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Radical left pro-independence CUP announced that they will support the head of the Catalan Government in the upcoming vote of confidence that Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, will submit himself to on the 28th of September. Thus, the Government’s partner in the Parliament doesn’t see Puigdemont’s commitment to the celebration of a unilateral referendum on independence as a condition ‘sine qua non’ to renew their confidence in the President. “Hopefully on the 28th of September a referendum to be held in May or June next year will be called”, stated CUP MP Anna Gabriel this Monday, but added that “if this is not the case, CUP could support the vote of confidence and discuss how to culminate Catalonia’s political process later”. Although Gabriel didn’t consider the referendum as a red line for renewing confidence in Puigdemont, she insisted that this would be the best democratic instrument to move towards Catalonia’s independence. 

The president of the civil society organisation Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Jordi Sánchez, stated on Sunday that the process towards independence has to be completed and a binding referendum needs to be called by the Catalan Parliament this autumn. Otherwise, he admitted, Catalan independence supporters might not achieve their goal. “We either start to complete this process (towards independence) or it will finish us off”, he said, admitting a certain fatigue amongst pro-independence groups. The ANC, together with Omnium Cultural and other civil society organisations in Catalonia, have for many years been organising massive pro-independence demonstrations every 11th of September, the Catalan National Day. In 2013, for example, they made a human chain from the North to the South of the country inspired by the Baltic Way, and in the last two years more than 1.5 million people demonstrated in Barcelona. The ANC is planning a new rally in 2016, this time with five different events across Catalonia.

The Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural, the two main civil organisations behind the massive pro-independence demonstrations held since 2012 on Catalonia’s National Day, have presented their project for the upcoming mobilisation on the 11^th of September. The new campaign, called ‘A punt’ (‘We are ready’), aims to mobilise Catalans in five different cities all over the territory: Barcelona; Salt, in Girona; Berga, in Central Catalonia; Lleida; and Tarragona. The presidents of both organisations invited all those who support holding a referendum on independence to join the demonstration and explained that the motto ‘A punt’ symbolises two things; that Catalonia “is ready to achieve the republic” and that the citizens have already reached “the final stage” of the pro-independence process. 

Left-wing pro-independence ERC are pushing Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, to advance the expected date for him to submit to a vote of confidence. Although the Catalan President has never specified the exact date of the vote, he has repeatedly referred to the second half of September. However, this Monday left-wing pro-independence ERC have called him to do it earlier and before the 11^th of September, Catalonia’s National Day. According to ERC spokesman and MP in the Spanish Parliament, Joan Tardà, this will allow the citizens “to celebrate Catalonia’s National Day with optimism and confidence” since the vote of confidence in the Parliament “will be a great success”. Nevertheless, sources in the Government have told the CNA that Puigdemont doesn’t plan to change the scheduled date. 

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) has unanimously suspended some precepts of the law on fiscal measures which foresees the development of so-called state structures in Catalonia. In particular, the magistrates have considered unconstitutional the plan for the creation of the Catalan Tax Agency, the catalogue of strategic infrastructures and the plans for the energy and railway sectors, amongst others. The suspension, which has now been confirmed, affects the same articles which were temporarily annulled in June 2015 when the Spanish Government asked for legal action against Catalonia’s plans for the creation of state structures. Later, in November 2015, the TC accepted the appeal presented by the Spanish executive to stop the reform of Catalonia’s Tax Agency.

Six of the 15 members of radical left pro-independence CUP’s national secretariat stepped down this Friday. In a joint letter, they reported “sectarian and Machiavellian attitudes” regarding the decision-making process which led to the failed investiture of former Catalan President, Artur Mas and also the anti-capitalists’ veto on the draft budget for 2016. The signers insisted that their decision is “irrevocable” and accused CUP of “moving away from the pro-independence strategy” assumed by the party’s programme. CUP’s national secretariat spokesman, Xevi Generó, announced that the process to choose new members will start next Monday.

The National Portrait Gallery in London, in collaboration with the Barcelona Picasso Museum, has set up one of the most comprehensive collections dedicated to Picasso´s portraiture ever created. In London, more than 75 works of art will show each of the artist´s phases and varying techniques, a testament to “his unique vision”. Exhibition curator Elizabeth Cowling noted that it has “never ever been done before” to show the artist´s work in a museum “dedicated entirely to portraiture”. Furthermore, this is the first time that the London museum will feature portraits of figures that aren’t British. The exhibition will later be held in Barcelona, where the collection will be extended by five pieces, one of which will be lent by the Art Institute of Chicago for the first time.

The National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC) reviewed what its 2016 exhibitions would consist of, although the showings unofficially begun in December of 2015. The star exhibition of the season will be ´Picasso and Romanesque Art´, a joint venture with the Picasso Museum in Paris. Besides this, other exhibition centred onLuis “el Divino” Morales, Renaissance painting, 20^th century photography and features on several Catalan artists, such as Lluïsa Vidal and Ismael Smith, will complete the MNAC’s agenda for 2016. The MNAC’s director, Pepe Serra, celebrated that the museum is finally “starting to have a normal planning rhythm for a museum of its size” which will allow the MNAC’s calendar to synchronise with “other international museums”.

