catalan way

The Catalan Parliament approved on Thursday the Law on Transparency, Information Access and Good Governance with 81% in support and 2% in opposition. This bill comes a few months after the Catalan Government was graded 100 points out of 100 by Transparency International Spain for the information it makes available to citizens through its website about public contracts, tenders, subsidies and elected officials. However, these measures also come after years of corruption scandals, which have not only occurred across Spain, but also in Catalonia. The main parties have backed the new law, while two other parties abstained and one voted against the bill because they said they did not trust the governing centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU. With the new law, access to information will become a citizen’s right, which can only be limited when it affects people’s intimacy or a few other exceptions, including public security. 

Spain’s Director of the Public Prosecution Office, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, has announced his resignation “for personal reasons”. However, it is well-known that Torres-Dulce has had several arguments with the Spanish Government, run by the People’s Party (PP) and chaired by Mariano Rajoy. The latest argument was about prosecuting the Catalan President and other members of the Catalan Government for the symbolic vote on independence held on 9 November. Several PP members announced the penal actions before Torres-Dulce had given the instruction to press charges. At that time, Torres-Dulce denied having been pressured by the Spanish Government, but many voices criticised the absence of a separation of powers. On top of this, the main public prosecutors in Catalonia initially rejected the criminal complaint, but Torres-Dulce – appointed by the Spanish Government – obliged them to file it. Furthermore, he has also had many arguments with the PP on account of the numerous corruption scandals being investigated.

The left-wing independence party ERC has joined the governing centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU in allowing the Catalan Government’s budget bill for 2015 to continue its parliamentary approval process. Although critical of the budget proposal, the ERC backed the centre-right coalition in the hope that Catalan President and CiU leader Artur Mas will call early elections in the coming weeks, which are likely to be transformed into a ‘de facto’ referendum on independence. The CiU and the ERC have a different approach towards any such elections and have been negotiating for a number of weeks. The approval of the 2015 budget has become an additional element of the talks, a fact which has been criticised by the other parties. On Thursday, the CiU and the ERC rejected the full amendments filed by the rest of opposition parties. 

The Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, has announced new measures “to reduce the interest rates” paid by the Autonomous Community governments, including that of Catalonia. A few hours early, Spanish Finance Ministry sources told the CNA that the interest rates of the loans given to the regional governments through the Liquidity Fund (FLA) and the fund to pay providers would soon be lowered to 0%. Instead of modifying the pre-crisis-designed inter-territorial funding scheme, which legally expired a year ago, or authorising the Autonomous Communities to address the financial markets, the Spanish Government has been issuing loans with high interest rates to fund the regional executives. The Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, was sceptical about the announcement and urged the Spanish Government to approve a new inter-territorial funding scheme.

The Spanish Government has welcomed a European Council decision which emphasises that "territorial integrity" is "an essential function" of each Member State. Furthermore, the EU institution will "respect" the "national identities of Member States inherent in their fundamental political and constitutional structures, inclusive of regional and local self-government". Such statements are included within a more general declaration about respecting the rule of law within the European Union, issued after recent events in Hungary. However, the Spanish Government managed to include such references to the document, in the middle of the debate about Catalonia's potential independence from Spain and its continuity within the EU. EU Treaties would have to be reformed to include Catalonia, but they would also have to be reformed in order to kick it out of the EU, since there are no specific provisions on this case.

The Catalan Government has issued the Bureaucratic Simplification Law, which should speed up the creation of new private businesses. The new bill should make things easier for 75% of new business initiatives, according to the Catalan Minister for Business and Employment, Felip Puig. He explained that entrepreneurs carrying out innocuous or low-risk activities will be able to create a new company and start working within 48 hours, after having signed a responsibility statement, registered the new company and made sure that their premises respect all the regulations. Therefore, it will be the entrepreneurs' responsibility to make sure that the new business respects the legal framework, setting up "a framework of trust" between the entrepreneurs and the Government, said Puig. Once the business activity launches, public bodies may run inspections to make sure everything is in order.

Joan Herrera, the leader of the Catalan Green Socialist and post-Communist coalition ICV-EUiA, also held his own conference on Catalonia's political future and self-determination road map, after those of the Catalan President, the Spanish Prime Minister and three other political leaders. Despite supporting Catalans' right to vote on independence, Herrera rejected exclusively voting on independence, since after years of budget cuts and corruption scandals, citizens also have to vote on social issues and measures to clean up the democratic system. Herrera strongly criticised the austerity measures approved by the centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU and the People's Party (PP). The ICV-EUiA does not have an official position regarding independence and about half of its leadership and voters would support it, while the other half supports greater powers for the Catalan Government within a federal Spain.

The left-wing independence party ERC announced it will not block the Catalan Government's budget proposal for 2015, which should allow the bill to continue its parliamentary approval process. ERC's decision comes within the negotiations with the governing centre-right pro-Catalan State coalition CiU to run together or separately in early Catalan elections that should be transformed into a 'de facto' referendum on independence. The CiU is missing 18 MPs to get the absolute majority and it needs the votes or the abstention from at least one other group to approve next year's budget. The ERC and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) are the only two groups that could enable the bill to pass, although they do not seem willing to do so. By not blocking the budget, the ERC is "facilitating" an agreement with the CiU. However, they are expecting the new budget not to be approved in the end because early elections should be called, although they "do not rule out any scenario".

