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The Spanish government has decided to take the Catalan Law on Empty Houses, the Catalan Law for Local Government and the Catalan Law on Equality between Men and Women to the Constitutional Court. The executive in Madrid has announced this only two days after a meeting between Spanish President Mariano Rajoy and Catalan President Carles Puigdemont in which both leaders agreed on trying to reduce the number of litigious cases between the administrations. With these appeals, the number of Catalan laws challenged by the Spanish government in the Constitutional Court tops 30. Once the appeals are accepted by the Court, the laws will be automatically temporarily suspended.

‘Barcelona Catalonia Culture Week’, the first Catalan cultural week organised in Shanghai awoke the interest of 73,000 people. Coinciding with the 10^th anniversary of the Catalan Society ‘Casal Català de Xangai’ and 15 years since the twinning of Barcelona and Shanghai, China’s financial capital hosted more than 30 activities to present Catalonia’s cultural heritage to the local audience. International icons such as surrealist painter Salvador Dalíand architect Antoni Gaudíwere the centre of some of the art exhibitions. Another key point of the programme was the participation of ‘Castellers de Vilafranca’, whom displayed Catalan human towers all around the city. “This initiative introduces Catalonia to China’s collective imagination”stated the Catalan Institute of China’s President, Alexis Roig, and is the result of “a joint effort from civil society, companies and the Catalan institutions”. 

This year Catalonia commemorates the 100th birthday of the only living Catalan survivor of the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbrück, Neus Català, whom is regarded as a symbol of anti-fascist resistance. In April, Català was given the Gold Medal of the Government of Catalonia and throughout 2015 commemorative events organised by different entities have been held to preserve Català’s testimony. This Tuesday, Neus Català turned 100 and the ‘Memorial Democràtic de Catalunya’, together with twenty other institutions, celebrated her birthday with the event ‘La vida és preciosa’ (‘Life is beautiful’). The Memorial Democràtic de Catalunya is the public institution which aims to promote the investigation of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship and commemorates the ideological victims.

President Mas attended the 58^th International Association of Judges Meeting, held this Monday in Barcelona just weeks before his appearance in court for organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence. During his intervention, Mas outlined that democracy is sustained by the impartiality of justice. “Any partisan use” of the legal system could diminish this “sustenance” of democracy, he stated. Mas also expressed his hope that the Meeting will produce “contributions” to the “democratic quality which we all pursue”. President of the Supreme Court, Carlos Lesmes, also attended the Meeting and warned that to enforce the law “couldn’t be considered defiance”. 

Catalan President Artur Mas reacted this Wednesday to his summonsing by Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC). “Legally I didn’t disobey. Politically, there was a democratic rebellion against the State” he stated in a radio interview with Catalunya Radio. The charges are “the reaction of an arrogant, furious, clumsy state, whose pride was hurt, which is incapable of dialogue and which will do everything in its hands to get rid of me” he summarised. On the other hand, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy considers it “false and unfair” to attribute the court’s decision to the Spanish government, as in Spain there is a “separation of powers”.

The Catalan Minister for the Presidency, Francesc Homs, has stated that they are "sceptical" about the constitutional reform that the Spanish Prime Minister and leader of the People's Party (PP), Mariano Rajoy, is starting to consider. The Spanish Justice Minister, Rafael Català, said 10 days ago that his department would "study a constitutional reform" which would not make any concession to Catalonia's demands. For the last 3 years, Rajoy and the PP have been unilaterally blocking any attempt to launch a constitutional reform debate. Now, with Catalonia's independence being a distinct possibility if pro-independence parties win the forthcoming 'de facto' referendum scheduled for 27 September, the Spanish Government has started to say it would consider a limited reform, particularly to strengthen its own powers. This Monday, the Catalan President's 'right-hand man', Frances Homs, said that they will not even consider such a constitutional reform if it does not include Catalonia's right to self-determination.

The Spanish Minister of Justice, Rafael Català, proposed this week "to study a constitutional reform" that is very far from making any concession to Catalan claims and meet them halfway. In fact, it seems that the Spanish Government's real intentions are to consolidate the recentralisation of powers and cultural homogenisation undertaken in the last few years that have trimmed Catalonia's self-rule and attacked Catalan culture and language. The Spanish Justice Minister stated this week that he is ready to discuss a limited reform of Spain's Constitution that would not affect its core aspects – such as Spain's territorial model – and which would apparently only address secondary matters, such as the prevalence of men over women in the Crown's succession or the definition of the Spanish Government's exclusive powers. However, the aim is to put an end to the decentralisation trend that started in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

L'Amical de Ravensbrück association and the Catalan Government commemorated the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany on Sunday. The association of Catalan survivors of this Nazi camp and their relatives organised the event, in which some of the camp survivors participated, including Neus Catalá - the only living Spanish survivor of Ravensbrück. The commemoration coincided with celebration of Neus Catalá, aged 99, who this year was given the Gold Medal of the Government of Catalonia, the highest award given by the institution.

