catalan way

In the first eleven months of 2013, Catalonia has been the favourite destination in Spain for international visitors. Indeed, 14,838,018 foreign tourists have travelled to Catalonia during this period, meaning 25.8 % of the total number of international visitors in Spain. This represents an increase of 7.4% over the same period in 2012. In November, Catalonia has welcomed 836,654 foreign tourists and has only been surpassed by the Canary Islands (1,073,759). Stays in hotels have also registered an upward trend: they have increased by 8.6% at Spanish level this month and by 4.1% in Catalonia. The majority of these foreign tourists come from France, the UK, and Germany while the number of visitors from Russia and Belgium has also increased significantly.

The Catalan Government has finally approved a decree protecting families in need from having their household electricity and gas cut off by energy supply companies during the winter months. The measure aims to fight the so-called ‘energy povert’: people who cannot afford to pay for their energy bills because they do not get minimum income. This way, the Catalan Government ensures they can continue having heating and using their cooking devices during the coldest period of the year. Energy companies will not be able to cut off supplies to these families between November and March. Besides, the Catalan Government has also approved a temporary budget extension for the coming weeks, since the People’s  Party (PP) – which runs the Spanish Executive – has blocked the approval of the 2014 budget.

This Sunday, 800 tourists from the UK landed at Lleida-Alguaire Airport (Western Catalonia) to go skiing in the Pyrenees. The high number of English passengers is mostly due to the commitment of British tour operator Neilson Thomas Cook to the Catalan airport, which will run flights from Manchester, Southampton, Birmingham, Gatwick and Bristol. Until March, 20,000 skiers are expected to land in Lleida, along with 15,000 other visitors, to make the airport’s total number of passengers reach 35,000. Many of them will then cross the border to enjoy ski resorts in Andorra. According to the Catalan Government’s Delegate in the Lleida Province, Ramon Farré, these figures still show that “this airport is far from other airports in Spain which are not so successful”.

The Catalan Government’s Advisory Council for the National Transition (CATN), formed of renowned independent experts, emphasised that Catalonia’s independence from Spain would not represent breaking their affective and historical bounds. Furthermore, they insisted on the need to continue and even to increase cooperation “based on a new principle of equality and mutual respect between both parties”. They have suggested different ways to cooperate, through different structures. For instance, they proposed the creation of the ‘Iberian Council’ bringing together Catalonia and Spain, as well as Portugal and Andorra if they wished to, which would mirror the Nordic Council or the Benelux. Furthermore, the CATN issued three other reports, including a detailed analysis of Catalonia’s tax agency.

The Catalan Government put 4 buildings up for auction this Friday, following a plan to rationalise the spaces it uses, reduce spending and increase revenue in order to reduce public deficit. The headquarters of the Catalan Finance Ministry, located in a 8,000 square metre Art-Nouveau building in Barcelona’s Rambla Catalunya, has been bought by an Italian pharmaceutical company through FINAF 92 for €23.2 million. The other building, with a surface of 7,200 square metres, was used by the Catalan Police and is located in front of Barcelona’s Ciutadella Park. It has been bought by the German hotel company MO Düsseldorf Immermannstrasse GmbH & CO. KG for €14.1 million. On Thursday, the Catalan Government announced a plan to reduce its office space by 45% in the coming year by concentrating services. The plan includes selling the most attractive buildings.

Fira de Barcelona - the Catalan capital trade fair organisation - expects to end 2013 with revenues of €117.2 million, meaning 10.9 % more than targeted, 1.7 % more than last year and 2.2 % more than in 2011. The institution’s management stressed that such good results came from the “ability to attract major international events”, such as the Mobile World Congress or the EVS27, dedicated to the electric vehicle. The foreign sector already contributes to 50% of the Fira de Barcelona revenues. Indeed, the institution, apart from welcoming professionals from all around the world, has also created other trade fairs in foreign countries and next year it will open new fairs in Qatar or Japan.

ICTINEU 3, a scientific submersible designed and build in Catalonia, has entered the water for the very first time in a test dive near Barcelona. For over ten years, particular donations have helped construct this submarine that will be dedicated to “underwater exploration, scientific research and underwater intervention”. This first test was used to verify that all of the submarine’s systems could function underwater, and the next step will be a dive in seawater. ICTINEU 3 was named after the very first air independent and combustion engine driven submarine, ICTINEU 1, which was invented by Figueres’ engineer Narcís Monturiol and dived for the first time in the Catalan capital’s harbour.