The Design Museum of Barcelona will open on December 14 and showcase the diversity of its collections and their origins, across 4 permanent exhibitions. The new centre, located within the DUHB building, will have a total collection of 70,000 items, coming from the previously existing Museum of Decorative Arts, the Ceramics Museum, the Textile Museum and the Cabinet of Graphic Arts. The aim of the new museum will be to "rediscover" the collections through a discourse that covers decorative and traditional arts, through industrial design, all the way to contemporary poster and graphic design. The DHUB is located in Glòries Square, in an area of Barcelona once known for its industry, but that has been recently opened up through extensive development and investment. According the Mayor of the city, Xavier Trias, the new museum "will reinforce the position of the square as an economic, social and cultural epicentre".

In 2011 and 2012, funds for scientific research in Catalonia dropped from €277 million to €224 million, a 19% decrease, according to a study issued on Friday by the Catalan Association of Public Universities. Despite this drastic budget reduction, scientific production has managed to keep similar levels to previous years and continue standing at levels similar to those in countries such as the UK or Belgium. The report compiles the main research and innovation indicators for 2011 and 2012. However, the main representatives of public universities warn that scientific production is at risk and could drop to pre-2010 levels if the budget situation does not shift. They also highlighted that public universities in Catalonia have the challenge of attracting greater private investment for its research projects.

For the second time this year, prices have decreased in Catalonia in annual terms. By the end of November, inflation dropped by -0.1% compared to 12 months ago, mostly due to a drop in electricity and fuel prices, according to figures released on Friday by the Spanish Statistics Institute (INE). In monthly terms, prices stagnated over November compared to the October ones. In the whole of Spain, prices dropped by -0.1% in monthly terms and by -0.4% in annual terms. Spain is now accumulating 5 consecutive months of negative inflation rates. The INE explains this annual drop by the price decrease of housing (which includes electricity), transport (which includes fuels) and food and non-alcoholic drinks. In November electricity prices only increased by 0.7% in annual terms, while they grew by 1.7% in October. Fuel prices dropped by -1.8% in November, while they had only decreased by -1.1% in October.

In 2013, 80.7% of cardboard, paper and plastic packaging used in Catalan households was recycled. This rate is 2 percentage points lower than that registered in 2012 due to people stealing waste from recycling containers, according to representatives from the industry. Catalonia's overall recycling rate is 38% but the Catalan Government aims to make this 60% by 2020. The level of paper and plastic recycling by Catalan homes is almost 9 percentage points higher than the Spanish average (71.9%), and quite close to the leading countries in Europe such as Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic, whose households recycle around 85% of these products. Representatives from waste and recycling organizations spoke positively of the efforts made, but stressed the need to reach all the population and economic sectors.

The Catalan Government is now managing the sale of the 150 hectares owned by La Caixa on which the BCN World holiday resort should build its 6 macro-casinos. On Thursday the bank and the Catalan Executive signed the agreement, which comes the day after the private investor Veremonte announced it was postponing the land purchase once again. Veremonte had an exclusivity agreement to buy 500 hectares of land before December 10 at midnight for €380 million, but it postponed the purchase because the urban planning details were still unknown. However, the core of BCN World's project, which is the 6 Las Vegas style hotels and casinos as well as a luxury shopping mall, only takes up 150 hectares. The Catalan Government decided to jump in to strengthen the project and guarantee that the main plots will be available for private investors to build the casinos. It will manage the sale for the next 18 months, while the definitive and detailed urban planning for the area should be approved in July 2015. The other hectares will be directly sold by La Caixa.

Miquel Iceta, First Secretary of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), is currently rejecting a vote on independence and is proposing a broad Constitutional Reform to grant Catalonia a better fitting within a truly federal Spain. On Wednesday evening, Iceta exposed his proposals in a conference, emulating what the main pro-independence leaders – Artur Mas and Oriol Junqueras – had done one and two weeks ago. On Thursday, he was interviewed by a radio station about his proposals and he was asked about would happen if Catalans were to reject the Constitutional Reform he is pushing for. In such scenario, the leader of the PSC – which is part of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) – stated that he would support the organisation of a referendum on independence. However, before voting on breaking up with Spain, Iceta insisted on the need to vote on a new agreement set through a Constitutional Reform.

Veremonte has decided not to buy the land to build the macro-casino and holiday resort yet and it will wait until it has a better knowledge of the town-planning project's details, which are currently being defined by the public authorities. The main company behind the holiday resort had an exclusivity right to purchase some 500 hectares of land from a Caixabank's subsidiary until December 10 at midnight for €380 million. Veremonte has confirmed it will continue to work on the $6 billion BCN World project with Hard Rock, Melco, Value Retail, Melià and Caesars Entertainment and it could buy the land at a later stage. After knowing about Veremonte's decision, the Catalan Government announced it had reached an agreement with Caixabank to manage the purchase of 150 hectares of land during 18 months at no cost, allowing other companies to buy some plots. They have also confirmed that the project will carry on, "with or without Veremonte". The first version of the town-planning project should be issued in later January and the definitive version should be approved during the summer months, in order to allow construction as from autumn 2015.