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Tourism booms in Spain, with 9 million international visitors in August 2014, up by 8.8% since last year. Official data shows record breaking numbers, with August being the busiest month. In the first seven months of this year, tourists spent over €34.5 billion, the highest number in history. Catalonia is the most popular destination, attracting over 2.4 million tourists in August alone, a 7.5% increase from last year. Following Catalonia, the best results were seen in the Balearic Islands and Andalucía, all of which showed significant increases in recorded visitors for this year. August has been the busiest month on record, with tourists mainly coming from France and Italy, while over the whole year, the most frequent visitor continues to be British.

The City Council of Barcelona as well as 300 other town halls throughout Catalonia approved on Monday a motion supporting the self-determination consultation vote, scheduled for the 9^th of November. Some 400 other municipalities have confirmed they will do the same in the current week and more could join in the coming days. With this action, Catalan municipalities want to back the parliamentary agreement to carry out such a vote, which is being unilaterally blocked by the Spanish Government.  The motions will be sent to the Catalan Government, the Spanish Authorities, the European Union institutions and the United Nations. Town Halls throughout Catalonia are approving the same motion, which has been proposed by the Association of pro-Independence Municipalities (AMI) and the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM).

Barça put five past Levante in Valencia on Sunday evening, with Neymar, Rakitic, Sandro, Pedro and Messi all on target. FC Barcelona has obtained 12 points from 12, 11 goals scored and none conceded for Luis Enrique’s team, who’ve made an impressive start to their three game week, with Malaga and Granada next up. Barça beat Llevant to continue both their unbeaten record and keep yet another clean sheet, which Luis Enrique feels “goes to show even more our idea of playing as team … Rather than singling anyone out in particular, I’ll just say that I was happy with all of them.”

The Law on Consultation Votes, which will be used to call the non-binding consultation vote on independence scheduled for the 9^th of November, has been approved by 79% of the Catalan Parliament, with the only opposition being from Spanish nationalists People's Party (PP) and Ciutadans (C's). This bill was already foreseen in the 2006 Statute of Autonomy, Catalonia's main law after the Constitution, but it had not been approved yet. Now, once the law is published on Catalonia's Official Journal (DOGC), the Catalan President will immediately sign the Decree calling November's vote. The Spanish Government announced last week it already had two appeals ready to be filed to the Constitutional Court – even though the definitive law had not been approved yet. If the Constitutional Court accepts the appeals, it will immediately suspend the Catalan Law and the Decree for a 5-month temporary period, which could be extended until it reaches a final decision.

This is going to be a key week for FC Barcelona as they will have three Spanish League matches in seven days. From Sunday 21^st September through Saturday 27^th, Luis Enrique's squad will have nine points in play, the same number of points that were on the table through the entire first month of the season. Barça is set to visit Levante (Sunday 21), Malaga (Wednesday 24), and then host Granada (Saturday 27). FC Barcelona won't have to play three Liga matches in one week again until the month of April, when they will have to do it not once but twice. From now until then Barça's midweek schedule is loaded with other competitions, namely the group stage of the Champions League and the Spanish Cup.

A few hours after the Scottish people decided to remain within the United Kingdom through a referendum, the Catalan President and the Spanish Prime Minister congratulated the Scots, although they sent completely different messages. Through a recorded video message, Spain's PM, Mariano Rajoy, stated that Scotland has rejected the "severe consequences" of "splitting up from the UK and the EU". Rajoy stressed that Scots have chosen "between security and true risks" and that the vote "has strictly respected legality". In a press conference, the Catalan President, Artur Mas, stated that the UK has given the world "a democracy lesson". Mas stated that Catalonia's self-determination process is "strengthened" by the Scottish referendum. He insisted that his main priority is not independence but allowing the Catalan people to vote on their future.

Last July, Catalonia broke its export record ever achieved in a single month, reaching €5.67 billion. This marked a 6.9% growth from the same month in 2013. Furthermore, Catalan sales abroad reached another record high in the period between January and July of 2014, at €35.44 billion, an increase of 2.6% from last year's same period. Meanwhile, exports have increased throughout the rest of Spain by 1.3% between January and July in their 2013 figures. Nowhere is the export growth faster than in Catalonia, which counts for 25.2% of Spain's total.

"Without a doubt the independence movement would never have been so successful without Web 2.0 technologies" says Scottish academic Kathryn Crameri. In the last few years support for independence in Catalonia has grown considerably, with around 50% of the Catalan population supporting the movement in 2014, compared to some 15% 10 years ago. In his new book, 'Sobirania.Cat', prominent Catalan journalist Saül Gordillo explains how this can be intrinsically linked to the steady rise of online activity in Catalonia, saying that the growth in the movement would be "unthinkable" without the Internet. Albert Royo, Secretary General of Catalonia's Public Diplomacy Council, explained why pro-independence activists are so reliant on the Internet. "The diplomatic channels of communication are being controlled by the Spanish Government", he said, and alternative channels had to be found.

