catalan

Catalan centres are at the core of the billion-euro graphene and human brain research projects funded by the European Commission

January 30, 2013 10:17 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

Through its FET-Flagship programme, the European Commission is allocating €1 billion to each of the two main research projects in Europe. The first one is a project to explore the properties of graphene, a new material deriving from graphite that might revolutionise industry as silicon did a few decades ago. The second one will simulate a human brain in order to understand how it exactly works. The Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology is one of the nine leading institutes coordinating the graphene project, in which 623 research groups from 32 different countries will participate. Furthermore, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center will take care of the calculations at a molecular level in the Human Brain Project.

Rajoy will not review the Autonomous Communities’ deficit targets if Brussels does not allow greater flexibility

January 30, 2013 09:34 PM | CNA

On Monday the Spanish Minister for the Economy, Luís de Guindos, stated that Spain might internally redistribute its total deficit target among the different government levels in order to give more breathing space to the Autonomous Communities, which have been taking on a large part of the budget adjustment. However, the following day, the Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, ruled out this possibility if Brussels does not give greater flexibility to Spain and increase its total deficit target for 2013. On Wednesday, after the contradictory messages, the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, confirmed Montoro’s approach. In 2013, Spain has been given a total deficit target of 4.5%: 3.8% is for the Spanish Government (responsible for 50% of public spending) and 0.7% is for the Autonomous Communities (responsible for almost 40%).

The Catalan Government announces it will increase its external relations action as it is “more needed than ever”

January 29, 2013 11:41 PM | CNA

The Catalan Government criticised the Spanish Executive’s obstacles to Catalonia’s own external relations action, as “in a globalised world” this “is not a caprice”, but essential to be recognised at an international level and to attract foreign investment. The Catalan Minister for the Presidency, in charge of External Relations, Francesc Homs, criticised the Spanish Government’s “old-fashioned” way of understanding diplomacy and gave the example of spending in 2012 “€330,000 on cutlery and table cloths”. Homs emphasised the main commercial focus of Catalonia’s external offices and their “modesty”. The Catalan Government has a total of 5 political representation offices – including for the European Union – and 34 commercial offices.

Nissan confirms that Barcelona is in the race to build its new sedan car again

January 29, 2013 10:36 PM | CNA

After having ruled out Barcelona because unions refused to sign Nissan’s final offer of modifying working conditions and reducing salaries in order to increase competitiveness, the unions made an about-turn. With the Catalan Government’s mediation, the main union signed Nissan’s final offer and the two others (CCOO and UGT) presented their own cost reduction plan, accepting almost all of the company’s requirements, including the dual salary scale. After a day-long negotiation between the Catalan Business Ministry and the unions, CCOO and UGT agreed to sign Nissan’s agreement if the company guaranteed the jobs of the existing workers. Nissan has accepted and now the European branch will put its Barcelona plant forward to the Japanese headquarters, which will soon allocate the new car production.

The Contemporary Art Museum of Barcelona (MACBA) received 19,000 more visitors in 2012 compared to last year

January 29, 2013 09:31 PM | CNA / Paco Cavaller

The Contemporary Art Museum of Barcelona (MACBA) increased its number of visitors by 2.8% in 2012 with respect to the previous year. In 2011 the museum received the visit of 690,865 people, while in 2012 this figure grew to 710,435 visitors. The most visited exhibition has been ‘Oferta pública/Public Tender’ by Rita McBride with a total of 188,028 spectators.

Catalan airline Vueling reached new heights in 2012 with a 20% passenger increase

January 29, 2013 09:17 PM | CNA / Laia Ros

The Barcelona-based company transported 14.8 million passengers in 2012, a new record for the airline. Vueling, created in 2004, transported 20% more passengers compared to 2011. The 14,794,857 customers meant a 77.7% occupancy rate over 108,433 flights, a 17.6% increase on the previous year, which led to the company closing with a profit for the fourth year in a row. Vueling is today the second biggest airline in Spain after Iberia and the third one in the number of customers, after Ryanair and Iberia.

Spanish Ministry for the Economy is willing to split deficit targets “equitably” among government levels

January 28, 2013 11:16 PM | CNA

The Catalan Government has been insisting on the need to internally redistribute deficit objectives in Spain, splitting them in a fairer way in order to better pair the responsibility of the management of basic services with their share of Spain’s total deficit target. Currently, the Spanish Government is keeping most of the deficit allowed by the European Union for itself, despite the fact that it only represents 50% of Spain’s total public spending, and it has forced regional and local governments to a Draconian budget adjustment. The European Parliament asked EU Member States to internally split deficit targets in a fair way for the benefit of the public services aimed at the citizens. Now, the Spanish Ministry for the Economy, Luis de Guindos, talked about distributing deficit targets “equitably”, in front of the European Commissioner for Monetary Affairs, Olli Rehn.