Spain’s Director of the Public Prosecution Office, Eduardo Torres-Dulce, has announced his resignation “for personal reasons”. However, it is well-known that Torres-Dulce has had several arguments with the Spanish Government, run by the People’s Party (PP) and chaired by Mariano Rajoy. The latest argument was about prosecuting the Catalan President and other members of the Catalan Government for the symbolic vote on independence held on 9 November. Several PP members announced the penal actions before Torres-Dulce had given the instruction to press charges. At that time, Torres-Dulce denied having been pressured by the Spanish Government, but many voices criticised the absence of a separation of powers. On top of this, the main public prosecutors in Catalonia initially rejected the criminal complaint, but Torres-Dulce – appointed by the Spanish Government – obliged them to file it. Furthermore, he has also had many arguments with the PP on account of the numerous corruption scandals being investigated.

On the same day, both the Spanish Justice Minister, Rafael Català, and the 'number 2' of the governing People's Party (PP), María Dolores de Cospedal, compared Catalonia's self-determination process with the Fascist and Nazi movements of the 1930s. Such a comparison trivialises Nazism and is highly offensive for millions of Catalan citizens. The Catalan pro-independence movement mainly demands to hold a democratic vote on independence, as in Scotland, and it has always acted in a peaceful and festive way. The expert in European populism, Meindert Fennema, stated he considered that to compare Catalan self-determination with Nazism to be "ridiculous" and "nonsensical". On top of this, he highlighted that Catalonia's society is highly inclusive, since it has welcomed and integrated millions of immigrants in the last 100 years. In fact, 70% of the Catalan population has origins from outside Catalonia and 80% of the Catalan population want to hold a self-determination vote. 

Catalan parties considered the non-binding participatory process to be "a total success" since it sends a strong message: in the near future Catalans want to hold a legal vote on independence. Around 2.25 million people gave their opinion in Sunday's participatory process in a peaceful way, in a symbolic vote without remarkable incidents. With 88% of ballot boxes counted, 81% of them voted for independence, according to figures gathered by the more than 40,000 volunteers and announced by the Catalan Government. An international delegation of observers considered the vote had "been conducted successfully" in "challenging circumstances". In fact, turnout cannot be compared to regular elections (when the total census reaches 5.4 million), since this Sunday's participation process is a non-binding way to gather opinions and it took place in difficult circumstances, with the Spanish Government's total opposition and even threatening attitude. Before knowing these results, the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, asked the rest of the world for "help" in convincing the Spanish Government of organising a mutually agreed referendum. Pro-self-determination parties asked Madrid to negotiate while Spanish nationalist parties downplayed the vote and consider it "a fraud".

On November 9, the Spanish Government has once again downplayed the participatory process on independence held in Catalonia. And it did so on the day it took place and just when it finished, after more than 2 million people had peacefully cast their ballot in a non-binding citizen participation process that was organised as a light alternative of the original consultation vote, that had been banned by the Spanish authorities. On Sunday evening, after the polls had closed, the Spanish Justice Minister, Rafael Català, defined the vote as "a useless and sterile simulation" and "a pure act of propaganda", which does not have any democratic validity. In addition, the process was an attempt "to hide the personal failure" of the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas, "for not having been able to organise the illegal consultation vote announced in December 2013", which was blocked by the Spanish Executive. In addition, he recalled that the Public Prosecution Office is "gathering data" in order to launch "the required penal actions".

The Spanish Government, chaired by Mariano Rajoy, has activated the machinery to suspend the alternative non-binding participatory process that the Catalan Executive is organising on the 9^th of November, which replaces the original consultation vote. On Monday evening, Rajoy asked the State Council – his main advisory body – for a non-binding report on the Catalonia's new vote; it did so on the same day that a broad network of corruption, mainly involving Rajoy's People's Party (PP), was revealed. On Tuesday, the Catalan Government replied that its will is to put out ballot boxes, since it does not believe the Constitutional Court will suspend such a participatory process. Left-wing parties backing a self-determination consultation asked the Catalan Government to keep the vote no matter what. Now that the unity of action among pro-self-determination forces has been restored, the PP is calling the vote a "referendum", after downplaying it for two weeks.

Six Catalan performing arts companies have introduced their projects at the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF) 2014 Showcase and a further three have taken part in the official program of the festival, thanks to the collaboration of the Culture Department and FiraTàrrega with GDIF. The 2014 edition of the renowned street arts festival will run from 20-28 June, showcasing some of the most interesting street theatre on the continent. Its director, Bradley Hemmings, told CNA that FiraTàrrega has "influenced the structure and development" of the show, one of the largest in the UK, and he was looking forward to receiving fresh Catalan projects.

The President of the employer’s association Cercle Català de Negocis (CCN), Albert Pont, and the Coordinator of the economic division of the Catalan National Assembly for independence (ANC), David Ros, presented on Monday a manifesto defending the economic viability of a Catalan State. The heads of the ANC and the CCN have called on professionals in the economic sphere to sign the document since independence “is viable, and from an economic point of view, desirable”. Both Pont and Ros have also emphasised that the self-determination process is not harming the Catalan economy, quite the contrary, as revealed by the latest figures for exports and foreign investments.