catalan minister

Norwegian Airlines will double its workforce at Barcelona Airport, from the current 354 people to 755 in August 2017. The announcement was made this Monday by the Vice President of Human Resources of the company, Jan Dahm-Simonsen, during the press conference on the expansion of the airline offices at the installation in Prat de Llobregat. The 755 jobs Norwegian Airlines will have at the company headquarters in Southern Europe, in Barcelona, will include administrative, flight and ground assistance personnel. The expansion of staff responds partially to the rise in operations of the airline at Barcelona Airport, which will connect the city with Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Miami from next summer. 

Catalan exports to Cuba grew by 50% in 2015, reaching €294 million. With this in mind, the Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, and the director of the centre for the promotion of foreign trade ProCuba, Roberto Verrier, signed on Thursday in Havana an agreement that seeks to strengthen trade relations. ProCuba, under the Cuban Ministry for Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, works to promote the internationalisation of the industry of the country. According to the agreement, Cuba will now provide Catalonia with information on the investment opportunities in the region in order to promote the arrival of new Catalan businesses to the island. Baiget, who is participating in a trade mission to Panama and Cuba organised by the Port of Barcelona and Acció, the Catalan Public competitiveness and internationalisation agency, stated that the measure was “really important”. It implies “direct capacity for dialogue” with the Cuban body responsible for foreign investment, he added.

Barcelona and Seoul will be connected through three direct flights per week from the 28th of April 2017. The Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, announced this Wednesday that next year Korean Air, the largest airline in South Korea, will operate three flights - on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday - with capacity for 248 passengers each. The company currently operates flights to 129 destinations in 46 countries and in 2015 registered around 25 million passengers. Baiget detailed that the negotiation process to achieve an agreement started two years ago, on a trade mission and institutional trip of the Catalan Government to South Korea, and explained that the airline will extend the frequency to four days in the future “if things work well”.  

Catalonia and Japan have renewed their business, cultural, touristic and research ties for the next three years, through the so-called ‘Japan Plan 2016-2019’. The Government presented the agreement, approved last 25^th of October, on Monday and explained that it aims at boosting business promotion, investment attraction, tourism cooperation, student mobility and cultural and gastronomic exchange. While the presentation of the Plan was taking place on Monday morning in Barcelona, a mission organised by the Port of Barcelona and Acció, the Catalan Public competitiveness and internationalisation agency, was in Panama trying to improve the trade relationship with the Central America region. The Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, and the Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability, Josep Rull, accompanied fifty Catalan companies on their visit to Panama and Cuba, where they held 300 meetings with local businesses.  

The Catalan Government paid tribute last Sunday to the 309 victims and their families that have been recognised as victims of Franco’s regime since 2009, the last time such a ceremony took place. During the event, which took place in Universitat de Barcelona’s auditorium, the Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva compared “with due respect to the obvious differences” the justice of Franco’s dictatorship and that of the current Spanish State. “Today there are still echoes of the Francoist melody” he said, referring to the “interference of the Spanish Government in the judicial system”. Moreover, Romeva stated that despite having overcome the Francoist dictatorship, which reigned in Spain from 1939 until the dictator’s death in 1975, it still has to be proved whether Spain’s democracy “is worthy of the name”.

The Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, presented this Wednesday the draft of the Law on the Catalan Community Abroad, which is set to be passed in 2017. The Parliament rejected the two amendments of the whole bill submitted by Spanish Unionist ‘Ciutadans’ (C's) and the Catalan Conservative People’s Party (PPC) and therefore the law has now started its parliamentary process. The arrival of this bill in the Parliament is a step forward for the recognition of the Catalan community abroad, a historical demand. Romeva explained that its aim is “to recognise the Catalans abroad as subjects with rights and duties and addressees of the work of the Government”. One of the central aspects of the new law is the Register of Catalans living abroad, which Romeva described as “key”. “It should be the tool by which the Government can identify the citizens who live abroad”, he stressed. 

The 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP22) on climate change is being held in Marrakech, Morocco, since the 7^th of November and will last until the 18^th. Although only UN member states can vote at the meeting, regional and local entities can participate. A Catalan delegation has travelled to the conference in the Moroccan city, and the Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability, Josep Rull, will do so next weekend. The aim of the mission is to demonstrate Catalonia’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint. “Catalonia wants to lead the fight against climate change, we are doing things reasonably well and we want to be the benchmark in Europe”, Rull stated. Catalonia ratified the Paris agreement last April and the Catalan Parliament currently has as pending the approval of a law to combat global warming. 