Trade unions make a last attempt to attract Nissan’s new car model to Barcelona by proposing their own cost reduction plan

January 28, 2013 10:28 PM | CNA / Esther Romagosa

After Nissan’s announcement that Barcelona would not build its new car model, the Catalan Government and the trade unions have been trying to persuade the Japanese company to change its mind. The six-month negotiation was derailed ten days ago, when Nissan considered the talks to be over as the unions refused to sign its final proposal. However, the company has not announced where the new car will be built yet. The union representing the majority of the Catalan plant’s workers has already signed Nissan’s proposal, but the unions CCOO and UGT – the main ones in Catalonia – have insisted on presenting their own proposal, based on Nissan’s need to make reductions of €30 million. A few days ago, Nissan stated that it was too late, but now it says it will study the union’s proposal to look at the details.

Catalonia’s National Theatre closes its third auditorium for two years due to budget cuts

January 25, 2013 11:10 PM | CNA / Pau Cortina / Margalida Amengual

Despite having a balanced budget in 2012, the National Theatre of Catalonia has decided to close the most alternative auditorium of the three it has since it will have smaller funds in 2013. The theatre expects a reduction in the occupancy rate due to the economic recession and therefore selling fewer tickets, resulting in a 28% reduction in its own resources. The institution has readjusted the 2012/2013 season by cancelling the spectacle ‘Panorama’ by Philippe Decouflé and by eliminating 70 performances of other plays in the other theatre rooms.

Ildefonso Falcones’ new novel ‘La reina descalza’ will be on sale the 21st of February

January 25, 2013 07:10 PM | CNA / Clara Roig

Ildefonso Falcones, the writer from Barcelona who rose to fame thanks to his best-selling debut ‘Cathedral of the Sea’, will publish his third novel on the 21st of February. The book, which will be on sale at the same time in Spain, Latin America and the United States, is about the friendship, passion and revenge between two women from Madrid and Seville in the 18th century, and is a call to freedom.

Catalonia ended 2012 with a record 23.9% unemployment rate, 110,000 more jobseekers than a year ago

January 24, 2013 11:11 PM | CNA

The number of unemployed people had reached 885,000 individuals by the end of 2012, a record high, with 110,000 more jobseekers than a year ago. This means that Catalonia’s unemployment rate increased from 20.5% to 23.9% in the last twelve months, breaking the previous record of 22.8% from the third quarter of 1985. In the whole of Spain, unemployment reached a rate of 26%, while a year ago it was 22.85%. It increased by 13.1% over the last twelve months, adding 691,700 more jobseekers to the list. Spain reached a historical high of 5.97 million people being unemployed.

Girona offers ten-euro hotel rooms and restaurant menus this weekend for the second year in a row

January 24, 2013 08:36 PM | CNA / Tania Tapia / Carla Marchesi

On the 26th and 27th of January, Girona celebrates the second edition of #Girona10. This low-cost tourist event consists of offering hotel rooms and restaurant menus for €10 in and around the city. It was created last January in order to promote this northeast Catalan city and is aimed at both local and foreign tourism. The 2012 #Girona10 project was hugely successful, and the website where people could register quickly collapsed. This fact has led the organisers to think about a new hotel room distribution model, based on a lottery. Also due to last January’s success, this year the campaign offers 40% more hotel spots and 25% more menus than last year, while other institutions and activities have been added to the event providing new services.

The Catalan Parliament approves the ‘Declaration of sovereignty and the right to self-determination by the people of Catalonia’

January 23, 2013 10:51 PM | CNA

The Parliament of Catalonia has approved an historical declaration of sovereignty claiming the right to self-determination by the Catalan people. The full text is included in this news item. The declaration paves the way for the organisation of a self-determination referendum on Catalonia’s future within Spain and its hypothetical independence. It was supported by 66.4% of the MPs who voted, representing 63% of the total parliament. These supporters came from 4 different groups. 2 MPs abstained because the declaration does not include other Catalan-speaking territories and five Socialist MPs did not vote as a protest because their party is officially opposed to the declaration. Those opposing the declaration included 32% of the MPs who voted, representing 30.4% of the total chamber.

The Barcelona Bar Association claims that self-determination is an inalienable right of Catalonia

January 23, 2013 06:35 PM | CNA / Paco Cavaller

The association’s People’s Rights Commission defends the celebration of a referendum and the unilateral independence declaration if the Spanish Government insists in not allowing a citizen vote on the issue. While is it true that the current Spanish Constitution does not allow for a self-determination referendum, the Barcelona lawyers' association argues that “in a democratic society, the law should be the expression of the people’s choice”, and therefore it should be modified accordingly to allow the referendum. It also highlights that 20 of these states are the result of secession, such as Norway, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia or Montenegro.