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The Catalan Government is preparing the release of 3,800 million euros in retail bonds

CNA

As carried out on two other occasions in the last year, the Catalan Government is preparing to release of 3,800 retail bonds to get cash. Financial sources informed ACN about the operation, which has not been confirmed by the Catalan Ministry of Economy. The bonds would be offered before November 21st, the day that the bonds issued by the former Catalan Government in autumn 2010 expire.

September 15, 2011 11:25 PM

The Catalan Supreme Court halts the two month deadline to include Spanish as a school language of instruction

CNA

The Catalan Government appealed the order of the Catalan Supreme Court, which insisted that the Catalan school system should be modified in order to comply with the Spanish Supreme Court’s sentence from last December to include Spanish as language of instruction. With the Government’s appeal, the Court’s deadline is automatically suspended, until the Court decides on the appeal. The appeal is based on two sentences from the Spanish Constitutional Court validating the Catalan school model, as well as on the linguistic immersion principle which guarantees social cohesion and equal opportunities.

September 15, 2011 11:19 PM

Fitch lowers Catalonia’s debt rating despite recognising the efforts to reduce the public deficit

CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The rating agency Fitch reduced Catalonia’s long term debt’s appreciation, going from A to A- because of the expected weak economic growth. Nevertheless, Fitch recognised the efforts to reduce the public deficit carried out by the Catalan Government. Fitch has lowered the debt rating of five Spanish Autonomous Communities and given others a negative perspective for the future. The Catalan Ministry of Finance thought that the reduction is due to “the international situation” and stressed that efforts are already made.

September 14, 2011 11:37 PM

The Spanish Parliament supports the current Catalan school model

CNA

A parliamentary motion has been approved, backing the Catalan linguistic immersion model at public schools. It was approved with the votes of all of the parliamentary groups except those from the People’s Party (PP) and the Unión Progreso y Democracia (UPyD). The motion received 192 “yes” votes and 148 “no” ones. It is the Spanish Parliament’s answer to the controversy over Spanish as language of instruction in Catalan public schools.

September 14, 2011 05:28 PM

The European Parliament warns that "to separate students by language would split the country"

Albert Segura

The chairman of the committee on Education, Doris Pack, defends the Catalan model of education and says that people coming from outside Catalonia have to make an effort to learn the language of their new home: "It's like immigration in Germany, we do not have Turkish schools, newcomers need to get used to speak the language", she argued in an interview with the CNA.

September 8, 2011 02:28 PM

Mas warns Rajoy: it is a “great mistake” to attack the Catalan language

CNA

The Catalan President says that he will not work with the conservative PP after the Spanish general election if the party “crosses the red line” and tries to push a language agenda which puts at risk the current Catalan educational system. The leader of the PP in Catalonia, Alicia Sánchez Camacho, says Mas should accept the Courts ruling that have obliged the Government to offer Spanish as well as Catalan as a language of instruction at school.

September 7, 2011 06:21 PM

All Catalan MPs apart those from the PSOE and PP refuse to vote on the Constitutional amendment limiting deficit

CNA

The Constitutional amendment limiting public deficit in Spain has been only approved with the votes from the PSOE and the PP at the Spanish Parliament. Four parties decided to quit the plenary room at the moment of the voting, whilst the Catalan moderate nationalists and the Basque moderate nationalists stayed but decided not to vote. They complained about the way the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and the People’s Party (PP) have negotiated and agreed on the second constitutional reform without the input of the other parties.

September 3, 2011 12:19 AM

Catalan President: “Catalonia and Spain will be more separated” if Catalan demands on the Constitutional amendment are not heard

CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

“It means that we are not wanted, we are excluded, we are ignored” stated Artur Mas, President of the Catalan Government and leader of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU). It was the first time he has spoken on the Constitutional amendment limiting the public deficit that has been agreed on only between the PSOE and the PP. The CiU has protested against reforming the Constitution solely on the basis of the agreement of only two parties. Members of the PP and the PSOE have been trying to convince the CiU to support what both parties had previously agreed, and PM Zapatero (from the PSOE) asked the CiU to show some “moderation”.

September 2, 2011 12:06 AM

Catalan moderate nationalists warn that a great clash with unforeseeable consequences is about to happen

CNA

Meanwhile, the Catalan Government, run by the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition ‘Convergència i Unió’ (CiU), announces its own law on budget stability. The CiU feels excluded from the reform of the Spanish Constitution to limit public deficit, especially as they had been one of the key actors when negotiating and approving the Constitution in 1978. The CiU’s Spokesperson warned that, since “the Constitutional consensus” had been broken by the PP and the PSOE, “a great clash with unforeseeable and undesired consequences will happen” if nothing changes.

August 30, 2011 11:10 PM

The Spanish Constitutional amendment limiting the public deficit will finally be approved without a referendum thanks to the PSC

CNA

The Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) decides not to break the Socialists’ unity and not to force a call for a binding referendum on the constitutional amendment. In addition, the PSC rejects the request of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition (CiU) to include within the Constitution a limitation not only the public deficit but also a limitation on inter-regional fiscal redistribution. Moreover, the CiU stated that it has been excluded from the Constitution’s modification and therefore the Constitutional consensus is now broken.

August 29, 2011 11:25 PM

Spain’s two main parties agree on a constitutional amendment without the explicit support from other parties

CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The governing Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and the main opposition party, the People’s Party (PP) agree to amend the Spanish Constitution to limit the deficit from public administrations. Other parties have offered to support the amendment but have not participated in the actual writing of the text. The constitutional amendment will not set a deficit figure, which will be set through a law to be approved before July 2012. The PSOE and the PP have agreed that the deficit should be limited at 0.4%: 0.26% corresponding to the State and 0.14% to the Autonomous Communities. Other parties are insisting on the need for a binding referendum.

August 26, 2011 10:51 PM

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