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Catalan cinema will once again play a significant part in this year’s prestigious Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), with the presentation of two feature films and one short-film. The Catalan co-production Aloft ('No ploris, vola'), by Claudia Llosa, who also directed the 2009 Golden Bear winner The Milk of Sorrow, will compete in the official section of the festival, held between the 6^th and the 16^th of February. ‘El somni’ (The Dream) directed by Franc Aleu and centred on the creative dishes of the Roca brothers, universally acclaimed Catalan Chefs, will be screened during the ‘Culinary session’ of the festival. Finally, short-film lovers will discover ‘TABA, El Juego En La Mesa’ (TABA, Table Games), directed by Pep Gatell and Eloi Colom, and produced by the ‘Fura dels Baus’ a Barcelona theatrical group famous for its innovative performances.

Neymar’s father has authorised FC Barcelona to lift the confidentiality clauses in his son’s contract. The Catalan club has insisted that the transfer total was €57.1 million and detailed all the payments referring to the player’s salary and other agreements reached with organisations connected to him. Barça’s new President, Josep Maria Bartomeu, and Director of the Football Management Area, Raül Sanllehí, clarified a number of stories published in various Spanish newspapers and as an exception, revealed details of Neymar’s salary. “We have not lied. Football games are won on the pitch, not behind closed doors in offices”, said Bartomeu.

The President of FC Barcelona, Sandro Rosell, has resigned this Thursday evening with immediate effects. The First Vice President has assumed the Presidency until the end of the term, in 2016, according to the Catalan club’s rules. In the last few weeks, Rosell has been involved in an alleged scandal regarding Neymar's signing for FC Barcelona. Nothing has been proved and the judge still has to ask Rosell to testify. However, the FC Barcelona President would have taken the decision to resign in order not to involve the club in the judicial process. “In all of these years we have seen that our successes are the result of our victories on the pitch and overcoming innumerable obstacles off the pitch: political, external and, what’s worse, at times the pressure has come from our own environment”, said Rosell. “It has been an honour to serve the Barcelonistas. It’s been a privilege to be the president of FC Barcelona”.

Banc Sabadell, the second largest banking company in Catalonia, has ended 2013 with a net profit of €247.8 million, three times more than in 2012, after consuming €1,736.6 million in provisions and allowances for non-payments of loans, impairment of property and other financial operations. Due to the new regulations of the Bank of Spain on credit repayment and the acquisitions of other banking companies, the percentage of delayed or unpaid loans has climbed to 13.63%, 46% more than in 2012. Without the refunding operations, it would have been fixed at 11.13 %. The bank’s core capital, which is the main solvency indicator, stood at 12% and, with the new Basel III, it was set at 10.1%. Jaume Guardiola, CEO of Sabadell, believes that this trend can be the “turning point” of a crisis that was first anticipated when the results for 2012 were announced.

The Catalan Government has welcomed the 138 proposals issued by a council of business associations, trade unions, academic experts and leading professionals, who form the so-called ‘Agreement for the Industry’ platform. The President of the Catalan Executive, Artur Mas, stated that those proposals are “a possible seed” for a broader agreement: a National Pact for the Industry that will define the priorities and main guidelines of Catalonia’s industrial policy for the next decade. The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment said that the 138 proposals coincide with “between 70 and 80%” of the Executive’s industrial policies. However he pointed out that the Government couldn’t bring all of them on board for budget or jurisdiction limitations.

The novel ‘La vida era eso’ by Carmen Amoraga has won the Nadal Award, in the 70^th anniversary of this literary prize given by Destino publishing house. Albert Villaró with his roman ‘Els ambaixadors’ was awarded the Josep Pla Prize for prose in Catalan, also given by Destino, on the same evening. Amoraga’s book tells the story of a woman who dives into the social networks after the death of her husband. The novel by Villaró invents an alternative outcome of the historical facts that happened in October 1934, when the Catalan President Lluís Companys proclaimed the “Catalan State of the Spanish Federal Republic”.

