A Barcelona-based newspaper announced in its Tuesday edition that the two Catalan savings banks would see a state intervention and would be nationalised by the Spanish Government and the Bank of Spain this summer. CatalunyaCaixa has denied the claims. Unnim also denied the rumours and reminded the press of the 30th September deadline set by the Bank of Spain to restructure its business and find additional capital.
Thanks to a five-year contract, the Catalan Government undertakes the enlargement of the airport terminal and Neilson-Thomas Cook agrees to include ski resorts in the Lleida Pyrenees as part of its winter holiday offer.
The new art museum will focus on Catalan painting and will display parts of the Thyssen-Bornemisza collection. The city council approved the excutive project to build the Thyssen Museum. The project will cost 15 million euros (3 less than initially planned) and will restore an old cork factory.
The world’s leader chemical company is planning to invest 12 million euros in its Tarragona plant, the largest one in southern Europe. BASF Spain has its headquarters in Tarragona, and concentrates most of its plants and offices in Catalonia.
The European Commission also recognised "a different effort" to the rest of Spain’s Autonomous Communities. Brussels said so when on Tuesday it asked Spain “to strictly control” the public “deficit and debt of regional governments”, the day after Moody’s rating agency warned about Catalonia’s expected deficit for 2011. The Spanish Government took note from this particular recommendation but not the other made by Brussels, which included increasing energy taxes and VAT. The Catalan Government criticised Moody’s for “creating alarm” with assessments that do not take into account the whole situation. In addition, it denounced how the Spanish Government has reduced its own deficit by transferring it to the Autonomous Communities.
The surrealist Catalan painter Joan Miró will have a museum in the country house he spent parts of his childhood and youth, in Mont-Roig del Camp, next to Tarragona. The family, experts and Barcelona’s Miró Foundation will decide on the exact contents, which will be displayed via permanent and temporary exhibitions.
The President of the Catalan Government detailed his plan to Herman Van Rompuy to balance the Catalan budget and reduce the public deficit. Artur Mas stressed the importance of the Mediterranean Railway Corridor for the European economy and he also outlined the benefits of an effective Union for the Mediterranean, in this moment in particular. Mas was joined by Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, his electoral ally and leader of the Catalan Christian Democrats. They also met with Competition’s Commissioner, Joaquín Almunia.
The factory will increase its output of biological and pharmaceutical products by 40% over 3 years, taking work from closing factories in Europe and the United States. The Catalan plant is specialised in animal health and vaccines for livestock. It was bought in 2009 by the North American pharmaceutical giant, in a small town near Girona.
Writer Teresa Solana, Brown University Professor Enric Bou, university professor Mary Ann Newman and translator Peter Bush all took part in a debate on Catalan literature and culture at the New York Pen World Voices Festival. The complexity of translating from the Catalan language, the differences between normative Catalan and the 21st century language and the rich tradition of its literature all emerged as key elements of a debate moderated by writer Aleksandar Hemon.
Despite the scientific analysis that proves the innocence of Spanish field products, the demand for vegetables and fruit, not only cucumbers, has harshly hit agriculture throughout Spain. Catalan farmers are also heavily affected, as well as fresh food shopkeepers. Farmers have to drop prices or even destroy the product as demand has plummeted, especially regarding exports. Thousands of tones of oranges are in stock in the Delta de l’Ebre and may rot if demand does not recover soon.
In total there were 595,342 people registered as unemployed at the end of May in Catalonia. This 1% reduction in relation to the previous month is not good news compared to May 2010, when there were 20,000 fewer people in dole queues. Unemployment decreased throughout Catalonia and in all sectors. In Spain as a whole, there were 4,189,659 people registered as unemployed.
The Catalan Parliament approved the modification of the Inheritance Tax, which is practically eliminated among couples, sons, daughters, parents and grandparents. It was an electoral promise of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), running the Catalan Government. With this reform 150 million euros will be lost in 2011 and 102 million in 2012. The Left-Wing opposition heavily criticises eliminating revenues while budget cuts are being implemented, in an “unfair decision” that “only benefits the richest”.
An international study led by a Catalan team of researchers finds that the vaccine is not only effective in women between the ages of 9 and 26 , but in women older than 26. Women up to 45 years old could use this preventative vaccine. The study is published this Wednesday in the ‘British Journal of Cancer’.
After the presentation of the Catalan Government’s budget proposal at the Catalan Parliament, opposition parties criticised its content and the lack of debate on the subject. The Catalan Government needs support from opposition MPs or at least their abstention to approve the budget, which foresees a 2.66% deficit for 2011. The Spanish Vice President for Economy Elena Salgado insists that the mechanisms of deficit control “will be strictly implemented”.
The Catalan Finance Minister presented the Catalan Government’s budget for 2011, which totals 39,354 million euros. For the first time, the budget will see a decrease in comparison to the previous year. Public expenditure is reduced by 10%, brought to 2007 levels. The public deficit is also reduced, but only to 2.66%. The Catalan Minister states that if the Spanish Government wants Catalonia to reach the 1.3% objective, it needs to show institutional loyalty and transfer the money due for 2011 instead of delaying it and calculating smaller amounts.