catalan way

María de los Llanos de Luna, from the People’s Party (PP), gave a diploma to a brotherhood of the ‘Divisón Azul’, a division of Spanish volunteers who fought in the Nazi army during the Second World War. De Luna is the top representative of the Spanish Government in Catalonia and she is known for her Spanish nationalism and anti-Catalan identity stance. The news has outraged the rest of the Catalan political parties, who have asked for her immediate resignation. Furthermore, the 12 members of the brotherhood which received the diploma were wearing the Falange uniform, which was the only party allowed during Franco’s Fascist dictatorship. Neither the PP nor the Spanish Government have commented on the news or the resignation demands.

Between January and March, the Catalan Government had a budget deficit of €411 million, representing 0.21% of Catalonia’s GDP. The definitive deficit target for 2013 for each Autonomous Community has not been set by the Spanish Government yet. Madrid set a 1.2% target a few weeks ago but everybody assumes it will be raised as negotiations are on-going with the Catalan Government. Rumours indicate that Catalonia’s deficit target may finally be set at around 1.8%. The Autonomous Communities posted a total public deficit of €1.24 billion at the end of the first quarter, corresponding to 0.12% of Spain’s GDP. According to the Spanish Deputy Minister for Budget, the figure represents half the deficit posted in the same period last year.

As it was announced on Monday, the Catalan Government has adapted its budget extension guidelines to a higher deficit target, while it is waiting to find out the definitive deficit target decided by the Spanish Government. Since the elections were held in November, it was the new Catalan Government’s responsibility to draft the budget for 2013. However, the budget has not been presented since the Catalan Government disagrees with the deficit target imposed by the Spanish Government and it is negotiating for its reduction. Meanwhile, it is operating with an extension of the 2012 guidelines, a procedure run by a series of strict guidelines. The guidelines included the 0.7% deficit target initially allowed for this year, which have obliged the Catalan Government services to implement severe spending limitations in the first months of the year. Most of the opposition criticised not debating the new guidelines.

In March, 2,750 flats and houses were sold in Catalonia, 13.9% less than a year ago in the same month. 32.5% were newly built homes and 67.5% were second hand ones. The previous worst month of the economic crisis had been December 2011, when 2,778 housing units were sold. However, the results from March represent the lowest level of housing sales since January 2007. The reasons behind this drop are the economic recession and the crisis of the real estate sector. In the whole of Spain, housing sales dropped by 12.6% compared to a year ago, with 22,086 flats and houses sold. However, at a Spanish level, the worst month in the last few years is still April 2012, when 21,551 housing units were sold.

During the weekend, the Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, stated that the Catalan Government’s deficit for 2013 will not be above 2%. The Catalan Government has been asking for a 2.1% deficit target, corresponding to a third of the 6.3% that was announced by the Spanish Government as the figure allowed for Spain’s entire public sector. On Friday, several high-level meetings to discuss the issue were held in Barcelona between members of both executives. On Monday, the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, stated that in his meeting with the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, they did not discuss specific figures. He also stated that no figure will be decided on until the European Union officially confirms Spain’s 6.3% total deficit target.

As has been traditional over the last 58 years, when spring arrives the city of Girona dresses up with flowers and colours abound during a week at the festival “Girona, Temps de Flors”. There is much more than flowers: music and gastronomy also participate in this festival of smells, tastes and magic images of a city that completely changes from the 11th to the 19th May. In this edition the floral installations are displayed in 142 spaces, eleven more than last year, consolidating the Festival as the most important floral event in Catalonia.

On the occasion of the kick-off of the 2013 Barcelona International Motor Show, the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and 3 ministers (Finance, Economy and Industry) visited Barcelona on Friday. They held several meetings with the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, and the Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell. Mas and Rajoy talked for 20 minutes about Catalonia’s deficit target for 2013 and the budget for this year. Officially, they have not discussed the self-determination process. In addition, Mas also met with Luís De Guindos, Spain’s Minister for the Economy. Mas-Colell met with De Guindos and Cristóbal Montoro, the Spanish Finance Minister.