The Catalan Finance Minister presented on Thursday a ‘Space Rationalisation and Optimisation Plan’ that foresees to partially leave Barcelona’s city centre and set up offices in cheaper areas. Nonetheless, the measure does not include citizen information and care centres such as schools and community health centres. Furthermore, the initiative also plans to reduce the global office space by using previously-empty floors and concentrating services without laying off staff. The objective is to pass from holding 377,000 square metres to fully occupying 207,000 square metres, a 45% reduction. By doing so, the Catalan Government expects to reduce rents by a 20% average, to cut off indirect costs by 50% and to decrease energy spending by 30%. Furthermore, it will sell the most appealing buildings.

The readers of the Wall Street Journal have deemed best photograph of the year a picture of the ‘Catalan Way towards independence’, a 400-kilometre-long human chain which crossed the whole of Catalonia on the 11^th of September 2013. 1.6 million Catalans took part in the demonstration, asking for independence from Spain. The winning photograph was taken by Raymond Roig and portrays participants on the heights of Pertús village (located near the French border, in the Pyrenees). It was chosen amongst the 364 pictures selected by ‘Wall Street Journal’ editors as the best photos of the year.

The Catalan Executive considers the Spanish Government’s decision not to pay them the money corresponding to the revenue from the tax on bank deposits in 2013 “very bad news”. On the 18^th December 2012, the Catalan Executive approved a tax on banks’ global deposits (not on personal deposits) with a general rate of 0.5% but with many reductions. Such a tax already existed in Andalusia, Extremadura and the Canaries. Nine days later, the Spanish Government approved its own tax, but at a 0% rate, therefore not collecting any money but cancelling de facto the Autonomous Communities’ tax. When this happens, the Spanish Executive is legally obliged to compensate the regional government, transferring the equivalent money. Madrid did so with the others, but not with Catalonia. Such a tax would have generated €800 million in revenue in 2013.

The Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo, has stated that the Spanish Government's position regarding the independence of Scotland and its inclusion in the EU will depend on the British Government. The “crucial” point will be whether London considers the process to be legal or not. This statement was made after a Catalan MP accused the Spanish Government of being “allergic to ballot boxes”. Indeed, the Spanish Prime Minister had expressed quite a different opinion on the subject, in November. He had stated that if Scotland and Catalonia became independent, they would be excluded from the EU, and would have to re-apply for membership, also suggesting a possible veto from Madrid.

The Picasso Museum of the Catalan capital will no longer be solely run by the municipality. From the 1^st of January 2014, it will be managed by the public-private Picasso Museum Foundation. This will be the beginning of a new era for the museum, which is set to focus on the conservation, study and development of its own artistic heritage, by launching the ‘Centre de Referència Picassiana on-line’, dedicated to researching and teaching Picasso around the world. The managers of the museum also wish to delve into the influence of Picasso on contemporary art. Such an idea is at the core of the next exhibition dedicated to the illustrious painter: Post-Picasso: Contemporary Artists' Response to His Art, held from the 7^th of March to the 29^th of June, 2014.

The civil society organisation Súmate, bringing together Spanish-speaking Catalans who support independence from Spain, presented its local branch in Mataró, a coastal city in Greater Barcelona. On Tuesday evening, half an hour after the event’s kick off, a group of about six Fascists carrying Spanish flags interrupted the presentation and tried to stop it. They shouted insults against participants and carried banners against the association. “You are a submarine” of pro-independence parties and “You are sold to the ‘nazionalist’ tyranny” were some of the slogans. Ironically, these Fascists called the attendees of a democratic debate on Catalan nationalism ‘Nazis’. Spanish nationalism has compared Catalonia’s claims to Nazism on several occasions, while Madrid’s establishment and intellectuals have barely protested. 

Catalan pharmaceutical company Almirall has announced on Tuesday it will buy Aqua Pharmaceuticals, an American company specialised in dermatological treatments. The $328 million transaction reflects the Catalan multinational’s strategy to diversify its activities, by establishing itself in a sector that will be a “key platform for growth”. Aqua Pharmaceuticals has a portfolio of well known brands for treating acne and skin rashes. This year the total sales of the American company’s products are expected to generate $127 million. According to a statement to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), Almirall intends to continue employing the same Aqua management team, to benefit from their experience in the U.S. market.

Andreu Mas-Colell, Catalan Finance Minister, considered the People’s Party (PP) to be “obstructionist” for blocking the approval of the Catalan Government’s budget for 2014, which was initially scheduled for this week. On Tuesday evening the PP – which runs the Spanish Government – confirmed it was freezing the implementation of the €29.31 billion budget because it included €5 million (0.0176% of the total spending) to fund “electoral processes and citizen consultations”. Mas-Colell warned that by delaying the budget’s implementation, the Catalan Government will lose revenue coming from new taxes and therefore it will have more difficulties meeting the deficit targets for 2014. All the parties in the Catalan Parliament criticised the PP’s initiative except the anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans (C’s), which backed the action.