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Catalonia is participating in the ‘World Travel Market’ fair in London, with the objective of turning the country into a destination of reference for British tourists, and more precisely of becoming their main destination in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Catalonia’s stand focuses on sectors that are usually appealing to British visitors, for instance gastronomy, culture and golfing. Great-Britain has become the second largest tourist market for Catalonia after France. In the first 9 months of the year, 1.4 million tourists from the UK have visited Catalonia, generating €1 billion. The Catalan Government is expecting this trend to consolidate in the years to come.

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, visited Barcelona on Thursday and met with the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, and the Secretary General of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), Pere Navarro. Schulz, who is the Social-Democrat candidate in the next European Elections for the President of the European Commission, acknowledged that he talked about Catalonia’s self-determination process with Mas and Navarro. However, the German politician refused to take sides, saying he has “no solution” to offer and that “the problem” has to be solved between Catalonia and Spain, not at European level. Furthermore, he insisted that Catalonia’s independence should not be the issue in the next European elections. “I want to talk about youth unemployment”, he stressed.

The Spanish Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría made it clear that “members of the Spanish Government” and “members of the Generalitat [Catalan Government]” have been holding meetings in the past few weeks, including the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy. “We inform about some of them and about others we do not, out of consideration for the delicate subject”, she stated. Sáenz de Santamaría insisted that talks were just starting; “we are in an incipient phase”, she stressed, “to acknowledge that channels for negotiation have to be found”. However, she totally rejected the main demand from a broad majority of Catalan society, for allowing a self-determination vote to take place in Catalonia. The Deputy PM did not want to disclose any part of the Spanish Government’s strategy on how to handle the issue. However, she praised the figure of the ‘number 2’ of the Centre Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida.

The controversial Reform of the Education System continues its progress towards parliamentary approval, now in the Spanish Senate. The Catalan Education Minister, Irene Rigau, stated that with the new law – which “recentralises” and totally “invades” devolved powers – the Autonomous Communities are “delegations of the Central Government”. Furthermore, Rigau asked the Spanish Education Minister, José Ignacio Wert, “to be brave” and “eliminate” the Reform’s points regarding the language immersion principle. This Reform goes against the Catalan school model, which has been in place since the early 1980s and is backed by an almost-total consensus in Catalonia. Rigau pointed out that only 26 cases out of 1.2 million pupils in Catalonia had requested a different model than the one offered. According to her, changing the entire education system and the language equilibrium in Catalonia for 26 families is “abusive and counterproductive”.

In the last few days, there has been an attempt to build bridges between Catalonia and Spain, despite the visible increase of tension between the two governments. In public the Catalan and Spanish Executives are heading for a collision but at the same time discreet manoeuvres explore alternative ways out. This Tuesday, the ‘number 2’ of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) – which runs the Catalan Government – Josep Antoni Duran I Lleida acknowledged that he met with the Spanish Prime Minister and leader of the People’s Party (PP) Mariano Rajoy on the 16^th October. Besides, the Catalan President, Artur Mas, met on Friday with the Secretary General of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) to talk about a constitutional change. Today, the Spokesperson of the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs, stated that Catalonia is waiting for an offer from the Spanish establishment. Although “there is no deadline” for this offer, the self-determination process will not be waiting for it, although if it arrives it will be studied.

During the first two thirds of 2013, the Catalan Government deficit amounted to €2.05 billion, equivalent to 1.06% of Catalonia’s GDP. The figure corresponds to 67% of the 1.58% deficit target imposed by the Spanish Government to the Catalan Executive for the whole year 2013. Meanwhile, the entire Spanish public sector posted a deficit corresponding to 5.07% of Spain’s GDP in the same period, although data from municipalities is still pending to be included. The figure already represents 78% of the total 6.5% deficit target that the European Union allowed Spain for the entire year 2013.

At a meeting with Catalan President Artur Mas, the Spanish socialist party (PSOE) leader Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba offered support for constitutional reform in Spain, but rejected the idea of a referendum on independence. Mas said that the legal framework cannot be used to “abort” the plans for an independence referendum. He added that it is an “enormous” mistake to think that. Rubalcaba said that the constitutional reform offer is an alternative “to a vote for separation”.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, shook hands at the entrance of the Economic Forum of the Western Mediterranean. Mas wanted to welcome all the event’s participants since the forum is held in a Catalan Government building and is co-organised by the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed), which is mostly funded by the Catalan Executive. However, in protest against the Spanish Government’s veto to authorise him to deliver a short welcoming speech, Mas did not stay to listen to Rajoy’s opening speech. Later today, in the Catalan Parliament’s government control session, Mas stated that “there are no protocol problems, but protocol impositions that generate problems”.

