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The members of the new Catalan executive took office this Thursday, more than three months after the 27th of September Catalan Elections resulted in the victory of pro-independence forces. Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, called them to be “aware” of the citizens’ assignment “without renouncing anything”. ERC’s leader Oriol Junqueras has been designed to assume the Vice presidency and led the Department of Economy and Tax Office, one of the key areas of the new executive. Another novelty is the creation of the department for Foreign Affairs, which will be led by former MEP and ‘Junts Pel Sí’s top member, Raül Romeva.

Just when calling for new elections seemed to be unavoidable, cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP have finally reached an agreement to resolve the presidency of the new Catalan government and launch the independence roadmap. Current Catalan President and ‘Junts Pel Sí’s number four, Artur Mas has decided to step aside and president of the Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) and mayor of Girona city, Carles Pugidemont, has been appointed as the candidate of consensus. In exchange, some of CUP’s MPs will resign in order to guarantee the stability of the new government. The investiture debate will take place on Sunday and a new President would have to be elected before midnight.

Current Catalan President Artur Mas admitted to being ready to call for elections, but won’t do so until the 11^th of January, when the legal deadline expires. However, Mas insisted that cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ “can’t make any other offer” to radical left CUP since “the presidency of the Catalan Government is not a fish auction”. “Junts Pel Sí has moved on everything which mattered. CUP hasn’t moved on the only thing that wasn’t important: the ‘who’” he stated. “Our mistake was to trust in CUP’s sense of state” he assured and added that CUP “didn’t understand that to turn Catalonia into an independent state it is necessary to add and not to subtract, voting rather than vetoing”. According to Mas, accepting the conditions of those who “put the vetoes and the crosses” would be “the end of the pro-independence process.”

Companies, entities and citizens have European funding opportunities at their disposal to make their projects grow. To promote these EU resources and facilitate access to them, the Catalan government has launched a website which includes the available European funding opportunities and the calls for entry in progress. “We must break the myth of a lack of access” to the EU institutions, stated the Catalan Permanent Representative to the EU, Amadeu Altafaj, and added that “they are more open and more accessible than what people may think”. The Catalan Foreign Affairs Secretary, Roger Albinyana, encouraged everybody to “make the most of the European funding opportunities” and called Catalans to be “even more ambitious”.

'Democràcia i Llibertat' (Democracy and Freedom) gathers together members from Liberal CDC, the party currently leading the Catalan Government, ‘Demòcrates de Catalunya’, the party which split from former CDC partner Christian-Democrat Unió, and ‘Reagrupament’, constituted by former members of left wing ERC. “The name symbolises what we are committed to doing: attaining Catalonia’s freedom through democracy” stated Democràcia i Llibertat’s candidate for Barcelona, Francesc Homs. “Our only instrument to defend our cause is voting” he stated “therefore, every time the ballot boxes are put out we will vote”. The former Catalan Minister for the Presidency assured that the international community will be following the Spanish Elections, but they will pay special attention to “what Catalonia will vote” and see if this vote “has a connection” with the political process that Catalonia is going through.

The Spanish Finance Ministry transferred this morning 3 billion euros from the Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) corresponding to Catalonia. However there is still 34 million pending to be transferred due to the Ministry’s “invoices checking” procedure. The payment of this 3 billion euros from the FLA comes after the controversial "specific and additional controls" that Spain's executive has imposed on Catalonia to guarantee "transparency" and ensure that “the FLA won’t fund pro-independence whims”, in the words of Spanish Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro. The 3.034 billion euros assigned this year to Catalonia includes the 2.6 billion euros outstanding from 2014’s FLA, which the Catalan government repeatedly asked for in order to pay pending debts, such as those from pharmacies and medical centres.

London's Shard, in the Tower Bridge area, is Europe's tallest building. Its viewpoint, located on the 72^nd floor, opened its doors in 2013 and has offered a wide range of events since then: silent discos, winter experiences and in the near future a very ambitious project: a traditional Catalan human tower performance. "The image would be amazing" stated 'The View from the Shard's marketing head Anna Domingo. Although she admits that there is not yet a specific date, she declared to CNA that they are "working very tight" with the Delegation of the Catalan Government to the UK "to promote the Catalan culture also from here". In 2012, Castellers de Vilafranca, one of the most iconic group of Castellers, displayed a tower on the 20^th floor of a building located right in front of New York's Empire State building.

The Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (DIPLOCAT) organised a debate in Edinburgh with outstanding European figures from the academic, legal and economic fields to discuss the challenges and opportunities of Catalonia's independence. "It is nonsense to imagine that part of a Member State could be directly expelled from the EU if it becomes independent" stated University of Edinburgh professor and former judge at the Court of Justice of the European Communities Sir David Edward. "Scotland had the chance to freely and legally pronounce on their political future and this is still the shared wish of the majority of Catalans" stated Secretary-General of Diplocat, Albert Royo. The director of the Centre on Constitutional Change, Michael Keating, and the Catalan Government’s delegateto the United Kingdom and Ireland, Josep Suàrez, also attended the event.

