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Catalonia is the 3rd Autonomous Community paying the most and the 10th in amount of funds received from the Spanish Government

CNA

The Catalan Executive has published the liquidation of Spain’s fiscal redistribution scheme of 2011. That year, Catalonia was the 3rd Autonomous Community paying the most taxes per citizen in Spain, with a 119.1% rate if the average were 100%. However, after the Spanish Government’s redistribution of money through services and investments, Catalonia was the 10th territory in spending per capita, with a 99.4% rate, below the average. In 2011, Catalonia received €16.91 billion, 3% less than in 2010. The region of Madrid was the Autonomous Community paying the most, since Spanish Government bodies and many multinational companies are based there. It was followed by the Balearic Islands, which received 12.3 million tourists while its population is just 1.1 million.

July 11, 2013 01:28 AM

"Who the heck is funding whom? It's Catalonia that funds Spain" Mas answered Montoro

CNA

On Tuesday, the Spanish Finance Minister, Cristóbal Montoro, stated before the Senate that the Spanish Government “was financing the services” the Catalan Executive provides. In an angry and agitated tone, Montoro concluded the intervention shouting “Do you understand?! Don’t you understand?!” to the Catalan Senator who had asked him about the recentralisation of power. The President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, answered the Spanish Finance Minister in a calm but angry tone: “the Catalan Executive finances public services thanks to the effort Catalan citizens make each day by producing, working and paying taxes. And from all the taxes paid by Catalan citizens, a large amount, as much as €16 billion leaves Catalonia and never comes back [after the Spanish Government’s redistribution]. Who the heck is funding whom? It’s Catalonia that funds the Spanish State from many points of view”.

July 10, 2013 11:16 PM

The Catalan Government will totally modify the "file of endorsements" after the controversy

CNA

The Catalan Executive announced the creation of a website showing the support of social organisations, NGOs and private companies for its policies, named the “file of endorsements”. The Catalan Government’s official aim was to foster participation as well as gather endorsement for its policies. The idea was heavily criticised by some opposition parties and some Madrid-based media. They considered the website to be an anti-democratic measure. According to them, it would split society into two sides: those backing the Government and “being good Catalans” and those going against it and being “bad Catalans”. The Catalan Executive admitted that it was quite shocked with the controversy, since other governments in Spain have published similar lists of supporters. However, it announced that it will totally modify the project.

July 10, 2013 01:07 AM

The Catalan Government rejects Spain's new market unity law as it recentralises power

CNA

On Friday, the Spanish Government approved a proposal of law strengthening market unity, officially aiming to simplify the bureaucratic and legal framework in which companies operate. However, the Catalan Executive fears Madrid’s reform does not really aim to boost the economy and help companies, but to recentralise power. Barcelona thinks that the new proposal “radically modifies” the current distribution of competences on economic regulation and it aims to recentralise power. The Catalan Government hopes that the definitive law will be significantly changed in relation to the current proposal, as otherwise Barcelona will totally oppose the initiative. Catalonia is critical of the current proposal and accuses it of “homogenising the Autonomous Communities”.

July 6, 2013 12:53 AM

The Catalan Parliament establishes the committee for self-determination with 80% support

CNA

On Thursday, the Parliament of Catalonia set up the parliamentary committee for the right to self-determination with the support of all parties except the Spanish nationalists People’s Party – which runs the Spanish Government – and the anti-Catalan nationalism Ciutadans. 80% of MPs support the creation of this commission, which will study legal ways to organise a self-determination vote in Catalonia. The Speaker of the Catalan Parliament, Núria de Gispert, will chair the committee due to its importance. De Gispert has guaranteed she will play the “neutral” role of “moderator”. On the same day, the youth of the parties supporting the creation of this committee signed a manifesto backing up Catalonia’s right to self-determination.

July 5, 2013 12:44 AM

The Catalan Justice Minister is indicted as witness regarding an influence peddling case

CNA

Following a petition by the Spanish Public Prosecutor Office, the judge has called Germà Gordó, the Catalan Minister of Justice, to testify as witness in the alleged influence peddling case of the allocation of licenses to technical vehicle inspection garages. This case affects the ‘Number 3’ of the governing Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), Oriol Pujol, since the Supreme Court of Catalonia (TSJ) suspects he could have participated in irregular allocation of these licenses. At the time the alleged incidents happened, Gordó was not the Justice Minister but the Secretary of the Catalan Government, a key position overseeing all the daily decisions of the Executive. The TSJ wants to hear Gordó’s version of the tender procedure. Besides, Pujol’s defence has called the former Catalan Business Minister as a witness, since his department was running the tender.

July 4, 2013 01:04 AM

Unemployment drops by 24,878 people in Catalonia, registering the largest drop in June since 1996

CNA

Registered unemployment in Catalonia decreased by 3.87% in June compared to the previous month’s figures. June is a month when unemployment tends to be reduced due to summer jobs, but last month registered the highest drop since 1996. The total number of people registered as unemployed at the Catalan Public Employment Service (SOC) by the end of June reached 617,288 individuals. However, compared to a year ago, registered unemployment increased by 1,712 people, 0.28% more than in June 2012. In the whole of Spain, registered unemployment also increased in annual terms (+3.2%) and decreased compared to a month ago (-2.6%). Catalonia is the Autonomous Community where unemployment decreased the most in monthly terms. Furthermore, in the Lleida Province (Western Catalonia), unemployment also decreased in annual terms.

