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An investment fund from Qatar has bought the Hotel Renaissance, located in the Eixample neighbourhood of the Catalan capital. Inici del formulariAccording to La Vanguardianewspaper, the transaction was closed at the price of €78.5 million. The Marriott Group will continue running the establishment as the agreement provides for a long-term management, but the Qatari buyer will participate in the most strategic decisions. The hotel passed from having four-stars when it belonged to AC Hotels, to five stars, after being purchased by the Marriott Group. Its workforce expanded considerably to reach a hundred employees after its re-opening in March 2012. The hotel features 211 rooms and had an average occupancy of 67 % during its first opening year.

Italian Investindustrial has sold 49.9 % of its stake in PortAventura amusement park to KKR, a US investment fund. With this operation Investindustrial has incorporated a long-term partner in the project, while making sure to be the majority shareholder with 50.1 %. The transaction will be effective in January 2014 and is only awaiting regulatory approvals. In the long-term strategy, PortAventura is looking for other agreements to broaden the range of leisure activities and develop further at international level. A few weeks ago it was made public that Investindustrial would join the BCN World project by building and managing 3,000 hotel rooms. Besides, it has been announced that the Cirque du Soleil would give daily shows in PortAventura from the summer of 2014.

The Catalan Chemists’ Professional Association, in charge of distributing the money from partially-subsidised prescribed drugs, has already received €309 million of the €416 million arrears payments due.The Professional Association announced the “immediate distribution” of the money received. Two weeks ago, Catalan chemists went on strike for these arrears, urging the Catalan and Spanish Governments to issue the payments. In theory the Catalan Executive is in charge of paying them, but to do so it needs a previous transfer from the Spanish Government. The necessary transfers from Madrid have been arriving intermittently over the last year and on many occasions with considerable delay. For these reasons, chemists protested on the 7^th November in front of the Spanish Government’s Delegation in Barcelona.

The Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, “regretted” on Tuesday evening the “confusion” about having announced in October he was cancelling a €1.76 billion transfer to the Catalan Government. Without this scheduled payment, the Catalan Executive is having serious problems to fund the 1.58% deficit approved for 2013. “These things can happen” said Montoro. In late October – 10 weeks before the end of the year – the Spanish Minister announced that the Catalan Government would not receive the €1.76 billion requested from the Liquidity Fund for the Autonomous Communities (FLA) since this money would be used by the Service Provider Fund to pay for arrear invoices. A week ago, the Catalan Government confirmed Montoro would transfer the €1.76 billion.

The Catalan Executive says it has the Spanish Government’s commitment to send the €1.76 billion that the Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, announced in late October would not be transferred. This money corresponds to the loan to fund the Catalan Government’s deficit target increase from 0.7% to 1.58% in 2013 approved in July by the Spanish Executive. However, in late October – 10 weeks before the end of the year, Montoro said that this amount would be deducted from the fund to pay the Catalan Government’s service providers. This meant that Catalonia was missing €1.76 billion to fund public services and departments for the last part of the year. Negotiations during the last 4 weeks have modified Montoro’s October decision.

The Catalan Government will receive €1.7 billion less from the Spanish Liquidity Fund (FLA) in 2013 than had been previously foreseen. The news was announced by the Spanish Government in mid-October, with only 10 weeks left before the end of the year. Madrid has justified the decision by linking the FLA to the plan to lend money to public bodies in order to enable them to pay suppliers. The money to pay suppliers will now be deducted from the FLA, changing the previous conditions. As a consequence, the Catalan Government will not be able to fund the 1.58% deficit it had allowed, since the FLA is its only access to liquidity. Now, Catalonia will only have money for the previously-foreseen 0.7% deficit. The Catalan Executive feels “tricked” as “it is not understandable that the Spanish Government agrees to a greater deficit and later cannot fund this deficit”.

In an interview with the Catalan News Agency, the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, the Austrian Johannes Hahn, nuanced previous statements made by other Commissioners and opened the door to debating Catalonia’s EU membership “in a more relaxed way”. Hahn “rejected” the idea that the Commission “is ignoring Catalonia’s independence movement”; “we are watching it carefully”, he said. On the question of automatic expulsion from the EU in the event of becoming independent, the Commissioner emphasised that “of course there is no provision in the Treaty and that’s why legal experts have the opinion that then Catalonia should ask for membership”. However he immediately added that “we should resolve this issue in a more relaxed way”, since “if there is independence, it would not happen from one day to the next”.