The Catalan Government approves a decree to transform the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) into a publicly-owned bank to support business and particularly SMEs. With this change, the Catalan Executive’saim is “to strengthen the ICF’s role as a tool to support business and the productive economy”, as the Government’s Spokesperson, Francesc Homs, told the press on Tuesday. The measure is part of the Parliamentary Stability Agreement signed between the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) and the governing Centre-Right Catalan Nationalism Coalition (CiU).

The Catalan Government’s Ramon Margalef Prize was awarded to American oceanographer Sallie Watson for her research on marine biology. The President of the Catalan Executive, Artur Mas, praised the scientist for her discoveries, stating Watson was “the “most productive, charismatic and active searcher in the field of biologic oceanography and marine ecology”. Mas also underlined Catalonia’s growing influence on the international scientific stage, by stating that even though “it was a small country” Catalonia had transformed into an “international scientific centre of high calibre”.

The tension between the Spanish and the Catalan Executives is increasing. The Spanish Government refused to allow the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, to deliver a short welcoming speech to the participants of the First Economic Forum of the Western Mediterranean. This event will take place in Barcelona on Wednesday, within the headquarters of the Union for the Mediterranean Secretariat (UFM), a building owned by the Catalan Government. It will bring together 10 Ministers of Foreign Affairs and it will be part of the 5+5 Dialogue, which is formed by 5 EU Member States and 5 North African countries. The Spanish PM, Mariano Rajoy, will chair the meeting and he only allowed Mas to come as a part of his delegation, Mas will be permitted to join the meeting but not to speak. In similar meetings, presidents of other Spanish Autonomous Communities, including Catalonia, have been allowed to address participants.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas is the most senior public figure in Catalonia, just after the King of Spain and the Spanish Prime Minister. However, at Thursday’s scheduled dinner with the main Catalan business association ‘Foment’ and the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, a last-minute change in the protocol put Mas in second place. The Catalan President considered that “conditions had changed” and as a protest he announced he was not going to the dinner. Instead, the Catalan Minister for Business and Employment was representing him. ‘Foment’ has been ambivalent regarding Catalonia’s self-determination process, although it supports the claim for finding a negotiated way out of the current political situation by organising a legal referendum.

The Spanish Government has sent a Budget Plan to the European Commission, following the new rules giving Brussels greater control on Member State finances. The plan’s scope includes all government levels in Spain. In the plan, the Spanish Government imposes a global budget adjustment of €8 billion on the Autonomous Community governments, including Catalonia’s, to be achieved within the next two years. €2.14 billion would come from increasing revenue next year, since Madrid considers that the Autonomous Communities can still increase their own taxes, particularly those linked to the environment. €1.93 billion would come from further budget cuts. This would total €4.07 billion in 2014, which would roughly be repeated in 2015.

One of the six ‘fathers’ of the Spanish Constitution, Miquel Roca, who currently leads one of the largest law firms in Spain, stated that the Constitution does not ban a referendum on Catalonia’s self-determination. “It is a matter of political will”, since Catalonia is recognised “as a nationality” by Spain’s main law, stated the respected lawyer, who also used to be a leader of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU). In front of a committee of the Catalan Parliament, Roca remarked that it would be “absurd” to call for a referendum at Spanish level, as it would only be binding in Catalonia. In the rest of Spain it would not be binding, emphasised Roca, as “it is said in Article 92”. This article reads that non-binding referendums can be called regarding issues of extreme importance.

The Catalan Government has published a report listing all the Spanish Executive’s disloyalties towards Catalonia including not respecting legislation, devolved powers and cultural aspects. The 50-page document has a chapter quantifying the costs of such disloyalty, which totals €9.375 billion, according to the Catalan Government. €5.748 billion correspond to infrastructure which has not been built; €672 million to a reduction in institutional transfers; €1.715 billion to spending increases due to the Spanish Government’s unilateral decisions; and €1.239 to revenue reductions due to similar unilateral decisions which have never been compensated. The report does not take into account the so-called fiscal deficit – the €16.5 billion that each year Catalan tax-payers transfer to the rest of Spain. The Catalan Government emphasised that there has been “a permanent disloyal activity” since 2000.