spanish

This Tuesday, ‘The New York Times’ published an opinion article by the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, in which he shed light on the reasons for carrying out a self-determination vote that would ask Catalans if they want to become independent from Spain. “We have been willing to pay more than our fair share to the central government to support poorer regions of Spain, but it has gone too far” Mas stated. “We want to be Spain’s brother, as equal partners” he added. Wednesday is the National Day of Catalonia and independence supporters have organised a human chain that will link 400 kilometres of Catalonia from north to south, building on the 1.5 million strong demonstration from a year ago.

The day before the National Day of Catalonia and the ‘Catalan Way towards independence’ human chain, Spain’s Foreign Affairs Minister, José Manuel García Margallo, stated that the Spanish Government “will never accept an agreed” self-determination referendum with Catalonia. The statement comes a few days after it was revealed that the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and the Catalan President Artur Mas have been negotiating to find an agreed way to solve the current situation. He also stated that “any independence process would have to come from a unilateral declaration of independence”, which would have “catastrophic consequences” for Spain and “particularly for Catalonia”. However, Margallo added that a new territorial model and financial scheme should be negotiated to stop “the detachment” from Spain that exists in Catalonia.

Barcelona has unveiled a new museum located in the Born neighbourhood, next to the Gothic quarter, which explores how life was in the city during the early 18^th century, and will exhibit 8,000 objects. The Born Cultural Centre shows the neighbourhood’s ruins dating from 1714, when residents were forced to destroy their own homes and leave without any compensation after Barcelona’s military defeat. Next to the area, the largest urban military citadel in Europe was built, being part of the fierce repression that the Bourbon troops inflicted on Catalan citizens. From that moment onwards, Catalonia lost its self-government institutions, its own laws and freedoms, and Catalan language was banned and persecuted with the aim to homogenise the recently-formed Spain.

The Spanish Government had initially authorised the demonstration in the Valencian Country (also called Valencian Community). However, on Monday, two days before the peaceful event, the Sub-Delegation of the Spanish Executive in the Province of Castelló, decided to ban the human chain in its territory for “security reasons”. The ‘Catalan Way towards independence’ is a peaceful human chain that calls for Catalonia’s independence from Spain, and is inspired by the ‘Baltic Way’. It will cross Catalonia from north to south, a distance of 400 kilometres. In other Catalan-speaking territories, which were many years ago under Catalan rule such as the Valencian Country or the French Catalonia, human chains will also be organised by local organisations.

The European Commission has stated that the “the intentional public condoning, denial or gross trivialisation of the Nazi crimes is to be made criminally punishable”. Answering a complaint by Catalan MEPs about the honours received by a brotherhood of soldiers and supporters of the ‘División Azul’, a division of Spanish volunteers that fought in the Nazi army, Brussels warns that next year it will be able to fine member states that do no prosecute “incitement to violence and hate”.

Barça made it three wins on the run to ensure the maximum nine points at the start of the season with a hard fought win in Valencia. Messi’s first half trick, together with another match saving performance from Valdés and the team’s defensive stability in the second half were key to the win. Messi had set up the game with three first half goals, before Valencia pulled two back just before the break and then put the pressure on Barça in the second half, as Martino’s side were forced to show their defensive skills.

A superb effort from Adriano gave Barça their second win of the Spanish League so far thanks to a superb Adriano goal just before half time. Valdés proved key to holding onto the win in the second half. The win was Barça’s seventh on the trot at Malaga’s La Rosaleda stadium. Neymar came on just past the hour mark for Pedro and after a fine individual run, the Brazilian tested Caballero with a well struck free kick. FC Barcelona is holding two league wins from two so far ahead of Wednesday night’s Spanish Super Cup second leg against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou.