Catalonia’s GDP decreased by 0.3% between January and March 2013, while the Spanish economy dropped by 0.7% in the same period. The Catalan figure represents a more gentle drop compared to the last quarter of 2012, when the Catalan economy plummeted by 0.7%. However, looking at the annual figures, results from March 2013 represent a 1.9% drop compared to March 2012. Exports and tourism are the main economic engines. However, the improvement is also due to the fact that domestic consumption continued to post negative figures but they were still better than in the previous months. The data are early estimations calculated by the Catalan Statistics Institute (Ideascat) and the Catalan Economy Ministry, released on Friday.

The opposition has denounced “the insult to intelligence” and the “ridiculousness” of changing the official name of the Catalan language in Aragon. Catalan has been spoken in the eastern part of Aragon for almost a thousand years. In addition, the regional parliament has also changed the name of Aragonese, a minority language also spoken for many centuries in Aragon’s Pyrenean valleys. The People’s Party (PP) and a minority regional party called PAR have changed the law ruling Aragon’s official languages. Spanish is now considered the only official language in all Aragon and LAPAO (formerly Catalan) and LAPAPYP (Aragonese) are secondary languages. University experts have strongly criticised this decision which goes against all scientific criteria. From Catalonia, the situation is perceived as another attack on the Catalan language and an attempt to eradicate it from certain areas.

The Catalan Parliament replies by approving the creation of a parliamentary commission on Catalonia’s right to self-determination with 79.3% of yes votes. The commission will study ways to organise a vote on the hypothetical independence from Spain. It is the first time in Spain a court has suspended an entire declaration that has no legal value and has been approved by a parliament. The declaration has no direct legal effect, as it is only a political statement stating that the Catalan people are sovereign to decide on their own collective future. The Spanish Government firstly downplayed the text and later, following the advice of its legal services, decided to appeal against it. By admitting the Spanish Government’s appeal against the text, the Constitutional Court temporarily suspended the Declaration until a sentence is issued.

The international business of the Catalan energy company has been the main driving force behind the profit increase in the January-March period, compared to a year ago. Gas Natural Fenosa’s EBITDA which come from its international business increased by 8.1% while that coming from the Spanish market dropped by 2%. International business represented 44.1% of Gas Natural Fenosa’s total consolidated turnover during the first three months of this year. The consolidated EBITDA reached €1.33 billion, 2.2% higher than that reached in the first quarter of 2012. The company’s debt levels reached 50.9%.

The world’s number one restaurant with three Michelin stars, has launched a new project called ‘El Somni’ (the Dream). The Dream of the restaurant El Celler de Can Roca is a project with the aim of bringing “a feelings explosion” to their guests. To do this, they have created a whole experience dinner which carefully combines cuisine, wine, audiovisual sources in 3D, live music and direct interaction with the diner. Only 12 exclusive guests will be able to feel The Dream. The dinner took place on the 6th May at the Arts Santa Mónica (Barcelona) but the Roca brothers want to export this idea to another 12 countries in two years’ time.

However, the participating political parties could not agree on a plan to organise a self-determination vote: some would like to combine the organisation of the vote with the creation of state structures while others ask for neutrality and refuse to identify self-determination as a solution to Catalonia’s economic crisis. The President of the Catalan Government and leader of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), Artur Mas, called for a summit to discuss ways to obtain the right to self-determination and be able to organise a referendum on this issue. All the parties supporting self-determination, including the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), participated in the meeting, as well as the Catalan Government, the four Provincial Councils and representatives from town halls.

The number of jobseekers registered with the Catalan Public Employment Service (SOC) decreased by 7,055 people last month, which leaves the total number at 656,995 unemployed individuals. The figure represents 21,274 more jobseekers than a year ago, an annual increase of 3.35%. In April, all the economic sectors contributed to the reduction in the level of registered unemployment. In the whole of Spain, the number of people officially registered as unemployed decreased by 0.91%, setting the total number of jobseekers below 5 million individuals (4,989,193), 46,050 fewer people than a month ago. The Catalan Government considered the April figures to be “positive” but also “insufficient”.

The CIS – the Spanish Government’s public opinion survey institute – has indicated that 55.1% of Catalans would like a Catalan state, either independent from Spain (33.7%) or within a federal Spain (21.4%). 29.4% would like to keep the Autonomous Community model and 12.1% would back recentralisation and Catalonia being a Spanish “region”. The survey was taken between September and October but the results were only released recently in early May, more than half a year later. In addition, 65.1% of the interviewees said they wanted more power for the Catalan Government.