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The Catalan business community is deeply annoyed with the Spanish Government for not publishing transparent data on Catalonia’s fiscal contribution to the rest of Spain and therefore not recognising the fiscal deficit. The Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, was supposed to issue the so-called fiscal balances last December but their publication was inexplicably delayed. Last Friday, in late January, Montoro announced the fiscal balances would no longer be calculated and published in the present form; instead, he would publish in March the “regionalised public figures” stating the costs of public services per citizen because the fiscal balances were “incomplete and incoherent”. However, on Tuesday, the Minister recognised that they were “correct” but “wrongly used” to support Catalan independence claims.

In appeal, the Spanish Supreme Court has sided with the family who requested their son to be taught in Spanish in school, alongside Catalan. Despite the Constitution not advocating pupils had “the right to be taught in Spanish”, but only stating they had “the right and duty to know Spanish”, a dozen families have requested their children to be taught in this language, turning to the judicial system. Whilst the Constitutional Court has validated on two occasions the Catalan schooling system, based on Catalan as first language of instruction, the Supreme Court ruled against it. The Catalan Government was offering individualised attention to these children, but the judicial decision states that Spanish has to be used for “the entire class of the pupil”, even though the rest of the pupils have not requested to be taught in this language.

Last year, Catalonia was the leading Autonomous Community in Spain for foreign tourism spending, which generated €14.02 billion, 13.4 % more than in 2012, according to the Tourist Expenditure Survey (EGATUR) of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism. The average spending per stay in Catalonia amounted to €903 per foreign visitor, 4.9% more than in 2012, while the daily spending was set at €120 per person, 1.4 % more than the previous year. Catalonia accounted for 23.7 % of foreign tourism spending in Spain, which reached €59.08 billion. Besides, tourism spending grew more in Catalonia than in any other Autonomous Communities in Spain and is well above the Spanish 9.6 % average increase over the previous year.

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice-president of the European Parliament and famous for his strong Spanish nationalist stances, has quitted the People’s Party (PP) after 30 years of membership. Vidal-Quadras has joined the newly-created VOX party, a populist ultra-nationalist force defending a total recentralisation of Spain. The Europarliament’s VP criticises the Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy’s “diagnosis” and “solutions” for the “economic, institutional, moral and national unity” crisis the country is going through. However, after 15 years of being Euro MP for the PP, a few weeks ago it was revealed that the party did not want him on the list for the next European elections. Vidal-Quadras might lead VOX in the next electoral race.

FC Barcelona offer a brilliant all round performance as team cruise past Malaga with goals from Piqué, Pedro and Alexis. The Catalans put the institutional turmoil of the last week behind them, as they treated the Barça fans to a great night of football and reaffirmed their top spot in the Spanish League. Fast, precise and full of attacking threat, Barça returned to the Camp Nou after 18 fays without a home game and from the off they had Malaga pinned back in their own half. After just 5 minutes, Alexis rounded off a great team move with an effort which rattled the woodwork. Malaga showed that they could pose a threat too though, when Duda brought a good stop from Valdes from a free kick. Ibrahim Afellay got a big round of applause when he came on for Alexis.

Andreu Mas-Colell, Catalan Finance Minister, accused the Spanish Government of aiming “to undo” the system of Autonomous Communities. He also expressed his fear that the so-called ‘coffee for all’ system [the generalised devolution of the early 1980s that shaped the 17 Autonomous Communities] will become a ‘decaffeinated coffee’ system, implemented ‘in depth’. With this play on words, Mas-Colell was referring to a deep recentralisation and homogenisation process. Furthermore, the former professor of Economics at Harvard and Berkley, denounced “the budget treatment” that the Spanish Government gives to Catalonia as “totally unfair”. In this vein, he proposed that an international and independent body should calculate the fiscal balances between Catalonia and the Spanish State.

Two Spanish Ministers have sent two warning messages on the same day. On the one hand, the Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, announced “a 25% or 30%” of “immediate” loss of wealth for an independent Catalonia “according to several studies”, which have not been mentioned by name. Margallo warned Catalans about the “harmful and lethal consequences” that independence would bring. He also stated that the self-determination process can also cause “an employment loss” since it is hurting Spain’s external image. On the other hand, the Spanish Justice Minister, Alberto Ruíz Gallardón, guaranteed that “Spain has the necessary tools to defend […] the national sovereignty, which is in the hands of its citizens as a whole”. Furthermore, Gallardón emphasised that “Spain is a great nation that is worth living in and loving, and which is worth fighting for”.