Chemists in Catalonia had called to go on strike on Thursday because the Catalan Government owed them two payments for publicly funded drugs. According to the Catalan Government, the payments were delayed as they depended on receiving the funds from the Spanish Government’s Liquidity Fund. The Spanish Government announced this week it was transferring €99 million to the Catalan Government to pay the chemists. However, on Wednesday the chemists decided to maintain Thursday’s strike “as a warning signal” for the uncertainty on future payments and because they have not received yet the promised payment.

The Catalan Government increased the amount initially requested from the Spanish Government Liquidity Fund for the Autonomous Communities (FLA) adding €410 more million in order to include payments to service providers and local councils. The Spanish Government and the Catalan Executive have included more types of payments eligible for receiving funds from the FLA. At the end of August the Catalan Government requested €5.02 billion to pay for debt maturities and some ordinary payments. At the same time, the Spanish Government does not respect investment agreements in Catalonia and ensures that Catalan citizens suffer from a permanent fiscal deficit calculated to be some 8.5% of the GDP (around €17 billion).

The Catalan Government’s Spokesperson, Francesc Homs, ruled out the Spanish Executive deciding to delay the payment as an answer to Catalonia’s self-determination process, as it would be “malfeasance”. However, he was angry about the €24 million fine the Spanish Government has issued against the Catalan Executive for delaying Social Security payments. Homs considered this delay to be a consequence of not receiving the €568 million on time and announced an appeal to the Constitutional Court. The Catalan Government had requested €568 million weeks ago from the Spanish Government’s Liquidity Fund for the Autonomous Communities (FLA) to face some of September’s payments. However the amount did not arrive on time and payments to private healthcare, education and social centres receiving public funds were delayed.

The Spanish Government states that the money will “start to arrive” next Tuesday. Over the past few weeks, the Catalan Finance Minister has warned about the urgency of receiving the requested €560 million from the Liquidity Fund for the Autonomous Communities (FLA) in order to face all September’s payments. However, the Spanish Government has sent €400 million to pay debt maturities but has not sent the remaining €560 million to pay private health, education and social centres that receive regular funds from the Catalan Executive. All direct salaries have been paid, but not other payments. In August, the Catalan Government requested €5.02 billion from the FLA for the entire year 2012 in order to face debt maturities and ordinary payments, since access to international markets is closed to the Autonomous Communities.

The Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, asked the Spanish Government to set up a temporary short-term loan system if the announced Liquidity Fund for the Autonomies is not in place this September. The Catalan Government has been insisting on the urgent need to define and put into force this financial tool to provide the Autonomous Communities with liquidity now their access to international financial markets is impossible as they face unsustainable interest rates. In addition, Mas-Colell stated that it is very likely that more budget cuts will be needed in 2013 to meet the 0.7% deficit target. He also criticised the Spanish Government for imposing stricter deficit objectives for the Autonomies while Brussels gives Spain greater flexibility.

The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government emphasised the money requested comes from Catalan taxpayers, since Catalonia pays €17 billion each year for services and investments in the rest of Spain. Nonetheless, the Catalan Executive stated it will meet the deficit targets and will follow the already approved austerity plan. The Spanish PM and leader of the People’s Party (PP) confirms it will “help Catalonia as we help the other Autonomous Communities”. However, the PP Spokesperson in Catalonia said the Catalan Government will have to accept whatever the conditions are. The Catalan Socialists want to know what the €5 billion will be spent on before supporting the decision. The Catalan Independence parties criticised the decision for having given away Catalonia’s autonomy.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, also talked about the delays of August payments to social care organisations, and he “hoped to be in a better situation” next month. However Mas could not give “a total guarantee” as it depends on whether the Spanish Government activates the Liquidity Fund for the Autonomies. In fact, Mas urged the Spanish Government to do so at the end of this month and said it is “illogical” to make a grand announcement about the measure and then not implement it.

The Catalan Social Affairs Minister, Josep Lluís Cleries, stated before the Catalan Parliament that €70 million had not been paid on time to health and social care organisations this August. He said he was sorry for the situation but underlined that the €50 million destined for private citizens had been paid. The Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, emphasised that, if the Spanish Government does not activate the Liquidity Fund for the Autonomous Communities and similar measures, he cannot guarantee the situation will not be repeated in the future. However, he said to be confident the Spanish Government will put these mechanisms in place soon. The Left-Wing opposition parties had requested the urgent hearings.