Catalan ‘El Celler de Can Roca’, the ‘best restaurant in the world’ according to Restaurant magazine, will temporarily close its doors in August 2014 to take a tour in Mexico, Colombia and Peru. The Roca brothers – Joan (Main Chef), Josep (Sommelier) and Jordi (Dessert Chef) - have decided to take this ‘Roca & Roll World Tour 2014’ to “renew” the “illusion” and give “new impetus” to the “creative work” of everyone involved in the iconic three-Michelin-stars restaurant, located in Girona (North-eastern Catalonia). Thanks to this unique “adventure”, named ‘Haute cuisine with values’, Catalan cuisine reasserts its position in the highest culinary ranks at international level. This announcement occurred only a few weeks after Michelin stated that all the awarded restaurants in Catalonia had successfully retained their stars.

Doctor Joan Massagué has been appointed Scientific Director of the Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York , the world’s leading cancer research centre, which is part of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. The Catalan scientist has been chosen by an international expert committee and will take office on the 1^st of January 2014. The President and CEO of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Craig B. Thomson, said that Massagué had been given the job for his “exemplarity as a scientist” and because he is an “international leader” in the study of metastasis and factors regulating cell growth. This announcement follows last year’s appointment of another Catalan Doctor, Josep Baselga, as the Physician-in-Chief of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre. Both Baselga and Massagué will continue to combine their responsibilities in New York with their research in Barcelona.

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.

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.

The most important Fish and Seafood Fair in Europe and Maghreb is taking place in Barcelona for the second time, although Brussels continues to be the fair’s main base. This year’s edition will be attended by 146 companies with the exhibition space increasing by 24%. The Director of the company organising the event, Diversity Business, stated she was “very proud of their commitment to Barcelona and was hoping they would share a very long future together”. By choosing Barcelona, a hub on the Mediterranean, the organisers are confident they can find new business opportunities, especially with the emerging countries. Even though seafood consumption has decreased in Spain, the country remains a leader in the European and world market.

Banc Sabadell has managed to integrate the entire network of Caixa Penedès’ branches in Catalonia and Aragón, as well as all the technological and operational platforms. With this last integration, Banc Sabadell has €170 billion in assets, around 6 million clients and 12% of Spain’s banking branches. This means that the Catalan bank is now the 4^th largest retail financial entity in Spain, after the Barcelona-based CaixaBank, Santander and BBVA. Banc Sabadell bought Caixa Penedès’ banking business in Catalonia and Aragón to Banco Mare Nostrum (BNM) in May. In only 5 months, Banc Sabadell has added 376 branches to its network, along with 545 million client registers and 900,000 clients. In the last year, the Catalan bank has doubled the size of its network, since it also integrated the Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo (CAM) network.

Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, the leader of Unió Democràtica de Catalunya (UDC) – which is the Christian-Democrat party and smaller force within the two-party Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) – insisted that he does not want independence from Spain, but a Catalan state within a Spanish Confederation. Duran – who is also CiU’s ‘number 2’ – has been proposing this formula for years. However, in the last few months and particularly on the occasion of the 400-kilometre human chain, Duran has emphasised his stance, while the larger party within CiU – the Liberal Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC) – was increasingly supporting independence. Nevertheless, Duran insisted that Catalonia must vote in a self-determination referendum, where he will defend a third way “between independence and submission”.

Catalonia’s main SME association PIMEC and the Catalan Business Circle (CCN) have criticised the regional Government of Madrid for issuing a report not sufficiently backed-up by economic data. In addition, they have accused Madrid’s Finance Minister, who presented the report, of offering a politically-biased version by saying that companies have left Catalonia due to the self-determination debate. PIMEC and CCN stated they do not have data supporting Madrid’s statement. On the contrary, they have data proving that foreign investment has not reduced. In addition, CCN accused the Spanish Government of building a “Greater Madrid” as an economic centre, at the expense of other areas such as Catalonia. PIMEC emphasised the Catalan industrial tradition and the vigour of its economy, although admitted that taxation is higher in Catalonia than in Madrid.

The airline group formed by British Airways and Iberia, IAG, announced it will buy up to 220 new Airbus 320 between 2015 and 2020, 120 of which will be for the recently-purchased Catalan company Vueling. IAG bought the Barcelona-based airline last spring and the operation was authorised in July by the competition authorities. Vueling is currently one of the few profitable airlines in Europe, with a business model evolving from a low-cost airline but offering business services and flying to the main airports in Europe. In fact, the company links Barcelona El Prat with 104 destinations (in Europe, the Middle-East, Russia and Africa) and it has operation bases in Madrid, Paris and Amsterdam, among others. Last July, Vueling increased its number of transported passengers by 18% and flights by 13% on July 2012 figures.