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"Catalanophobia exists" and "Catalonia has to communicate its ideals if it is to be understood by the rest of Spain" says the socialist candidate to the next Spanish general elections
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Characterised as one of the most powerful men in combating the Spanish financial crisis, Catalan President Artur Mas presents his forceful economic strategy to the US newspaper
Unnim and CatalunyaCaixa would have 4.5% and 4.8% of core capital respectively. However, the provisions that all Spanish banks must have to face difficult times have not been taken into account as they did not exist in other European banking systems. With these funds taken into account, Unnim and CatalunyaCaixa would have approved the tests with 6.2% and 6.3% respectively. CaixaBank, the most important Catalan bank passes the test with 6.4%.
László T?kés, from the Hungarian minority in Romania and member of the European People’s Party, supports the “linguistic rights” of minorities in front of a European Union “sometimes too ignorant”. “I don’t like integration being replaced by assimilation”, he stated.
The 5th edition of the urban and contemporary fashion exhibition The Brandery takes place in Barcelona from the July 13th to the 15th in the Monjtuïc venue. The fashion fair has created a new space called ‘Brandtown a FashionXperience’ that will host concerts, fashion shows and exhibitions.
The deal introduces new restrictions on public spending while protecting health, education and social services. The conservatives have asked the Government to change its foreign policy strategy and make it more commercially oriented.
Directed by Andrés G. Schaer and featuring popular actors Pere Ponce and Elsa Pataky, the film hopes to reach an international audience. It combines 3D animated features with real images. The movie pictures Snowflake, the popular albino gorilla that lived in Barcelona’s zoo.
A product labelled only in Estonian could be sold in Catalonia, but not a product labelled only in Catalan. The new rule authorises the Spanish Government to force all products in Spain to be labelled in at least one official language of the EU, and therefore ban products only labelled in Catalan from being sold within Catalonia. The new European rule aims to authorise Member States to prevent products from being labelled only in a non EU language, such as Chinese or Arabic, but it has consequences at local level. Three Catalan MEPs pushed for an amendment, but it was rejected.
A new study by the Catalan savings bank corrects and improves the previous economic forecast. It is now believed that in 2011, Catalonia will grow at a 1.1% annual rate, and at 1.6% in 2012. However, without the public sector budget cuts, the Catalan economy will grow at 2% this 2011. The export sector has reached historical maximums, and will lead economic growth. However, economic growth in 2011 will not be translated into an improvement in employment.
The private school will follow the British curriculum so, that when the students finish high school, they will be able to attend any public or private university either in Spain or in the United Kingdom. It is the latest addition to a series of international schools in Catalonia, which infuse an international and intercultural perspective into their teaching programmes, or they directly follow a curriculum from another country.
FC Barcelona announced that the Catalan Andreu Fontàs will be playing with the first team in the 2011/12 season. His buy-out clause will be automatically raised to 30 million euros. He is another player from Barça’s junior teams that reaches the club’s main squad.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Senior Economist for Spain thinks that the Catalan Government’s budget cuts are going “in the right direction”. He also denied that the Autonomous Communities’ deficit puts Spain solvency’s at risk.
The unemployment rate decreased for the third consecutive month. However, last June the reduction was inferior to that experienced in June 2010. June is traditionally a good month for employment figures, because of the high number of tourism-related new contracts.
The new bank becomes Spain’s third financial institution for its stock exchange value and the ninth in the Ibex-35 Spanish index. CaixaBank is the result of Barcelona-based savings bank La Caixa’s transformation into a private bank in order to strengthen its structure and position in the market, after the sector restructuration. The day CaixaBank was listed for the first time on the stock exchange, the rating agency Moody’s improved CaixaBank’s appreciation. However, after an initial increase CaixaBank’s value dropped by 1.1%. It is the first Spanish savings bank that concludes its transformation and trade on the stock exchange.
However, if the question is open to other options, 33% would prefer a Catalan State within a Federal Spain, 31.8% the current situation as an Autonomous Community and 25.5% want Catalonia to be an independent nation. The poll results also show that 75.5% of Catalans want the Catalan Government to raise all the taxes, while only 18.2% prefer the current system through which the Spanish Government raises the main taxes. The poll was compiled by the Catalan Polling Centre (CEO), which is managed by the Catalan Government.