international

The Catalan club’s Board have approved the motion to extend the alliance with the UN body until the end of their term in office, which lasts until 2016. FC Barcelona has agreed, as it has done in recent years, to donate €1.5 million euros a year to joint projects with Unicef, which involve the promotion of education and sport among vulnerable children. Barça and the United Nations first joined forces in September 2006. The current deal was due to end in 2014. “We are very satisfied with this alliance”, stated the  Board Spokesman and Secretary, Toni Freixa.

In an interview with CNA, former United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore explained he saw no reason why the European Union would exclude any new state. However, David Cameron’s Minister highlighted that “it is for states and parts of states to resolve themselves politically and then the international community to respond to that decision”. The Liberal-Democrat politician added that it “is fundamental” to “recognise that this is a decision for the people in that country itself”. Moore asserted his belief in International Politics and in Democracy by referring to the upcoming Scottish Referendum for Independence.

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 Court based in Strasbourg has answered the appeal of the lawyer representing the Mortgage Platform (PAH), which had occupied an entire apartment block in Salt, near the Catalan city of Girona. 16 families occupied the block in order to get a house, but 3 left fearing eviction. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has temporarily delayed the eviction of the entire apartment block as a precautionary measure until it has fully studied the case, arguing that evicting the families would go against international law on housing rights. The ECHR has given the Spanish Government 8 days to prove it has adopted the measures to guarantee such rights. The decision comes the day the eviction was planned. Families and a thousand supporters received the news crying of joy and shouting the PAH’s motto: “Yes, it can be done; yes, it can be done”.

Nils Schmid, Vice President of Baden-Württemberg and regional Minister for Finance and the Economy, said in an exclusive interview with the CNA that Catalans are the ones who have to decide whether they want to remain within Spain or to become independent. This process should “of course […] be based on a referendum”. The Leader of the Social-Democrats (SPD) in this state also added that his party is proposing to include the possibility of holding referendums at national level in Germany, which is currently not envisaged by the German Constitution. However, he “cannot imagine” an independence referendum for Baden-Württemberg. On other issues, Schmid pointed out that “fiscal consolidation is not enough” and has to come with “structural reforms” and policies to stimulate growth. He also welcomed Catalans who are going to Germany to find job opportunities.

The ‘Catalan Way towards independence’ has achieved significant coverage throughout the world as numerous media outlets focus on the impact and scale of Catalonia’s historic 400 km human chain, gathering 1.6 million people. The world’s major newspapers and news agencies have published articles detailing the events of the ‘Catalan Way’ human chain. The Associated Press revealed how there was “a festive mood” and that an “estimated 1 million people took part”, before the official figures were released. Meanwhile, the BBC spoke of a “huge human chain”. The Guardian documented the success of the human chain that ran all the way from “the border with neighbouring France to the region of Valencia”.

The Catalan Presidency Minister and Government Spokesman, Francesc Homs, said in a press conference on Tuesday that the draft of the bill develops the powers granted by the 2006 Statue of Autonomy, while complying with Spanish law and constitutional framework. He added that it is an instrument to strengthen the external activities of the government of a country “that aims to become free” and is the first bill of the government focused on its foreign relations. Homs also said he is confident that, sooner or later, the European Commission will publish its opinion about the legal consequences of independence in Catalonia and Scotland.

Palestinian and Israeli children, some disabled, enjoyed a day they’ll never forget in front of a packed Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield Stadium with FC Barcelona. The second and final clinic in the Holy Land for the so-called ‘Peace Tour’ – before the Catalan team heads for Asia – was followed by a somewhat more intense training session than in Dura, in the West Bank. During Sunday evening’s clinic in Tel Aviv, Leo Messi was accompanied by Mohamad, a 17-year-old from Palestine, and Assael, a 19-year-old from Israel.

More than 24,000 people welcomed Barça to Dura, in Palestine, where the Catalan team held the first clinic on the ‘Peace Tour’. Located close to Hebron, the Dura Stadium was packed to welcome FC Barcelona’s full first team and coaching staff, who everyone in this country is used to seeing on television. The players, who were received by a banner in Catalan, trained with a group of 40 Palestinian boys and girls.

The family of Montserrat Serra has confirmed to CNA the release of the two aid workers. The Catalan Montserrat Serra and Blanca Thiebaut, from Madrid, were working for Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and they were captured in the Ifo2 refugee camp of Dadaab in Kenya on the 13^th of October 2011. MSF has ensured the two workers are “in good health conditions and they are waiting to join their loved ones as soon as possible”. An MSF team is already assisting the two aid workers. It is believed that immediately after the capture Serra and Thiebault were moved to Somalia, where they have been kept prisoners since. During the 645-day ordeal, silence and caution has been imposed by the negotiators.

The Intermediterranean Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe organised its annual Plenary Assembly in Barcelona, since Catalonia currently holds the organisation’s presidency. This organisation brings together 45 regional governments from 9 different Mediterranean countries. For the first time, the Union for the Mediterranean – which brings the 27 European Union Member States and 16 countries from the Northern Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans together – signs a cooperation agreement with an organisation of regional governments. At the signing ceremony, political leaders asked the European Union to pay more attention to the South, as once it did with Eastern Europe.

The €6.6 million project will last for 6 years and will start in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. It aims to strengthen the training of logistics sector workers in 10 countries in the Southern Mediterranean area. During the project’s presentation in Barcelona, the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbouring Policy, Stefan Füle, asked for a greater financial commitment from the 43 countries that are members of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM). He lamented that “it is not healthy” that the European Commission continues to be the main funding source for the UfM. Three years after unveiling its permanent Secretariat in the Catalan capital, the UfM is starting its first projects.

The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, which is one of Australia’s main universities, will offer Master and PhD programmes in Barcelona. The RMIT University, which has three campuses in Melbourne and two in Vietnam, is now coming to Europe and will coordinate its activities in the continent from Barcelona. The Australian education institution will also cooperate with several Catalan universities, in particular the UPC, the UPF and ELISAVA. The Catalan Minister for Economy and Knowledge, Andreu Mas-Colell, attended the opening ceremony. He underlined that Australia’s higher education system is “the most internationalised in the world”. He also stated that the RMIT campus in Barcelona “is a bridge towards Europe, the Mediterranean Area and Latin America”.

The agreement was previously discussed with the Spanish Executive and it respects the Catalan Government’s external action power as described in Catalonia’s main law. The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, signed the agreement with UNESCO’s General Director, Irina Bokova. The new framework allows Catalonia to have its “singularity” represented in the international organisation, although not permanently. Catalan representatives will be present in specific meetings and projects, separate from the Spanish delegation. “It is more than what we already have”, stated Mas. The Catalan President was one of the speakers at the Opening Plenary Session of UNESCO’s Global Conference, which is being held in Paris from the 3rd to the 5th of June.