state

Government in Madrid to bring candidacy to court despite opposition by Council of State

The brothers hacked social media accounts to share propaganda praising ISIS

Societat Civil Catalana calls October 1 referendum "a coup" and accuses anyone taking part of helping to commit "a crime"

Two of the four suspects remain in custody as evidence emerges of plans to attack top city landmarks and churches

The annual report from real estate agency ‘Fotocasa’ revealed that in 2016 Barcelona topped the ranking of rent prices in the whole of Spain. The high levels of tourism and the rotation of those professionals who work for multinational companies and set up temporarily in the Catalan capital contributed to this rise. On average, renting in Barcelona costs 15.16 euros per square metre, which is 13.7% more than last year. Moreover, it is the first time in the historic series that the rent prices exceed those registered before the economic crisis in 2007. Renting in Catalonia was 14.6% more expensive in 2016 than in the previous year, a figure which is higher than the Spanish average. 

The 20^th edition of Barcelona Meeting Point (BMP), the international and professional real estate trade fair in Spain, opened this Wednesday. The inauguration was marked by contention. The Catalan representatives decided not to attend it. The Catalan Minister for Public Administration, Meritxell Borràs, and the Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability, Josep Rull, informed the President of the BMP of their decision through a letter. The reason for their absence is that by Tuesday, less than 24 hours before the start of the fair, the organisers had still not informed the Catalan representatives about the time of the event, as they were waiting to know the agenda of the Spanish representative. The Catalan Ministers assessed this lack of information as “disregard and informality towards members of the Government of Catalonia and all the attendees”.

The Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (DIPLOCAT) and the ‘Institut de Ciénces Politiques Louvain-Europe’ (ISPOLE), organised this Tuesday an event entitled “Catalonia: A New State in Europe?” at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) located about 50 kilometres east of Brussels. The conference included the presence of Amadeu Altafaj, Representative of the Catalan Government to the EU, Michel Liégeois, President of ISPOLE and Michael Keating, Professor of Political Science at the University of Aberdeen and Director of the ESRC Centre on Constitutional Change, amongst other experts. However, all the attention turned to the public when a supposed student claimed to represent Spaniards and Catalans which were absent and questioned the objectivity of the event. Later on, Laura Martínez Bocos admitted to speaking on behalf of the Spanish Embassy in Belgium, where she holds the rank of Counsellor.

The launch of the FC Barcelona office in New York will see a very special conclusion. The Empire State Building, one of the most emblematic edifices in Manhattan, will be illuminated with the Club’s colours on Wednesday. The event is a tribute to the Club and its Foundation for its alliance with UNICEF in the year of its tenth anniversary, but also as a welcome to Barça in the city in its new headquarters. Barça’s office in New York will be the first that the club will have in the United Stated. Its strategic location, at 250 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, covers covers 250 square meters on the 20th floor in one of Manhattan's most emblematic buildings.

Governing cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP, the two pro-independence forces in the Parliament, put in place this Friday the basis for the future Catalan Tax Agency. It will be constituted by three bodies: the Catalan Tax Agency, the Board of Taxes and the Fiscal Council. The latter is one of the main novelties of the document registered by the pro-independence groups. The Fiscal Council, a body which doesn’t exist within the Spanish framework, will include representatives from both the public and private sector and will be responsible for advising the Government. The proposal will have to be put to vote after this summer as one of the three ‘laws of disconnection’ from Spain that both groups plan to approve, according to the pro-independence roadmap.

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.

Alternative left coalition ‘En Comú Podem’ won the last Spanish Elections in Catalonia, obtaining 12 MPs in the 350-seat Spanish Parliament. Despite having repeatedly insisted on their aim to keep Catalonia within the Spanish State, their partner in Spain ‘Podemos’ is the only Spanish party which has openly supported holding a referendum on independence in Catalonia. ‘En Comú Podem’, which have been accused by some parties of being “too ambiguous” on this matter, call for turning Spain into a “plurinational state” with “differentiated solutions for Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia”, one of their candidates, Xavier Domènech, told the CNA. ‘En Comú Podem’ gathers together members from Catalan Green-Socialist party ICV, the Catalan branch of the Spanish party ‘Podemos’ and representatives from the 'En Comú' candidacies, which won significant mayoralties in the last local elections, for example that of Barcelona, with social activist and now Barcelona mayor Ada Colau as its strongest asset

The European Commission has opened “an in-depth investigation” into whether public measures in favour of mining company Iberpotash gave it a selective advantage over its competitors, in breach of EU State aid rules. “The Spanish authorities fully financed EUR 7.9 million of costs to physically cover one of Iberpotash's waste heaps and reduce pollution” stated the EC’s press release. If confirmed, this would entail a breach in the 'polluter pays' principle since a public authority would have been bearing the clean-up costs rather than the company responsible for the pollution. Iberpotash already has a European infraction procedure against it, which has been pending since 2014.

The independence declaration approved by the Parliament this past Monday will in the end be taken before the court. The Spanish Council of State has unanimously approved the appeal that the Spanish government presented to the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) and considered the independence proposal to violate four articles of the Spanish Constitution. According to the Council, it is an attempt against Spain's "national sovereignty", "the indivisible unity of Spain" and "the subjection of the public powers to the law", besides other articles of the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. Spain's public prosecutor’s office also commented on the declaration and warned that the police have been called to investigate and denounce any "sedition crime" against Spain's government, referring to the Parliament's foreseen disobedience to the TC's resolutions.

The Parliament Bureau has temporarily suspended the declaration that pro-independence forces ‘Junts Pel Sí’and CUP handed over on Tuesday to start the “disconnection process”from Spain. The decision comes in response to the request of two other groups represented in the Catalan Parliament, the second most voted list in the 27-S elections, anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC). The Catalan People’s Party (PPC) also supported the petition but didn’t present any formal request to stop the pro-independence forces’declaration, as they haven’t constituted themselves as a parliamentary group yet. In fact, it is necessary that all the forces in the Chamber are constituted as parliamentary groups, otherwise the Parliament’s Bureau won’t be able to listen to all the spokespersons and make a definitive decision on how to proceed with the declaration.

The Civil Guard arrested an alleged jihadist at El Prat Airport in Barcelona Tuesday morning. The man was wanted by Belgium for alleged membership in the Islamic State, as confirmed by sources close to the investigation. International authorities sought the individual for having fought with the Islamic State in the Syrian conflict. The man had lived in Belgium before leaving to join the Islamic State, and Belgian authorities had put out an order for his search and arrest after he had allegedly committed crimes of terrorism in the Syrian conflict. He was stopping over at El Prat Airport from Algeria en route to going to another European country, according to the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.