A two-third majority of the Catalan parliament has approved a motion supporting the self-determination consultation vote, scheduled on the 9^th of November, which has to take place "with all the possible democratic and participation guarantees". With this resolution, parties have reaffirmed their commitment to carry out this vote, which will very likely be banned by the Spanish authorities in the coming days. The parliamentary text has been approved with the support of 89 MPs of the 133 representatives who voted (since 2 were ill), a 66.9% majority. The resolution has been approved with the votes of the governing centre-right pro-Catalan state coalition CiU (which brings Liberals and Christian-Democrats together), the left-wing Catalan independence party ERC, the Catalan green socialist and post-communist coalition ICV-EUiA and the alternative and radical independence party CUP, as well as with 3 votes from rebel MPs of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC). The rest of the PSC, the People's Party (PP) and Ciutadans (C's) have opposed the motion.

The cross-cutting campaign that intends to visit each home in Catalonia will be launched on the same day that the Spanish authorities are expected to ban the self-determination consultation vote. The two civil society associations that organised the 3 peaceful and massive pro-independence rallies in 2012, 2013 and 2014 (which gathered more than 1.5 million people each), Catalonia's National Assembly (ANC) and Òmnium Cultural, are behind this initiative. They say that their aim is not to convince citizens but to listen to them and make a survey about what kind of country Catalans want. Furthermore, with this wide campaign they want to support the consultation vote and raise awareness of it. Such a vote should take place on the 9^th of November, as it was agreed in December 2013 by two thirds of the Catalan Parliament following the mandate from the 2012 Catalan elections.

The left-wing independence party ERC asked the Catalan President to join the Government "in order to protect the [self-determination] consultation vote" scheduled on the 9^th of November. The Catalan President, Artur Mas, stated that they will talk about it in the coming days to strengthen the unity around November's vote. In addition, the Catalan Socialist party (PSC) also asked Mas to talk to them if the Constitutional Court ultimately bans the consultation vote. The People's Party (PP), which runs the Spanish Government, accused Mas of promoting "a soft dictatorship" in Catalonia. The green-socialist and post-communist coalition ICV stated they want a consultation vote with "credibility". The Spanish nationalist and populist C's said that Mas' time is finished and asked for early elections. Finally, the alternative left and radical independence party CUP advocated ignoring Spain's institutions and voting on the 9^th of November by any means.

Catalonia's self-government might be suspended in the coming weeks if the Catalan authorities organise the self-determination consultation vote on the 9^th of November, suggested the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo. The week after 1.8 million Catalans formed an 11km-long mosaic to support November's non-binding vote, García-Margallo stated that the Spanish Executive will use "all the means at its disposal" to stop such a vote from happening; all the means "within the Law, but using all the Law", he added. A few hours later, before the Spanish Parliament, García-Margallo was asked about this statement, which he confirmed. He also dared to talk about an armed intervention but ruled out the possibility of "putting out the tanks", because "that does not seem to be within the Constitution". Catalonia's autonomy was restored in Autumn 1977 and it was one of the most essential pillars of Spain's democratic transition and of the Constitution approved in December 1978.

The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, stated that his "full commitment" is to make sure that Catalans can vote on the 9^th of November self-determination consultation "with full democratic guarantees". In his opening speech at the Catalan Parliament’s main annual debate, Mas emphasised that his will is to make use of his entire term in office, which ends in November 2016, but only "if it is possible". He hinted that early elections could be called if November's vote could not be carried out with "enough democratic guarantees". In addition, Mas stressed the Government's "unequivocal commitment" to eradicate corruption. He also underlined that the Catalan economy is starting to recover from the economic crisis, leading Spain's recovery. However, he warned of the weak situation of public finances and of Catalonia's self-government because of Madrid's recentralisation and unilateral actions.

The judicial process for alleged tax fraud against family members of the former President of Catalonia Jordi Pujol (who led centre-right Catalan nationalism from the mid-1970s until 2003) has started this week with the testimony of his oldest son, Jordi Pujol Ferrussola, in front of the Spain's High Court 'Audiencia Nacional'. Judge Pablo Ruz is investigating the tax fraud confessed by Pujol senior in late July, which shocked the whole of Catalan society, as well as alleged money laundering, influence peddling and corruption offenses that might have been committed by some of Pujol's sons. This Monday, the oldest son denied having earned any illegal commission and stressed that the tenders in which he worked as an advisor were all carried out at least 2 years after his father left the Catalan Government. He also criticised the annual report drafted by the Spanish Police for being vague and inexact.

Barça played with the Catalan flag shirt, as a way to commemorate Catalonia's National Day, which took place on Thursday.It was a special tribute, in the middle of the self-determination debate and in the 300th anniversary of the year Catalonia lost its sovereignty. Two goals in five minutes late on from Neymar gave Barça a deserved win in an exciting game against Bilbao at the Camp Nou on Saturday afternoon. The Brazilian came on for Munir, who again gave a solid performance, just after the hour mark and his skill, speed and understanding with Messi tipped the scales FC Barcelona’s way against the determined and lively Basques. So that’s three games and three wins for Luis Enrique’s Barça at the Spanish League, with six goals scored and none yet conceded. Next up is the opening game of the Champions League against Apoel on Wednesday night.