Search: catalan government

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont condemned the terrorist attacks which killed at least 34 people this Tuesday in Brussels and stated that terrorism “won’t bend the democratic will to build a Europe based on values such as peace and coexistence”. He also called the Belgian consul in Catalonia to offer his help and support. The Catalan anti-terrorist coordination cabinet met this Tuesday and decided to keep the level for terrorist attacks at level 4 (out of 5). However, extra security measures have been taken at the Catalan airports and throughout Barcelona’s metro network. The Catalan government’s spokeswoman, Neus Munté, urged the Spanish executive to convene the National Security Board in order to set in place “the maximum coordination possible”. “When it comes to security and anti-terrorism the government cannot act provisonally”, she stated. 

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont expressed Catalonia’s willingness to accommodate 4,500 refugees and provide “a solution for those millions of people running away from war”. In a letter to the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, Catalan President Carles Puigdemont stated that the Catalan government and institutions are “working to accommodate around 4,500 refugees” and assured that Catalonia is “ready to receive up to 1,800 refugees” right now, “600 of which would be hosted directly by the Catalan government”. On the other hand, the Spanish executive responded to Puigdemont’s action and accused him of acting “unilaterally” and “adding more problems” to the existing situation. “A region in Europe wants to be the solution to the problem, this is impossible”, stated current Spanish vice president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría. 

Josep Maria Ballarín, popularly known as ‘Mossèn Ballarín’, was a Catalan priest, writer and intellectual. Regarded as a symbol of Catalanism and defined by some as an atypical priest, he represented one of the most heterodox branches of the Catalan church. Ballarín published more than 40 books and achieved great popularity with ‘Mossèn Tronxo’ (‘Tronxo Priest’) in 1989, which sold more than 100,000 copies. His novel ‘Santa María, pa de cada dia’ (‘Saint Maria, daily bread’) won the Ramon Llull prize in 1996, one of the most prestigious awards in the field of Catalan literature. In 1995 he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi, a prize given by the Catalan government to those individuals or institutions whose work in the political, social, economic, cultural or scientific field has been outstanding. Ballarín died this Friday at the age of 96.

Spain’s executive has repeatedly insisted on the alleged illegality of the new Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs and has taken its creation and competences before the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). The Catalan government decided to change the name of this department as a “preventive measure” to avoid the TC taking further measures against it but the Spanish executive again appealed and urged the TC to suspend the Ministry, “regardless of the denomination”, after considering that its competences “remain unchanged”. This Thursday, the Parliament has decided that they won’t obey the TC’s cautionary suspension of the new Ministry, the opposite to what the Catalan People’s Party (PP) and Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ urged the government to do.

The Catalan Vice president and Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté, told CNA that the case against the celebration of the 9-N participatory process should already be “closed”. “It is a political trial”, she criticised after the Catalan Supreme Court decided on Monday to refer the case to the Spanish Supreme Court. The decision was prompted by the fact that one of the public figures being investigated in the trial is current member of the Spanish Congress and former Spokesman of the Catalan Government, Francesc Homs. “Following the law’s logic and democracy, no one should be prosecuted for putting the ballot boxes out there and allowing people to express their voice”, Munté said.

The leader of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) and Spanish president hopeful Pedro Sánchez asked the Catalan President to meet in Barcelona to discuss his investiture. The talks will include issues such as the Catalan and the Spanish political situation, a source from the Catalan Government has revealed to CNA. The Socialist leader, who was twice defeated in Congress, wants to present to Puigdemont his government proposal, which includes an agreement with unionist Ciutadans. The Catalan President will defend during the meeting the belief that allowing a referendum in Catalonia is essential to passing the investiture vote. Ciutadans has already warned Sánchez that they will walk away if he grants a referendum to Catalonia.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) accepted the appeal presented by the Spanish executive against the Parliament’s committee to study the constitutive process of a potential Catalan Republic. According to current Spanish vice president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, the Catalan Government’s first aim was to make it “a legislative” committee but they decided to turn it into a “study committee” in view of its possible unconstitutionality. Furthermore, Spain’s state attorney believes that by launching this committee the Parliament would not be fulfilling the TC sentence which suspended the pro-independence proposal approved in the Catalan chamber on the 9^th of November.

