more than the same month in 2013 and the highest rate ever recorded for this period of the year. Catalonia remains above the average rate for Spain, as its occupation rate is 56.2%, whereas that of Spain overall is 54.8%.