Politics

Citizens will be able to buy treasury bonds of the Catalan Government’s debt worth 1,000 euros each at a 4.75% interest rate. In the framework of the electoral campaign, the Opposition denounced that the Catalan Executive has “its drawers empty, without money”. The Catalan Government has denied this and accused the opposition of being irresponsible in order to get votes.

The Catalan Group on the Future of Europe sent their conclusions to the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe before the Reflection Group presented their results to the European Council. Today’s event was a way to foster debate in Catalonia on these issues and a way to show the results from the analysis by the Catalan Group on the Future of Europe. President of the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe 2020-2030 (and former Spanish PM) Felipe González. has summed up the conclusions.

It is the first regulating body at a Spanish level located outside of Madrid. The transfer was agreed on in 2004 between Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the former Catalan President, Pasqual Maragall. The new seat was unveiled today.

The Israeli Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs claims: “They cannot accuse us of occupying Jewish land”. Both leaders met at a round table discussion in Barcelona on the occasion of Sant’Egidio ecumenical meeting.

Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira urges European leaders to construct a 'flexible' union. He claims that states should not be the only players in the construction of the EU.

The president of the CATmón Foundation argues that the creation of new Balkan states in Bosnia, Montenegro and Kosovo show different 'models' of achieving independence.

The budget foresees 3,134 million euros for infrastructures in Catalonia, 18.6% of the quantity for all of Spain, an amount significantly less than in 2010. One of the reasons is a reduction in public expenditure due to the economic crisis and austerity needs. 320 million have not been assigned to any concrete work and their assignation will have to be decided on in a bilateral commission.

After more than 3 years of negotiation, the Conservative People’s Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) have finally agreed on a replacement procedure for the Constitutional Court magistrates who currently have expired mandates. The Constitutional Court has had 4 magistrates with expired 9-year mandates since 2007. The Senate should have already appointed new magistrates, but the two main parties, especially the PP, have been blocking the process.

Isolated picket actions and violent anti-system protests contradicted the generally calm and respectful spirit of the general strike in Catalonia, which respect minimum services agreed on. Trade unions state that 80% of Catalan workers followed the strike. Small and medium-sized business associations quantified 1.2% of the strike’s success. The Catalan Government quantifies 11% of public employees who did not go to work today.

The workers’ representatives hope that the industrial action will force the Spanish Government to reconsider its labour market reform. The strike is planned for the 29th of September.

The Spanish Ministry of Economy believes that the budget cuts for autonomous communities have nothing to do with the 7.9% cut in the Spanish general budget.

The Catalan Parliament approves a law that recognises Occitan language, called Aranese in the small Aran county, as co-official in Catalonia. It will also be the preferred language in the Aran county, in Western Catalan Pyrenees. The top representative of the Aranese county, Francesc Boya says it is a “historic day” and warns that Aranese language is in an “intensive care unit”.

The Catalan Government hopes that the Mediterranean Corridor, which is planned to unite northern and southern Europe, will pass through Catalonia, along the Mediterranean shore and not through the centre of Spain.

A renewal was urgent after the legitimacy crisis that occurred during the debate over the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. Some political forces, especially in Catalonia, were expecting a broader reform that would limit the Court’s power to decide on already approved laws via referendum.

The Spanish Parliament has formally asked the Spanish Government to decentralise the management of the Barcelona airport and have Catalan institutions deeply involved. All the groups in the Parliament, including the ruling Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), have voted in favour of the motion presented by the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Party (CiU) with the exception of the Conservative and Spanish Nationalist People’s Party (PP).