The Catalan government has decided this Tuesday to change the name of the Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs, amid the controversy with the Spanish executive and after the recent suspension of the department by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). The new name is to be the ‘Affairs and Institutional Relations and Foreign Affairs and Transparency’. “We have made this decision in order not to stop” stated Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva. The pro-independence party ‘Junts Pel Sí’s top member and former MEP also assured that the government “won’t stop doing” foreign action and insisted that “neither the functions nor the responsibilities” of the department have changed.

The Spanish executive will use declarations from several members of the Catalan government as proof of alleged unfulfilment of Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) decisions. According to the Spanish government’s acting vice president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, such declarations constitute “acknowledgment on their part” and will be added to Spain’s allegations in cases such as the recent suspension of the Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In this particular case, the Spanish executive will also use the letter published earlier this week which the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, former MEP Raül Romeva, wrote to the European Parliament’s President, Martin Schulz,. Romeva asked for Schulz’s support “in facing the formidable challenges ahead and the task with which our citizens have democratically entrusted us”.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) has accepted the appeal presented by the Spanish executive to suspend the new Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Thus, the department lead by pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ top member, Raül Romeva will be suspended at first for five months, which is the period that the TC has to study whether the new Ministry is in line with the Spanish Constitution. Earlier this month, the current Spanish vice president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, and current Spanish Minister for Justice, Rafael Catalá claimed that the Catalan government had exceeded the competences in matters of foreign action specified in the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. For his part, the Catalan President Carles Puigdemont assured that Catalonia “will continue to do foreign action”and defended the legitimacy of the new department. 

The Catalan government has decided to recognise Muriel Casals, one of the Catalan pro-independence movement’s central figures, who died last Sunday, with the Gold Medal of the Generalitat. The award is the highest prize given to those individuals or institutions whose work in the political, social, economic, cultural or scientific field has been outstanding. President of the civil society association Òmnium Cultural between 2010 and 2015, Casals was responsible for the massive pro-independence rallies which have taken to the streets of Barcelona for the past six years. In 2015, she joined pro-independence cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí' and ran for the 27-S Catalan Elections. Recently, she was named president of the Study Committee for the Constitutive Process, responsible for setting the basis for Catalonia's roadmap towards independence.

Barcelona’s El Prat airport can now be reached by metro from the city centre. Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) has finally opened L9 Sud, a driverless 20-kilometre stretch which connects the city centre with El Prat’s Terminal 1. The project, which was originally set to be completed by 2008, has been awaited with much anticipation, especially by those living on the outskirts of Barcelona or in areas without a metro connection, and is expected to transport nearl 30 million passengers per year. The project itself was initially estimated to cost roughly €3 million, but the Catalan government invested 200 additional million on top of the original budget. Despite these changes, L9 Sud will provide passengers a new, more convenient route to El Prat Airport as opposed to the current Rodalies line. Additionally, it will connect to 15 new stations and three other metro lines.

Hard Rock’s president Hamish Dodds and the company’s vice president, Nelson Parker, met this Wednesday with Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and the Catalan government’s vice president, Oriol Junqueras, in order to outline to them the multinational’s aim to set up a Tourist Integrated Centre in BCN World which would represent a 2.5-billion-euro investment. However, the BCN World project, which is set to be built on the 800 hectares surrounding the Port Aventura theme park (on the Costa Daurada, near Tarragona), is currently on ‘stand-by’. The government is trying to find the greatest consensus possible amongst the different parties and institutions involved and President Puigdemont announced this week that a consultation may be set up to get to know the locals’ opinions. 

“The Catalan Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Institutional Relations and Transparency is the first structure of state that the Catalan government has created and proves [Catalonia’s] unequivocal will to become a state” stated the new Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva. The pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ top member and former MEP aims to “increase Catalonia’s visibility as a global actor” during the upcoming 17 months, the planned duration of the new Catalan executive. “Our action must be regarded as an investment, rather than a cost” he stated, addressing Spain’s pro-unity parties. During his appearance in Parliament, Romeva also wanted to stress that “those who defend a new state reached the majority in this chamber in the 27-S elections”.

The short-distance train network has been interrupted this morning in the centre of Barcelona due to a fire in an abandoned station in the centre of the Catalan capital. Although the fire was extinguished by 7 am CET this Tuesday, the smoke continued to spread throughout the city’s train tunnels for hours, affecting six stations, more than 210 trains, metro line 1 and nearly 100,000 passengers, according to the Catalan Government. An accumulation of waste in the abandoned station is most likely to have been the cause of the fire. Today’s chaos is to be added to a long list of problems which have occurred on the network during the last decade, mainly due to a lack of investment in infrastructure by the Spanish Government.