The Financial Times report FDi European Cities and Regions of the future 2016/2017, recognised Catalonia as the best Southern European region to invest in for 2016 and 2017. To make the most of this prognosis, the Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, visited London this Monday, in the framework of the 'Brexit' plan, which aims to promote foreign investment in Catalonia and strengthen trade relations with the United Kingdom. At a meeting with thirty businessmen and international investors at the headquarters of the newspaper the Financial Times, Baiget explained that that there is "no anxiety" among investors regarding the political process going on in Catalonia, but rather only "interest". Furthermore, the Catalan Minister stressed that investors really value “Catalonia’s assets”, such as its “good communications and trained and qualified people”. 

Catalan Minister for Territory and Sustainability, Josep Rull, explained this Friday that the Government has presented an appeal before Spain’s High Court, the ‘Audiencia Nacional’, denouncing Adif’s lack of investment in the short and medium railway network in Catalonia. Rull accuses the Spanish public body in charge of railway infrastructure and the Spanish Ministry for Infrastructure of not complying with the agreed investment. “We open the judicial way because the political one between both governments has proved to be broken”, he stated. Rull pointed out that Adif committed to investing 306 million euros in Catalonia’s railway network and only so far only 4.2% of this has been carried out. “Therefore, there is a flagrant failure to fulfil”, he insisted. Current Spanish Vice-president, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, responded to the Government’s action and stated that “this proves that those who think they are right turn to the legal mechanisms available”.

170 international companies will take part in the second edition of the Internet of Things Solutions World Congress (IoTSWC), twice the number of participants from the first edition. Moreover, 160 speakers will discuss as to what extent the Internet is "radically transforming" the industry. The event, held in the Fira de Barcelona facility on Gran Via, kicked off this Tuesday and will continue to offer the latest developments in this sector until next 27th of October. Although the principal focus is the application of the Internet of Things in the Industry, the Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge Jordi Baiget pointed out during the inauguration ceremony the multiple uses of the IoT, that “it has to do with the industry, but also the daily life of individuals and society, and we have Catalan companies at the event presenting solutions regarding cybersecurity, measurement and data transmission, mobility control and applications in health and agriculture". 

Catalonia wants to be the first region to implement the New Urban Agenda, a document to be adopted this week at Habitat III, the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development in Quito, Ecuador. The aim of this meeting of local and regional leaders is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable urban development, assess accomplishments to date and provide guidance to states, city and regional authorities, civil society, foundations, NGOs, academic researchers and U.?N. agencies in this field. The Catalan Minister for Planning and Sustainability, Josep Rull, has offered to the United Nations that Catalonia be the first territory to implement the conclusions of the New Urban Agenda and stressed that the Catalan model "is inclusive, cohesive and committed to sustainable development".

‘Catalunya Emprèn’ is an action plan from the Catalan Government which brings together all the initiatives of the different government departments to guide entrepreneurs in regards to the financial assistance they can request. The Catalan Minister for Business and Knowledge, Jordi Baiget, stated on Monday that Catalonia invested last year €55 million in grants to entrepreneurs, resulting in the creation of more than 5,000 companies. Baiget announced that after the success of the initiative, the Government has decided to continue the programme into 2017, and added that all the representatives from the different government departments have ''reaffirmed '' their commitment to maintain this unified strategy in the field of entrepreneurship.

The Catalan bill oriented toward avoiding evictions and facilitating mediation when the families involved are at social risk has been modified in order to dodge the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) suspension. The Catalan Government passed a new draft this Tuesday which aims to put to use the stockpile of empty apartments and guarantee the relocation of those families who can’t pay the rent. “The present text is legally impeccable” stated Catalan Minister for Public Administration and Housing, Meritxell Borràs. However, she admitted that the “Spanish Government is likely to put a spoke in our wheels”. The Government aims for the Parliament to pass the draft immediately, so that it can come into force this October. 

The Catalan Minister for Public Administrations Meritxell Borràs, stated that “in a matter of weeks” the Catalan Parliament will have a bill to “discuss and pass” electronic voting for Catalans abroad. “We just need the political will in order to make electronic voting become a reality for the next Catalan elections”, she stated during the 8^th European Meeting of Catalan Communities, held between the 30^th of September and the 2^nd of October in London. During the last elections, only 7.5% of the nearly 200,000 Catalans living abroad and registered to vote were able to do so and 7,000 ballots that were sent on time weren’t able to reach their destination. “The vote abroad is an authentic odyssey”, said Borràs.  

Catalonia’s Supreme Court (TSJC) has dismissed this Thursday the appeals filed by former Catalan President Artur Mas, former Vice-President Joana Ortega and former Catalan Minister of Education Irene Rigau against their prosecution for alleged crimes of disobedience and administrative prevarication when organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence. The Court magistrates believe that it is necessary to go on with the prosecution of the defendants for having authorised and co-organised the consultation, which took place on 9 November 2014. In its resolution, the TSJC insists on the “conscious resistance” of the three politicians to the Spanish Constitutional Court’s suspension of the participatory process. The resolution arrives three days before former Catalan Minister for Presidency, Francesc Homs, is due to testify in Madrid for the same cause.