catalan way

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.

The Catalan financial entity Banc Sabadell reached an agreement with the Dutch insurance company AEGON on Friday to buy 50% of the shares of Mediterráneo Vida, S.A. de Seguros y Reaseguros, the joint venture originally established with Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo. The operation is on the condition that they receive the green light from the regulatory authorities. The transaction will allow Banc Sabadell to own 100% of Mediterráneo Vida, S.A. With the operation, the Catalan bank will move forward in the organisation of its insurance subsidiaries and affiliates.

The Catalan chef Ferran Adrià revolutionised modern cuisine, in such a way that some critics have compared him to Picasso’s influence on painting. In fact, most of the current top chefs around the world have spent some time as training cooks at Adrià’s restaurant El Bulli, which was located on a Costa Brava beach, in the Catalan town of Roses. El Bulli was considered to be the best restaurant in the world for a five–time record and it closed in 2011 to re-open as a culinary foundation promoting research and art in 2014. In addition, Adrià was considered by Restaurant Magazine to be “the chef of the decade” in 2010 and he has taught at Harvard and other universities. Ferran Adrià’s creativity developed new techniques and re-interpreted cuisine, fragmenting dishes, cooking for the five senses, creating a new language and bringing cuisine to a whole new dimension.

The President of the Catalan Government announced the initiative which will aim to develop an industry and knowledge cluster of the automation sector. The cluster would profit from the multinational companies based in Catalonia, the country’s industrial sector traditionally linked to cars and bikes, the export infrastructures, Barcelona’s car fair, the Formula-1 racing circuit and the innovation, design and education centres. The new cluster is fully supported by the Catalan Government, since automation is one of the main engines driving Catalonia’s economy. It aims to strengthen the sector’s competitiveness, foster cooperation between companies, facilitate the education and training of professionals, develop innovation and implement strategic agendas such as sustainable mobility and electrical vehicles.

Catalan cuisine again tops the world’s best restaurant ranking. After Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli, the ‘Restaurant’ magazine has awarded the title of being the best restaurant in the entire world to a Catalan restaurant again: El Celler de Can Roca, located in Girona, near the Costa Brava. The establishment run by the three Roca brothers has already been recognised as the world’s second best restaurant, in 2012 and 2011, just after the Danish Noma, and has been among the best kitchens in the world for years. However, now they have received the profession’s top recognition. Starting out as a family restaurant, the Roca brothers have followed in the steps of Ferran Adrià and his molecular cuisine to develop a whole new approach to cooking, using the five senses and creating true pieces of art.

The Catalan Banc Sabadell has bought all the shares in the Lloyds subsidiary companies in Spain: Lloyds Bank International and Lloyds Investment. Banc Sabadell paid €84 million that will be paid through giving 53.75 million shares in the Catalan bank to the British banking giant. This way, Lloyds will control 1.8% of Banc Sabadell’s total shares. The agreement foresees than the UK group will become a “stable shareholder”, since Lloyds has committed to keeping the stocks for at least two years. With the operation, the Catalan bank will control the Lloyds retail and investment businesses in Spain, where the UK company has 28 branches, €1.79 billion in loans and €760 million in deposits.

The 15th edition of the International Short Film and Animation Festival of Barcelona, known as Mecal Pro, has ended after 350 short films were selected from over five thousand and were projected for a month. An increase in participation, the extension of the festival’s length and the importance given to the animation genre were the main features of this year’s edition. This year’s biggest winners were ‘El otro’ (‘The other’) by Jorge Dorado and ‘Misterio’ (‘Mistery’) by Chema García Ibarra. The FX Animation new award goes to the Dutch film ‘Junkyard’ and the best international short film award to ‘Solitudes’, by French director Liova Jedlicki.

The deficit target for Spain’s entire public sector has also been raised from 4.5% to 6.3%. The Spanish Government has kept 81% of the deficit for itself while it is only responsible for 50% of Spain’s public spending. The Spanish Government has allowed itself a 5.1% deficit target, while the Autonomous Communities are only allowed a target of 1.2%. The regional governments fund the basic welfare state services and manage more than 35% of Spain’s total public spending. The Catalan Government welcomes the revision but considers it not to be enough. The Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, has been insisting that the Autonomous Communities should have at least a third of the total deficit. Therefore, with an overall target of 6.3%, the Catalan Executive should have a target at least 2.1%.

The poster ‘Keep Calm and Speak Catalan’ was created by Josep Maria Ganyet, expert in digital communication, in order to protest against the draft law proposed by the Spanish Minister of Education which puts at risk the school model of linguistic immersion in use in Catalonia since the end of Franco’s dictatorship. The poster, in its origin a tweet, came from the fields of social media and reached Congress as a symbol of passive resistance directed at those aiming to alter the Catalan school model. It refers to the historical poster ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, which also became one of the most wide spread pop icons.

By the end of March, unemployment in the whole of Spain set a new historical record high with a rate of 27.16% and more than 6.2 million people being without a job and looking for a new one. This represented a quarterly increase of 237,400 individuals and a yearly growth of 563,200 people. In Catalonia, 902,300 people were unemployed by the end of March, 17,100 more individuals than three months previously and 65,300 more than a year ago. This sets a new historical record high for Catalonia too, breaking the previous one just set three months ago with a rate of 23.9% unemployment by the end of 2012. Unemployment increased throughout Catalonia except in the western Lleida province where it has been decreasing over the last year.

The European Commissioner for Education, Culture and Multilingualism, promised Catalan Euro MPs to ask the Spanish Government – chaired by Mariano Rajoy - about the Education Reform it is preparing, which goes against the linguistic immersion model of Catalonia’s school system. According to the Catalan MEPs, Androulla Vassiliou was “a bit perplexed” about the Spanish Government’s initiative and the recent judicial sentences obliging teaching to be in Spanish if a single pupil in the classroom asks for it. Besides, the Spanish State Council – the Spanish Government’s top advisory body – criticised the reform’s measure obliging the Catalan Executive to pay for private schools in Spanish for the pupils who do not want to attend public schools in Catalan. The Catalan Education Minister asked the Spanish Government “to paralyse” the reform.

Passenger traffic from the Catalan capital’s harbour increased by 18% in the period from January to March, and that of cruise passengers grew by 40%. In total, 9.8 million tonnes of goods were transported through the Port of Barcelona. The tonnes of goods transported via container increased by 0.8%. Regarding the transport of cars, which is one of the harbour’s main activities, 164,452 car units were transported through the port, a 1% increase compared to last year.

Victus, the historical novel by Albert Sánchez Piñol, has triumphed on the Catalan National Day of roses and books both in the Spanish and Catalan language. In the category of media-friendly writers, the biggest-selling book has been Brúixoles que busquen somriures perduts by Albert Espinosa, the scriptwriter known for his hit TV series Polseres Vermelles (‘The Red Band Society’). Barcelona’s streets were filled with bookstalls where the most popular authors signed their books in front of huge queues of excited fans. For bookshops it is also a great chance to bring in some much needed revenue as it is estimated that on Sant Jordi’s Day they invoice between 8% and 10% of the whole year’s profits, a figure of around 18 million euros.