July 2, 2013 11:12 PM

Massive concert supporting Catalonia’s self-determination is ignored by Spanish politicians

CNA

On Saturday evening, 90,000 people gathered in FC Barcelona Camp Nou stadium to attend a concert backing Catalonia’s right to self-determination. The event, organised by a civil society entity – Òmnium Cultural – and without public funding, called for a self-determination referendum in 2014. The two largest political parties in Catalonia, which share a parliamentary stability pact, stated that a specific date for a self-determination vote should be fixed after December 2013. In addition, they insisted that the Catalan President will send a letter to the Spanish Prime Minister in July asking for this vote to be organised. However, in Madrid, the reactions have been almost non-existent. The Spanish Justice Minister insisted that a referendum would be illegal since sovereignty is rooted into the Spanish people as a whole.

July 2, 2013 12:20 AM

The Catalan Ombudsman states its resolutions cost 14 times less than those of the Spanish Ombudsman

CNA

The Catalan Ombudsman, Rafael Ribó, accused the Spanish Government of trying “to manipulate” data in its report last week, in order to push forward a recentralisation reform, which “goes against the self-government principle”. Ribó explained that the Spanish Ombudsman undertook 33,849 actions in 2012, which means each action cost an average of €428. In addition, it refused to accept 20,164 complaints. Meanwhile, the Catalan Ombudsman undertook 25,073 actions, with a cost of €279 each. The Catalan institution only rejected 267 complaints. Regarding resolutions and recommendations, the Spanish Ombudsman issued 548 while the Catalan body issued 3,635. This means that each resolution by the Spanish body cost €26,447 while the Catalan’s cost €1,925, which is 13.75 times less.

June 28, 2013 11:37 PM

The Union for the Mediterranean and the Intermediterranean Commission sign a cooperation agreement

CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The Intermediterranean Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe organised its annual Plenary Assembly in Barcelona, since Catalonia currently holds the organisation’s presidency. This organisation brings together 45 regional governments from 9 different Mediterranean countries. For the first time, the Union for the Mediterranean – which brings the 27 European Union Member States and 16 countries from the Northern Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans together – signs a cooperation agreement with an organisation of regional governments. At the signing ceremony, political leaders asked the European Union to pay more attention to the South, as once it did with Eastern Europe.

June 28, 2013 12:43 AM

The Catalan President to formally ask Madrid for a vote after the first meeting of the Self-Determination Pact

CNA

The participants to the so-called National Alliance for the Self-Determination Right have met for the first time, bringing together almost 50 entities, including political parties, business associations, trade unions, social organisations and cultural institutions. This transversal initiative gathering together a wide part of Catalan society aims to reach an internal consensus on how to proceed in order to allow Catalans to vote on their collective future. Attendees agreed to ask the former President of the Catalan Parliament, Joan Rigol, to draft a text expressing the “common denominators” of the participants. In addition, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, will send a letter to the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, making a formal petition for the organisation of a self-determination vote in Catalonia.

June 27, 2013 12:24 AM

The Catalan Government sells 13 buildings to AXA Real Estate for €172 million to reduce public deficit

CNA

The Catalan Government will continue to occupy the facilities as a tenant, annually paying €16.2 million in rent over the next 20 years. The decision to sell Catalan Government properties had been taken to ease the difficult financial situation and obtain liquidity. The initiative is part of the austerity measures adopted to reduce the public deficit and increase revenue. Taking this last sale into account, the Catalan Government will have sold 17 properties for a total of €266 million since 2012. The Catalan Minister for the Presidency, Francesc Homs, emphasised that the revenue generated by these sales will allow the Government to undertake fewer budget cuts.

June 26, 2013 01:15 AM

Catalonia rejects giving away power recognised by its main law and regrets the Spanish Government's recentralisation

CNA

On Friday, the Spanish Government approved a €37.7 billion reform of Spain’s public sector which fosters the elimination of Autonomous Community bodies considered to be “redundant”. Instead of directly obliging the Autonomous Communities to eliminate them – which might be very tricky legally speaking, the Spanish Executive will link their suppression to the deficit targets allowed to the regional governments and the funds provided. However, in the case of Catalonia, most of the bodies included in the reform are recognised by Catalonia’s main law, approved in 2006 by the Spanish Parliament and through a binding referendum. The Catalan Government and most of the political parties are accusing the Spanish Executive of trying to recentralise Spain. In addition, the Catalan President said that unfortunately Madrid “teaches lessons” but “does not do its homework” and eliminates Ministries without competences.

June 22, 2013 12:00 AM

55.6% of Catalans would support independence from Spain in a referendum while 23.4% would oppose it

CNA

According to an opinion poll from the Catalan Polling Centre (CEO), the Catalan political landscape would change, since the Left-Wing Catalan Independence Party (ERC) would would become the largest force in the Catalan Parliament after doubling the number of its MPs compared to the electoral results from last November. Meanwhile, the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU), which has been running the Catalan Government since 2010, would continue to lose support. However, parties supporting Catalonia’s independence increase their total support while the number of those defending Spain’s unity drops. The CEO thinks the data show that over the last 9 months, the support for independence remains “stable” in a hypothetical referendum, ranging between 54% and 57%. However, those opposing independence grew from 20.7% to 23.4%, while the number of undecided citizens decreased to 15%.

June 21, 2013 01:43 AM

The Catalan Government raises the tax on second-hand real estate sales to earn an additional €150 million

CNA

The Wealth Transfer Tax, which is levied on sales of second-hand housing units and any other used real estate, will be raised from 8% to 10% as from the 1st of August. The Catalan Government expects to earn an additional €50 million in 2013 and €150 million in 2014. The Catalan Finance Minister, Andreu Mas-Colell, argued that the rise in the tax rate is equivalent to the VAT charged on sales of new housing units and that both taxes should be “parallel”. He also added that other Autonomous Communities had previously raised this tax to similar levels.

June 19, 2013 01:44 AM

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