From the 25^th to the 29^th of February, the 5^th edition of the Figueres International Circus Festival will host 24 acts which have never before been seen in Europe.Amongst them stand out Pyongyang’s National Circus, which will leave North Korea for the first time ever, and two shows from Chinese companies which received awards at the WuQiao Festival. 17 different circus disciplines from 13 different countries will be presented at the festival, which this year opens a new tent with capacity for more than 30,000 spectators.Besides becoming the circus world capital for five days, Figueres, a city near the Costa Brava and the French border, plans to become the Word Circus Capital by 2018. 

Six MEPs from the Committee on Petitions visited the Ebro Delta, in Catalonia’s southern region of Tarragona, to meet the several petitioners who have claimed that Spain’s new National Water Plan (NWP) may infringe the EU Water Framework Directive. Environmentalists say one of Europe's most important wetland areas is under threat as Spain’s new Plan aims to reduce the river’s flow to 3,000 cubic hectometres per year and add 465,000 new hectares of irrigated lands to an already existing one million hectares, which will also contribute to cutting the sediment level dramatically. Besides the risk to the delta’s survival, the Platform for the Defence of the Ebro Delta (PDE) are worried that ultimately these waters could be transferred to other, drier regions of Spain. The visit of the EU delegation comes after 50,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Amposta in Catalonia on Sunday to protest against the plans.

‘Fotografia a Catalunya’ compiles Catalonia’s photographic patrimony into one website. This initiative is the first of the measures set out in the Photography National Plan, approved in 2014. “This website starts to make Catalonia’s photographic patrimony visible” stated current Catalan Minister for Culture, Ferran Mascarell, and added that by launching this website “a lifelong pending issue has been sorted out”. There are 1,600 pictures from 497 different photographers already available which summarise outstanding collections from the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) and Barcelona’s Photographic Archive, amongst many others, and the aim is to extend the offering to 15,000 by the end of next year. Catalonia’s photographic patrimony includes more than 35 million pictures, kept in more than 323 public archives, museums and other centres all over the territory.

The members of pro-independence radical left CUP voted against Artur Mas' candidacy for Catalan President with 823 votes out of 1,300 and urged cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' to make a move. "If there are elections in March it will be because 'Junts Pel Sí' won't have made the move that people are asking for" stated CUP's number two, Anna Gabriel, and reinforced the party's will "to stay at the negotiations table". CUP's position is now reinforced by their base and their strategy is still to launch an action plan against social poverty, break with the Spanish state, start a constitutive process and choose "an alternative to Mas", as pointed out by CUP MP Benet Salellas. Therefore, they rejected the cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' proposal to create a "college presidency" with Mas leading the government together with three "government commissions" with delegated competences.

The Catalan National Assembly (ANC), the civil society association responsible for the last years’ massive pro-independence rallies in Catalonia, urged cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' and radical left CUP to reach an agreement by the 27^th of November. As stated in the ANC's document entitled "Let's do the Catalan Republic" such an agreement has to be "without exclusions, with the conviction that nobody is extra in this process of national transition, on the contrary; we must add new adhesions". The ANC's president, Jordi Sànchez, called for a "strong government" and urged the pro-independence forces to "show responsibility". Sànchez admitted that none of the agents involved aim to call new elections but reach a "good and quick" agreement, otherwise the "risk of erosion of the 72 pro-independence MPs" will be higher.

The main pro-independences civil associations, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural and the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) handed over 1.5 million signatures supporting Catalonia’s independence to the Council of Europe. The signatures were gathered during the non-binding referendum that took place on the 9^th of November 2014. The pro-independence civil associations’representatives travelled to Strasbourg to denounce “the lack of democratic will of the Spanish State”and they reported on Catalonia’s situation to a delegation of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly. The delivery of these signatures is the first international diplomatic action promoted by the ANC, Òmnium and the AMI. “The Catalan case is present in the European agenda”stated the ANC’s president, Jordi Sànchez, and added that “giving first-hand information from civil society is very important”. 

Citizens all across Catalonia expressed their opposition to Catalonia's Supreme Court's decision to summons President Artur Mas, Catalan Minister for Education Irene Rigau and former vice-president Joana Ortega for organising the 9-N symbolic vote. This Tuesday, after Rigau and Ortega appeared before the court, thousands of people gathered together in front of their respective town halls, showing their support for the summonsed and declaring themselves guilty for participating in the 9-N consultation. The protests were organised by Alliance for the Right to Self-Determination of Catalonia ('Pacte Nacional pel Dret a Decidir'), a group of 1,500 institutions, political parties, trade unions, business organisations, professional associations, NGOs, cultural organisations and political pressure groups that support the celebration of a referendum in Catalonia.