This coming 11^th of September – which is Catalonia’s National Day – pro-independence supporters have organised a gigantic human chain called the ‘Catalan Way Towards Independence’ that will cross Catalonia from North to South stretching 400 km and passing through some of the main cities, such as Barcelona, Girona and Tarragona. After having organised the 1.5 million-strong demonstration of 2012, the civil society platform Catalan National Assembly is preparing a new massive demonstration that calls for independence from Spain. This year’s peculiar demonstration is inspired by the ‘Baltic Way’ of 1989, which gathered 2 million people forming a 670 km-long human chain crossing Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The ‘Baltic Way’ was organised exactly 24 years ago and issued a manifesto that read “a common European home can only by set up if all European nations are granted a free right to self-determination”.

Since January, 8.7 million foreign visitors have come to Catalonia, a rise of 5.1% on the same period of 2012. Catalonia has become the main tourist destination in the whole of Spain during July, with 2.1 million foreign visitors, according to a survey carried out by the Institute of Touristic Studies. This figure represents a 3.1% rise on July 2012. Catalonia now receives 26.7% of Spain’s total international tourists. French tourists account for the largest share, with an increase of 1.9% on last year, representing a third of all foreign tourists. However, it is Russians that have contributed most to this significant growth. Spain as a whole received 34 million tourists since January, with July setting a new record.

The Spanish Deputy Minister for Trade, Jaime García Legaz, acknowledged on Thursday that Catalonia is the “main exporting community” within Spain. Between January and July, Catalonia’s exports had a value of €29.23 billion, representing 24.6% of Spain’s total in that period. During his speech, García Legaz failed to confirm the statement made by Madrid’s regional Government that more than 1,000 Catalonian companies have moved to Madrid since 2010. He insisted that he lacks “reliable data” on this issue and is therefore “not in a position to make an informed judgement”. A total of seven Autonomous Communities within Spain have experienced an increase in their exports this year.

Tata Martino's men come away with a one-all draw from the Vicente Calderón stadium in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup. Just as Martino predicted in the pre-match press conference, the tie between FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid will be decided at the Barça’s Camp Nou. The home team, who took the lead after 12 minutes thanks to a superb strike from Villa, took control of the game early on but loosened their grip as minutes ticked off the clock. Without Messi, who was brought off at the break due to thigh issues, but with Neymar, who was subbed in on 58 minutes, and Cesc, who came on for the Argentinean, Barça regained a little of its incisiveness. Neymar scored, his first official goal in the FC Barcelona strip.

The General Workers Union (UGT) issued a report stating that the Catalan economy experienced 567,099 job losses between 2007 and 2013. The figure represents a reduction of 16.86% on the total number of jobs that existed in Catalonia 6 years ago. While presenting the report, the UGT’s Secretary for Union Policy, Camil Ros, warned that figures do not show “a recovery of job creation”. Ros criticised the Spanish Government for “lying” and presenting macroeconomic figures in a way that “do not correspond to reality” since there are no signs of economic recovery. “At most, the job reduction has slowed down [its pace]”, he added.

The champions of the Liga – FC Barcelona – and the Spanish Cup – Atlético Madrid – come into the Super Cup first leg after defeating Levante (7-0) and Sevilla (1-3), respectively. The match in Madrid is chock full of interesting titbits, like David Villa’s reunion with his former team-mates. In addition, it is the first official game away from the Camp Nou for Barça’s new manager Tata Martino and the new star Neymar Jr. The Brazilian player could feature in the starting XI for the first time on Wednesday evening (11pm CET).

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.

In the last three years, 1,060 companies have moved their headquarters from Catalonia to the region of Madrid, according to a report published by Madrid’s regional Government. The report states that most of them took the decision because of the lower taxes that exist in Spain’s capital, compared to other areas such as Catalonia. Since 2010, 5,000 companies based in the rest of Spain decided to move to Madrid; 21.4% of them were from Catalonia. Paradoxically, 43 cents out of every euro paid in taxes in Catalonia is to pay for investments and services made in other parts of Spain, which turns into an annual fiscal deficit of 8.5% of Catalonia’s GDP, meaning that Catalans are obliged by the Spanish Government to give away €16.5 billion. Meanwhile, the Catalan Government is under-budgeted and obliged to implement severe budget cuts and raise taxes to balance the budget.