The economic crisis hits Catalan industrial areas. In Catalonia there is a total of 35,000 hectares of industrial plots of land. Up to 40% of this surface has no use after four consecutive years of losing activity, and during this time there have been more industrial buildings closing than opening.
The numbers of foreign workers contributing to Social Security in Catalonia reached 400,075 people at the end of July. This figure represents a 2.11% increase compared to a month ago. Seasonal work related to tourism and fruit harvesting caused the number of non-EU workers increase by more than 8,000 people over July.
The Cadaqués Orchestra played ‘Concerto libero’, an unfinished work for piano and cello at the Peralada’s Carme Church, in northern Catalonia. The Costa Brava festival is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth whose works have achieved international acclaim. The world premiere of the piece by Xavier Montsalvatge was the highlight of the concert which was dedicated to the composer, one of the most prominent figures in Catalan music.
Alella wineries, in Greater Barcelona, have started this summer’s harvest, with predictions that this year’s vintage may be better than 2005 thanks to the absence of plant disease and favourable weather conditions throughout the year. For now, the only concern for winemakers is this August’s amount of heat, which could cause a drop in acidity.
Barcelona’s neighbourhood of Gràcia has started its annual street festival on Wednesday, a week long festival famous for its street decorations and community spirit. Every year residents form committees to chose a theme and decorate their streets in competition with each other with ornaments made by the residents themselves. The festival is popular with tourists and Barcelonans alike and starts on the 15th August every year.
The Spanish Social Security has published the list with the 417 drugs that from September will no longer be subsidised in order to reduce public spending and meet deficit targets. Most of them are some of the most consumed medicines for minor symptoms, such as heartburn, muscle pain, or diarrhoea. Since the measure is not popular among doctors, the Catalan Health Minister, Boi Ruiz, said that more expensive drugs with similar effects but not included in the list may now be prescribed, which would increase pubic healthcare spending instead of reducing it.
After the Catalan Parliament’s ban on bullfighting approved in 2010, controversy between those in favour and those against bull festivities has been continuing for years now. The latest issue under discussion is the continuation of a specific bull event called the ‘correbous’ that takes place in the Ebro Delta area, in southern Catalonia. ‘Correbous’ are deeply rooted in the area’s tradition, organised to coincide with the towns’ patron saint parties, held during summertime. They are different from regular bullfighting and they have more similarities with Pamplona’s San Fermín festival, where people run in front of the bulls.
The search engine giant adds thirteen languages to its speech recognition system, also including Basque and Galician. From this Friday, it will be possible to use the service on phones with the Android operating system to search in Catalan. With this addition, Google’s speech recognition software now supports 42 languages.
With 5.13 billion in foreign sales in June, Catalan exports have grown by 6.6% over the same period in 2011. Amongst the Autonomous Communities, Catalonia ranks first for its export economy, in the first six months of this year Catalan companies sold up to €29.1 billion abroad. The increase in foreign exports and the fall in imports have reduced the trade deficit by 31% in the first six months of this year.
The Catalan Government’s drug prescription fee and the Spanish Executive’s decision to make citizens pay for a greater share of prescribed drugs have had an effect on inflation. The price of pharmaceutical products has had its highest increase since at least 2003.
Ivan Tibau, the Catalan Government’s Secretary of Sport, emphasises the “great effort” made by the Catalan Excutive to help the High Performance Sports Centre (CAR) and Catalan athletes compete in London 2012. The elite training centre did not receive funding from the Spanish Government for the last two years, amounting to €10.7 million. The Catalan Executive advanced the payment to keep the CAR running. Athletes trained at CAR made up 65% of medals won by the Spanish team at the London 2012 Olympics. Despite this, the Spanish Olympic Committee “closed the door” to the Catalan Government in regards to London 2012.
Catalonia’s most known wine and cava appellation is Penedès and now it is possible to ride through its vineyards. This is a new activity to experience wine tourism called ‘burricleta’. The ‘burricleta’ is a rental service of electric bicycles with GPS to explore the vineyards in a sustainable way. Moreover, it allows visitors to discover the landscape of Penedès without too much physical effort. The ‘burricleta’ can be rented to do one of the determined routes or even a customised journey. The entrepreneurs who have brought the ‘burricleta’ to the area are working hard on a joint offer with restaurants and wineries to give visitors more information about the Penedès area, apart from the territory itself.
The Catalan bank, which leads the Spanish market, increases its share in the Portuguese Investment Bank by 7 percentage points increasing its stake from 39.5% to 46.22%. CaixaBank purchased just over 251 million shares in the capital increase offered by the Portuguese financial entity, at a cost of €125 million. Caixabank had already said it would extend its share in the BPI.
The Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (Catalonia’s National Museum of Art) is considering changing its name to include ‘Barcelona’. The Museum Director, Pepe Serra, wants to better explain the Museum to a global audience and considers using the “Barcelona brand” as a superior way of raising the gallery’s status. Also he believes the collections of Romanesque art, which are considered exceptional, have not been sufficiently exploited on an international level. The Museum Director also announced that despite the crisis, they will open up “many more areas for free”.
The Director General of the Catalan fashion retailer, Enric Casi, had already warned that the MANGO's profits in 2011 would be lower than usual due to its extensive investments and expansions abroad. In 2012, the company expects a profit of €200 million due to the investments and has already seen positive results for the first months of this year. The successful multinational was founded in Barcelona in 1984 and has over 2,400 outlets in 107 countries and over 11,000 employees.