The budget austerity measures and the reduction of the public deficit have forced the restructuring of the Catalan Government’s offices abroad and have also impeded the opening of new ones. The Catalan Vice President Joana Ortega explained these changes to the Catalan Parliament’s External Action and European Union Committee.
Foreseeing a negative decision the Catalan Government already modified the law in 2009. The sentence declares illegal certain aspects of the law approved in 2005, such as conditioning the establishment of large retail centres to the expected effect on existing small businesses in the area or on the market share.
The Spanish Government will invest 25.4 billion euros up until 2020 in this strategic railway infrastructure for goods transportation that will link Spain’s Mediterranean seaports with Central and Northern Europe. The European Commission has to decide in the next 3 months whether the transport axis is a European priority.
The President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso met with the President of the Catalan Government Artur Mas in Brussels. Barroso recognised the Catalan Government's efforts to reduce public deficit. Mas emphasised the importance of making Catalan an official EU language. Mas was accompanied by the Christian-Democrat Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida and the new Catalan Delegate to the European Union, Joan Prat.
The Mediterranean Railway Corridor has been constantly overlooked even though it is a key infrastructure for Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia, Andalucía,and also for Spain and even the European Union. In the last few years, the Socialist Spanish Government was constantly pushing for the Central Pyrenees Corridor (going through the Pyrenees in Aragon) for electoral and regional equilibrium reasons but the Mediterranean one was hardly mentioned. Is the EU going to include the Mediterranean Railway Corridor in its agenda?
The Spanish diplomat Juan Prat will become the next Catalan Delegate to the European Union, representing the Catalan Government’s interests in Brussels. Prat was the Spanish Ambassador to The Netherlands and used to be the Ambassador to NATO with former PM José Maria Aznar. He also served as the European Commission’s Director General for External Relations. Besides, Barroso and Mas will meet on the 3rd of March.
The Secretary General for the Union for the Mediterranean Ahmad Masa’deh decided to step down as in his words, “the general conditions against which he accepted to assume the job have changed”. This statement can be interpreted as his way of denouncing how the Israeli-Palestine conflict is practically paralysing the work of the UfM.
Politicians and businessmen from Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia and Andalucía participated today in an event pushing for the so called Mediterranean Railway Corridor for freight and passengers. They push the European Union to declare it a European priority, an axe that would vertebrate Europe, from Gibraltar to the Baltic Sea. However, participants criticised that the Spanish Government has yet to show its commitment to building freight railway with European-standard width that would connect Andalucía, Valencia and Barcelona to Central Europe. Besides goods, the corridor should also count with a high-speed train connection for passengers.
The Catalan Group on the Future of Europe sent their conclusions to the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe before the Reflection Group presented their results to the European Council. Today’s event was a way to foster debate in Catalonia on these issues and a way to show the results from the analysis by the Catalan Group on the Future of Europe. President of the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe 2020-2030 (and former Spanish PM) Felipe González. has summed up the conclusions.
The EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) will be reformed. Catalonia wants to have a say in the future of the CAP. To do so, it is lobbying together with other European regions that lead fruit and vegetable production. A joint declaration with 10 ways to improve the sector has been agreed on.
137 municipalities from the Barcelona area have joined together to fight global warming, participating in the European Union Covenant of Mayors. Today they were in Brussels to share their experiences.
A newly approved Tunisian law prohibits citizens to criticise the Tunisian government in front of other countries and organisations. A band of writers met in Barcelona to take a stand against this action.
The pressure of Catalan Euro MPs has worked out. The European Commission has changed its initial position to not renew its only Catalan translator. Commissioner Reding has personally engaged in finding a replacement.
EU economic spokesman says 'fiscal discipline must be respected at all governmental levels'
Delay aims to provide more scope for action on talks between Arabs and Palestinians