crisis

The Chairman of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Group in the Catalan Parliament Oriol Pujol stated this morning that the Catalan Government could “practically not pay the salaries” of public workers. However the Catalan Government from the same party calmed public opinion saying that although the situation was difficult, civil servants would not need to worry. The Catalan Government needs new credits to get liquidity and is expecting authorisation from the Spanish Government.

For the first time in four years December 2010 saw a small decrease in the availability of office space in Barcelona. This indicator would show that the office space market is starting to head towards getting on the recuperation track.

Catalan Víctor Perez is only 18 years old but he currently resides in Belgium where he is training to become a professional dancer. A student at one of the most prestigious dance schools in Europe run by the international renowned choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, the youngster from Sant Cugat is one of the top 60 contemporary dancer pupils.

Numerous talented Catalan researchers are pioneering new research in a prestigious British university but they still cannot find a job in Catalonia.

"Although there is a very high standard in Barcelona, the clients are not the same”, this is the opinion of a Catalan web developer who is currently based in Manhattan. This is his story.

Two Catalans opened a guided tour business in Berlin making the most of the economic crisis and the fact that the city was ‘fashionable’. They set up ‘Cultourberlin’, a project that would offer Spanish and Catalan tourists guided tours of Berlin

A young Catalan architect with no employment opportunities at home opens an office in Paris to work on buildings in Asia.

In the last months, the Catalan branch of the Conservative People’s Party (PPC) raised controversy in breaking a taboo in Catalan-level politics: using immigration as a political tool. Many actions were performed earlier linking immigration with insecurity. such as spreading leaflets. Yesterday a videogame where the PPC's leader was shooting at illegal immigrants was put online and, after the complains, shut down. Last week, the PPC’s President and candidate, Alícia Sánchez-Camacho proposed an “integration contract” for immigrants that, if not respected, will enable public powers to expel immigrants. The rest of the parties accused the PPC of being xenophobic and populist.

80% of Catalan municipalities registered decreases or stock stagnation during the 1st trimester of the year. For the 2nd trimester of the year, Catalonia registered decreases in real estate stock for the first time since 2006.

The “export vocation” and “good management of economic, tourism and trade competences” will ease Catalonia’s recovery from the crisis. This is the opinion of José Manuel González-Páramo, member of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board.

Today banks and savings banks started selling the treasury bonds announced by the Catalan Government two weeks ago to get cash. On the first day, about 1,000 million euros have been bought. If this pace continues, the bonds will be sold out by next week. The quantity on sale is 1,890 million, which could be increased to 2,500.

Citizens will be able to buy treasury bonds of the Catalan Government’s debt worth 1,000 euros each at a 4.75% interest rate. In the framework of the electoral campaign, the Opposition denounced that the Catalan Executive has “its drawers empty, without money”. The Catalan Government has denied this and accused the opposition of being irresponsible in order to get votes.

700 workers from the Martorell factory next to Barcelona will temporarily lose their jobs. They will return to work in June of 2011. The company still has to negotiate the conditions with unions.

Activity reports for the Institut Català de Finances (ICF), the Catalan public financial institution delivering official credit, were released on Tuesday. The number of credit requests rose by 34.1% in 2009 while activity grew by 2.5%.

Juan María Nin lectured at the London School of Economics about the current economical situation in Spain. He argued that Spain will recover if the markets continue to trust in the country’s capacity to meet its debt.