funding

Philip Alston advocates for rent control plans and social housing funding after visiting Barcelona and other cities to study poverty levels

Acting minister says party will propose rethink if Pedro Sánchez becomes president after Catalan government criticizes "arbitrary" distribution of resources

Former President Puigdemont and 17 members of his government are accused of allocating public money to organize the voting, which they deny

Development minister pledges to remedy situation, while Catalan counterpart says he will be "demanding" in upcoming bilateral summit

Officers ratified before the Spanish Congress the existence of a “criminal organization” that won "rigged" contract bids from public administrations

All the parties in the Catalan chamber except from governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ urged former Catalan President, Artur Mas, to appear before the Parliament over CDC irregular funding. He will have to do so after the main figures accused in the ‘Palau Case’ assured that former CDC, now renamed as the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT), received commissions from Ferrovial construction company in exchange for public contracts and with the intermediation of ‘Palau de la Música’. Indeed, Mas was head of CDC at the time when the alleged corruption took place. Pro-independence radical left CUP consider it “a fiction” to separate CDC from PDeCat and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) have called for Mas to quit his political career if the accusations over CDC irregular funding prove to be true.

After 8 years of investigation, the main names behind the so-called ‘Palau case’ will testify before the court this Wednesday. The judge accuses former governing party ‘Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya’ (CDC), which ruled in Catalonia in coalition with Christian Democrat Unió for more than 20 years, of illicitly receiving €5.1 million from the construction company Ferrovial through donations made to Barcelona’s Palau de la Música concert hall. The judge, Josep Maria Pijuan, believes the money was allegedly given in exchange for the allocation of public work contracts. Fèlix Millet and Jordi Montull, the main managers of Palau de la Música at that time, have been the main focus of attention during the investigation, since there was evidence that they might have stolen €26 million from the cultural organisation for their personal benefit. CDC, now renamed as PDeCAT have repeatedly claimed that the accusations “have not been proven” and former Catalan President, Artur Mas, insisted he believed in the word given by the party former treasurer, Daniel Osàcar, who has been indicted by the judge.

Health organisations in Catalonia received 43.5 MEUR from the EU Horizon 2020 programme to fund projects in this field between 2014 and 2015. This amount represents 42.5% of the total allocated by this European initiative to the Spanish State, according to figures released this Friday by the Spanish Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), a public business entity which belongs to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. Madrid is second on the ranking, with 25.6 MEUR received, followed by the Valencian Community, which got 8.2 MEUR. The Catalan Department for Health has stated that it considers these figures to prove “Catalonia’s clear leadership in health research”.

The European Commission has opened “an in-depth investigation” into whether public measures in favour of mining company Iberpotash gave it a selective advantage over its competitors, in breach of EU State aid rules. “The Spanish authorities fully financed EUR 7.9 million of costs to physically cover one of Iberpotash's waste heaps and reduce pollution” stated the EC’s press release. If confirmed, this would entail a breach in the 'polluter pays' principle since a public authority would have been bearing the clean-up costs rather than the company responsible for the pollution. Iberpotash already has a European infraction procedure against it, which has been pending since 2014.

Companies, entities and citizens have European funding opportunities at their disposal to make their projects grow. To promote these EU resources and facilitate access to them, the Catalan government has launched a website which includes the available European funding opportunities and the calls for entry in progress. “We must break the myth of a lack of access” to the EU institutions, stated the Catalan Permanent Representative to the EU, Amadeu Altafaj, and added that “they are more open and more accessible than what people may think”. The Catalan Foreign Affairs Secretary, Roger Albinyana, encouraged everybody to “make the most of the European funding opportunities” and called Catalans to be “even more ambitious”.

The Spanish Finance Ministry transferred this morning 3 billion euros from the Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) corresponding to Catalonia. However there is still 34 million pending to be transferred due to the Ministry’s “invoices checking” procedure. The payment of this 3 billion euros from the FLA comes after the controversial "specific and additional controls" that Spain's executive has imposed on Catalonia to guarantee "transparency" and ensure that “the FLA won’t fund pro-independence whims”, in the words of Spanish Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro. The 3.034 billion euros assigned this year to Catalonia includes the 2.6 billion euros outstanding from 2014’s FLA, which the Catalan government repeatedly asked for in order to pay pending debts, such as those from pharmacies and medical centres.

Catalonia will be the only Autonomous Community in Spain whose part of the Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) will be subject to extra control measures. "It is arbitrary discrimination" against Catalan citizens and the Government's suppliers, stated current Catalan Finance Minister Andreu Mas-Colell this Tuesday and announced that the Government will take the measures before the Spanish Supreme Court. Spanish Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro justified the imposition of "specific and additional controls" to guarantee "transparency" and ensure that “the FLA won’t fund pro-independence whims”. Mas-Colell accused Spain's executive of trying to take political advantage of an "ordinary procedure between administrations" and urged the Spanish government to pay the pending 3,034 million euros from the FLA before the end of the year. 

Current Catalan President, Artur Mas, appeared this Tuesday before the media to comment on the recent control measures that Spain's executive have set in place to control Catalonia's finances. "We are facing an institutional attack" stated Mas "Spain's executive is punishing Catalonia for defending political ideas which are pacific, democratic and respectful of human rights". "This is really grave" he commented and added that "the EU should be worried" about the fact that "democratically elected parliaments and pacific social movements are being attacked". Mas considers the specific measures that Spain's government announced on Friday to control Catalonia's administration of their share of Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) funds is a way of "taking over" Catalonia's autonomy and self-government "after years of cutting them back".