Catalonia ended 2013 with an unemployment rate of 22.26% and a total of 820,400 people unemployed, according to the Active Population Survey (EPA) for the fourth quarter. In late 2013 Catalonia registered 64,700 fewer unemployed people compared to the last quarter of 2012. At Spanish level, the unemployment rate was set at 26.03 %, with a total of 5,896,300 unemployed people. At the end of 2013, there were 69,100 fewer unemployed than in the last quarter of 2012. Furthermore, between September and December there were 8,400 fewer jobseekers in Spain. In the same 3-month period there were 20,100 fewer jobseekers in Catalonia. The Catalan Deputy Minister for Employment stated that these figures were “the best since the start of the crisis” since “for the first time, the number of employed has increased and the number of unemployed has decreased”.

Three goals from the Catalan and an own goal from Juanfran give FC Barcelona a 1-4 victory at the Ciutat de Valencia. Leo Messi assisted Tello all three times. Three goals for the Catalan – his first hat trick in the FC Barcelona strip – finished the game and perhaps the quarter-final tie. FC Barcelona bounced back from this weekend’s draw in the Spanish League as they comfortably defeated Levante in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. They did it despite having to deal with a very similar match to the one played this Sunday. Now, Barça and Levante will close out the three-game series next week on Wednesday, January 29, at the Camp Nou (22:00 CET).

Martino’s take on Llevant (also called Levante) at the Ciutat de Valencia for the Spanish Cup match after drawing with the Valencia-based side three days ago in the League. The Blaugrana return to scene where they drew 1-1 with the Llevant side, but this Wednesday evening, Tata Martino’s men will try to get a good result ahead of the second leg of the Cup tie at the Camp Nou. The FC Barcelona manager named 18 players to the team for the match. Dani Alves, who missed this weekend’s game against Levante due to suspension, and Carles Puyol made the team. Piqué, Montoya, Cuenca (technical reasons), Iniesta, Neymar Jr, Afellay, Dos Santos and Oier (injured) did not make the team.

The leadership of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) has decided to remove the 3 MPs who supported Catalonia’s self-determination from their positions within the party organisation and at the Catalan Parliament. However, the MPS were neither expelled from the party, nor from the parliamentary group. This way, the PSC avoids passing from 20 to 17 MPs and therefore becoming the 4^th largest group at the Catalan Parliament, behind the 19 MPs of the People’s Party. In the last few days, the PSC leadership was insisting that the 3 MPs should quit the Parliament and leave their seat to the next person on the list. But the rebel MPs rejected this idea since, according to them, they represent a share of the voters who elected PSC representatives because they ran in the last elections supporting the organisation of a legal self-determination vote this term.

In 2013, Catalonia was the first tourist destination in Spain. It received15.6 million foreign visitors, meaning 25.7 % of the total number of international tourists in Spain (one in four). The figure represents an 8% increase over the previous year. The Balearic Islands were in second place, welcoming over 11 million tourists (18.3%), a 7.2% increase. The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment, Felip Puig, stressed that tourist spending also increased significantly, generating €14.2 billion in 2013, that is to say 14% more than the previous year. At Spanish level, the number of foreign visitors reached a new record: Spain welcomed 60.6 million tourists in 2013, making it the third favourite travel destination in the world, behind France and the United States.

The Bureau of the Spanish Parliament has accepted a debate on the Catalan Parliament’s bill requesting the transfer to the Catalan Executive of the powers to organise referendums, using Article 150.2 of the Spanish Constitution. The Bureau, totally controlled by the People’s Party (PP), has not discussed the contents and has only approved requesting the Catalan Parliament to send the bill’s full dossier, the step before putting the bill on the agenda. The motion would be debated in September, although there is a chance it could be rescheduled for June. However, Catalan parties will register an identical bill at the Spanish Parliament to discuss it even earlier, probably in March. The bill was approved by the Catalan Parliament with 87 ‘yes’ votes, 43 ‘no’ votes and 3 abstentions that considered the request was slowing down self-determination.

The Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, stated in a TV interview on Monday evening that he has “a plan” to prevent Catalonia’s self-determination and “guaranteed” that “the independence of any Spanish territory will not happen while [he is] in office”. Rajoy emphasised that his plan’s guidelines are, firstly, “implementing the law”. The Spanish PM said he is “ready for any scenario that might happen”, but refused to disclose any measure. Secondly, he would be “working on increasing the bonds that have always united the whole Catalan people and the people living in Catalonia that are not born in Catalonia with the whole Spanish people”. Thirdly, “working to solve the problems of the Spanish and Catalan economies”, as well as the funding of the Catalan Government. However, Rajoy stated he “will not call” the Catalan President, Artur Mas, despite the offers to talk.

Unlucky Barça drop two points at the Ciutat de València (1-1) in a game where they deserved more. The first of the three games FC Barcelona play against Levante over the next ten days ended in a draw. Barça had the chances, particularly in the second half, but an inspired performance from the home keeper Keylor Navas meant the points were shared, with Vyntra opening for Levante early on and Pique equalising soon after. With nine changes form the team that started in the Spanish Cup against Getafe midweek, Barça made it clear from the start who was going to be dominating possession, whilst Levante were happy to sit back and take any chances that came their way.