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The Catalan Government has confirmed that a framework agreement has been reached with the project's promoters, with the green light from Barcelona’s City Council. However the final details are still pending negotiation. No public funds from Catalan institutions will be allocated. The Catalan President, Artur Mas, will sign the agreement during his trip to Russia, scheduled for between Wednesday and Friday. Barcelona’s Hermitage will very likely occupy three old warehouses located at the city port, in front of the beach and the luxury hotel W. The architectural project was released two weeks ago and will fully renovate the old warehouses, which will have their own dock and three floors, including a basement. The Hermitage has already opened other centres outside Saint Petersburg, in Amsterdam, Ferrara and Kazan.

Commissioners Reding and Almunia have publicly said that, if there were a unilateral declaration of independence, Catalonia would not be automatically expelled from the EU. However, after being put under pressure by the Spanish Government, Reding sent a private letter stating she shared Madrid’s analysis that a unilateral independence would lead to exclusion from the EU and having to re-apply for accession, which would require a unanimous vote among the 27 Member States. After Madrid’s complaints about previous statements, the EC stated that it would not give its opinion on the issue if the Spanish Government does not explicitly ask for it “on the basis of a precise scenario”. The Catalan Government has noted that there is not a precise scenario as yet. None of the main parties propose a unilateral declaration of independence.

The PSC approved its electoral programme last weekend with the aim of becoming a third option “between the recentralisation of the People’s Party (PP) and the independence of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU)”. They propose the reformation of the Constitution to build a federal Spain and the organisation of a self-determination referendum in Catalonia, in which they would defend Spain’s unity. However, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) – to which the Catalan Socialists (PSC) are federated – is against the possibility of organising a self-determination referendum in Catalonia. A few weeks ago, the PSC was still against organising such a referendum, although now they have embraced the idea shared by almost 80% of Catalans, according to the polls.

The Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) presented its electoral programme for the next Catalan elections, to be held on the 25th of November. CiU’s leader and incumbent President of the Catalan Government – who is running for re-election, Artur Mas, stated that “if we want a leading Catalonia in Europe, we need a state structure, which we do not have”. CiU’s electoral programme talks about creating “state structures” but it does not openly mention the word “independence”; however, it is the closest a CiU electoral programme has ever been to supporting an independent Catalonia. The document points towards Europe and is called ‘Catalonia 2020’. “We want to be stuck with Europe. If we were to choose a partner, Europe would be our current marriage choice”, stated Mas.

For the first time in the world, Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron Hospital removes two tumours through the body’s natural holes without the support of laparoscopy. This technique allows the patient to recover much quicker, since there are no external wounds to cicatrise. They have successfully removed a colon tumour and a stomach one, from two different patients who had recovered without complications.

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 Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, had previously accused the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, of having blackmailed him by trying to “impose the fiscal agreement or accept the consequences” in last September’s meeting, when Mas proposed a specific fiscal agreement between Catalonia and Spain. The Catalan President denied having blackmailed the Spanish PM. According to Mas, Rajoy “did not want to negotiate a fiscal agreement” as he considered that “Catalonia is not as badly treated” as Catalans say. The Catalan President said he explained to Rajoy what would happen “if the answer to all Catalan claims is always ‘no’”. “It is not a threat, it is describing the reality. The President of the Catalan Government’s duty is to inform [the Spanish PM] about Catalonia’s situation” Mas added.

The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs, presented a report that analyses the normative and organisation duplicities at Spanish and Catalan level. The study, compiled by a Catalan Government's institute, concludes that the Spanish Government permanently invades Catalonia’s exclusive competences, both at normative and organisational levels. According to Homs, the Spanish Government’s attitude creates “contradictions” and “legal uncertainty”, which harms investments and the economy. Homs accused the Spanish Government of “keeping important administrative structures” despite having decentralised the competence, as is the case with tourism.

Spain’s Constitutional Court has responded to an appeal from the Catalan Parliament dating from 2004. The appeal was against the Judicial Power’s last reform, approved by the Spanish Parliament, in the time of José María Aznar. Now, the Constitutional Court states that the Catalan Government only has competence over the non-judicial staff working in the justice administration, but not over the judges and other judicial staff. This means that the knowledge of Catalan language will not be a condition to work as a judge in Catalonia. Therefore Catalan citizens may not be able to use their mother tongue in their justice procedures or they will have to use interpretation services.

The day the United Kingdom and Scotland signed the agreement to organise the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, the Spanish Justice Minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, states that the Spanish Government will not agree to organise or even negotiate on a referendum on Catalonia’s independence. Furthermore, the same day, Jaime Mayor Oreja, the leader of the Spanish Euro MPs from the People’s Party (PP), proposed “facing” the Catalan independence movement as was done earlier with ETA’s terrorism. Two weeks ago, Mayor Oreja had already linked the Catalan independence movement with the Basque terrorist group ETA. The Catalan President, Artur Mas, said that if Madrid does not authorise the referendum, Catalonia will appeal to European and international institutions.

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).

An official study issued by the Catalan Finance Ministry shows that Catalan citizens have given €24.77 billion more to the Spanish pension and unemployment funds than they have received back from it. The study takes into account the contributions of Catalan citizens and companies between 1995 and 2010. Without the Catalan contributions, the Spanish Social Security system would have had a €86.33 billion deficit in the same period. The Catalan contribution to the Social Security system was negative in 1995-1996 and 2009-2010, while between 1997 and 2008 it showed a budget surplus. Without Catalonia, Spain’s Social Security would have only had a budget surplus between 2003 and 2007.

A poll taken by the Catalan Survey Institute points out that only 19.9% of Catalans would be against organising a referendum asking if Catalonia should be a new independent European state. 6% would be undecided. The poll also reflects electoral preferences in the next Catalan elections, scheduled on 25th November. 26.3% of citizens would vote for the ruling Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), which would clearly win the elections. However, those undecided represent 34.6% of the people interviewed. The votes for the main opposition party in Catalonia, the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), would plummet to only 3.1%. The parties clearly supporting the self-determination (CiU, ERC and ICV-EUiA) would become Catalonia’s first, second and third parties.

José Ignacio Wert, the Education Minister, made this statement at the Spanish Parliament, while defending the recentralisation measures he is trying to implement. Wert’s words have provoked major outrage in Catalonia. The Catalan Government, all the non-Spanish nationalist parties, trade unions and civil society organisations have qualified Wert’s statements as being “totalitarian”, “a barbarity”, and “pre-Constitutional”, reminding them of Franco times. Furthermore, many citizens channelled their outrage for Wert’s words through Twitter, making the related hashtag Spain’s main trending topic. Besides, results show Catalan students have better results in Spanish than Spain’s average.

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.