catalan way

In an historical decision, the Catalan Academy of Cinema chose a movie entirely in Catalan to represent Spain at the Oscars awards. ‘Pa negre’ (‘Black bread’) was the absolute winner of the last awards of the Spanish Academy awards, surprising everyone. However, the fact of it being in Catalan and that the movie competed with Almodóvar’s ‘The Skin I Live In’ made it difficult to predict if the movie was to finally represent Spain at the world’s top awards.

The Catalan Government has approved the new Law of Budget Stability, which foresees a gradual and significant reduction of the deficit in the following years. The law permanently fixes an allowed deficit limit of 0.14% of Catalonia’s GDP from 2018, two years earlier than the deadline required by the Spanish Constitution’s modification. According to the Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, the law demonstrates Catalonia’s “strong commitment to budget stability”. In addition, the law creates a fund to return public debt, which will be filled with any additional revenues or budget surplus.

An agreement among the Hollywood majors, the movie theatres and the Catalan Government will increase the presence of American movies dubbed into Catalan. In 2011, only five Hollywood films were dubbed into Catalan. In 2012, 25 movies will be available in the language. The reason for this agreement is to promote the presence of the Catalan language in movie theatres, as currently Spanish almost monopolises the market.

Barcelona hosted its last bullfight on Sunday. As of January 1st 2012, bullfighting will be banned in Catalonia. The Catalan Parliament decided to forbid this activity in July 2010, with a law that generated a substantial amount of controversy. Bullfighting is associated with Spanish nationalism, and the ban has been interpreted by many as a political stance, in addition to defending animal rights. In Catalonia, over the last decades, bullfighting has lost most of its popular support and only one arena has remained open.

Sales abroad accumulate 19 consecutive months of two digit increases compared to the same period last year. In July, exports increased by 14% in relation to July 2010. The export sector is becoming the main engine of the Catalan economy, together with tourism.

1.9 million foreign tourists visited Catalonia in August, representing a 2.9% increase on the same month in 2010. Catalonia hosted almost a quarter of all international tourists visiting Spain. The number of international visitors who came to Spain in August increased 9.4% compared to last year, totalling 7.64 million.

The use of the Catalan language is growing but it is clearly used less than Spanish in Catalonia. Some sectors are especially behind, such as judicial system, where only 14.5% of judicial sentences were written in Catalan.

The Catalan President Artur Mas has asked the European Union “not to forget about a land that feels European and needs deeper and closer ties with Europe” in the ‘FERRMED Trans-European Cluster Conference’ in Brussels. Previously he has met with the Vice President of the European Commission, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani. The Mediterranean Railway Corridor would directly link Central and Northern Europe with Spanish ports and subsequently North Africa.

Thousands of Erasmus students choose Catalonia each year as their exchange destination. The students, from across Europe, started either their work or study placements, last week. The CNA interviewed two of the new arrivals about their reasons for this choice and what they hope to gain from their experiences.

The current Catalan Government, which took office last Christmas, hired an external auditor to better understand the state of the public finances. Deloitte has increased the Government’s deficit for 2010, from 3.86% to 4.2%, in line with the last data known and internally audited. The Catalan Minister for the Economy, Andreu Mas-Colell, explained that “one out of every three euros spent [in 2010] was not covered by tax revenues”. The main opposition party, which formed part of the previous Government and was in charge of finances, stated that their management cannot be made responsible for the deficit increase, as the deficit calculation criteria has changed.

The Spanish Constitutional Court has accepted to make a decision on the Spanish Government’s appeal against the Catalan law promoting the Occitan language in the Val d’Aran County, in the Pyrenees. The Val d’Aran has autonomy status within Catalonia, considering its historic links with the Occitan culture. It is the only place where Occitan has the status of preferred co-official language. Now, this status has been cancelled because of the Spanish Government’s appeal. The Catalan Minister for Culture considers the appeal “an attack against language diversity”.

The Conference of the Regional Legislative Assemblies of the European Union (CALRE) has met in Barcelona to discuss their interaction with the European Commission. The association of regional parliaments with legislative powers, such as those in Catalonia, Scotland, North Rhine-Westphalia or Flanders, has asked to participate in the drafting process of European directives.

The Catalan chef Santi Santamaria, whose restaurant ‘Can Fabes’ has been awarded three Michelin stars uninterruptedly since 1994, died last February in Singapore, when he was unveiling his new restaurant ‘Santi’. At the time, Santi Santamaria had 7 Michelin stars, being one of the most lauded chefs in the world. Regina Santamaria, aged 25, will follow in her father’s footsteps and take charge of the four restaurants the family has in Sant Celoni (half way between Barcelona and Girona), Barcelona, Madrid and Singapore.

The car is inspired by the car ‘Up!’ that Volkswagen presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Car manufacturer SEAT is based in Greater Barcelona, which is the main automobile cluster in Spain.

As carried out on two other occasions in the last year, the Catalan Government is preparing to release of 3,800 retail bonds to get cash. Financial sources informed ACN about the operation, which has not been confirmed by the Catalan Ministry of Economy. The bonds would be offered before November 21st, the day that the bonds issued by the former Catalan Government in autumn 2010 expire.