Catalan Minister for Agriculture Jordi Ciuraneta claimed that Spanish diplomacy “obstructed”the commercial mission to China of twenty Catalan companies from the meat, fish and citrus fruit sectors. According to Ciuraneta, Spain’s embassy interfered to “cancel”two important meetings between Catalan businessmen, representatives from the Catalan government and several Chinese organisations responsible for authorising the Catalan companies’exports, scheduled for this Wednesday. Ciuraneta considered it “institutional aggression”that “damages”the Catalan companies who travelled to China and their commercial mission. Catalan liberal party CDC MEP Ramon Tremosa stated that Spain’s executive “contradicts the European policies regarding the opening of new markets”and asked the European Commission to investigate what he described as “Spain’s diplomacy boycott”.

Spanish Finance Minister Cristóbal Montoro warned that Catalonia will have access to the 3,034 million euros from the Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) after the control extra measures imposed by the Spanish executive "are accomplished". Last Friday, the Spanish government announced specific control measures for Catalonia "to guarantee" that the FLA's money "won’t fund pro-independence whims". According to Montoro, the Catalan government "shouldn't distract the attention" and should correctly administer the citizens’ money. In order to increase the control over Catalonia's finances, Montoro announced that the Bank of Spain, the Comptroller General's Office and the National Institute of Statistics will investigate the 1,300 million euros that Spain's executive believes wasn't properly accounted for last year.

A record figure of 14,000 visitors attended the fifth edition of the 'Smart City Expo World Congress' the summit of smart cities organised by Fira de Barcelona. 465 exhibitors, more than 400 international speakers and 500 cities from the five continents presented their experiences regarding urban solutions and innovative technology. "This confirms the consolidation of the congress" stated Smart City's director, Ugo Valenti. He also highlighted urban transformation as one of the greatest challenges of the future and the congress as "a really valid platform for knowledge and experience exchange". The Catalan government presented three projects from the 'SmartCAT' framework to promote intelligent cities. Telecommunications and Information Society general director Jordi Puigneró recapped the 50 initiatives that have been launched in Catalonia during the 'SmartCAT' project’s first year of implementation. 

The Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, announced this Friday that her candidate for President of the Catalan Government will be Artur Mas. After holding meetings with all the parliamentarian groups, Forcadell confirmed that current President and the number four of pro-independence cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ is the candidate whom has majoritarian support. Mas has been the one and only candidate proposed by ‘Junts Pel Sí’. However, the other pro-independence force in the Parliament, CUP, have repeatedly insisted that they won’t instate Mas as President. In her appearance before the media, Forcadell also announced the Parliament’s schedule for next Monday, with the vote on the pro-independence declaration taking place in the morning and the instatement debate scheduled for the evening.

Catalonia promoted itself as a leading tourist destination at London World Travel Market, one of the most important global events for the travel industry. This year, Catalonia’s strategy focused on its selection as European Region of Gastronomy 2016, so that routes based on local food and wine have been designed to add value to Catalonia’s traditional attractions. “We must appreciate the gastronomic richness of our country” stated Delegate of the Catalan Government to the UK, Josep Manuel Suárez, who highlighted the Mediterranean diet as “fundamental”. Throughout the week, Catalonia’s stand will offer to the 50,000 visitors expected to attend the fair an image of the territory that goes beyond sun and beaches, promoting the Pyrenees region and cities with a relevant Roman heritage such as Tarragona. The aim is to diversify Catalonia’s tourism and to become a city break destination as well. 

The winning pro-independence cross-party list 'Junts Pel Sí''s formula won't be repeated in the 20^th of December Spanish elections. Liberal CDC and left-wing ERC, the two main political forces responsible for 'Junts Pel Sí', consider the referendum already celebrated in the 27-S elections and bid to enhance the pro-independence base by running in the Spanish elections separately. ERC's general secretary, Marta Rovira, and CDC general coordinator, Josep Rull, aim to fill the space left by radical left CUP, their main partner in the Catalan government, who won't run in the Spanish elections. Rovira and Rull promised to work together in order to make the 27-S democratic mandate effective. To prove this, they announced the writing of a common manifesto which will support the Catalan government's roadmap towards independence. 

More than 7,000 catalans living abroad couldn’t exercise their democratic right to vote in the past 27-S elections. Catalan Minister for Public Administration, Mertixell Borràs accused Electoral Roll Office of “violating fundamental rights” by denying the government’s petition to extend the postal vote for those Catalans living abroad but contradictorily accepting to do so for soldiers and Catalans living in other parts of Spain.. “We warned that we won’t stand on the side lines and we haven’t” stated Borràs and announced that the Catalan Government presented an appeal to the Supreme Court to “assume responsabilities”. “It is clear that irregularities did happen in the months and weeks before the 27-S” and “someone must be held accountable, whether it is someone in the Postal Service, the Foreign Ministry, or the Electoral Roll office” she stated. “We have to make sure that this won’t happen again and that such an absurd situation won’t  go unpunished”.