catalunya

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) has definitely suspended the governing party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left pro-independence CUP joint proposal to call a referendum in 2017. A decision which, according to Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté “was not surprising” not even at “this extraordinary speed” and culminating “a tense week” during which the 9-N trial over symbolic vote on independence took place at Barcelona’s High Court. However, she assured that the ruling “won’t change the Government’s determination to call a referendum this year”. Munté emphasised that the joint resolution “was discussed and voted on by the Catalan MPs in accordance to the freedom of speech” and that these MPs were “democratically elected”. In a similar sense, CUP MP Benet Salellas warned that his group “will guarantee that the referendum takes place, regardless of the TC’s wishes”.

‘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.

Up to 1,750 students from all around the world worked throughout the year on the design and construction of single-seater racing cars that performed on the famous Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday. Formula Student Spain was held in Montmeló to allow students to practice all the knowledge they have acquired at university while simulating a real situation. Students had to work as if they were part of a real company, looking for suppliers and sponsors, planning costs as well as designing and constructing the cars. The Minister of Business and Knowledge of Catalonia, Jordi Baiget, described the event as a much-needed activity to enhance interaction between industry and university.

Alternative left alliance ‘En Comú Podem’ renounced having its own political group in the Spanish Parliament and will therefore be inscribed within the ‘Unidos-Podemos’ Confederal Group, their partner in Spain. ‘En Comú Podem’ gathers together members from Catalan Green-Socialist party ICV, the Catalan branch of the Spanish party ‘Podemos’ and representatives from the 'En Comú' candidacies, which won significant mayoralties in the last local elections, for example that of Barcelona, with social activist and now Barcelona mayor Ada Colau as its strongest asset. ‘En Comú Podem’ obtained12 MPs in the Spanish Parliament, representing the majoritarian option of Catalans in last month’s elections. On the other hand, the other two partners of ‘Unidos Podemos’ in the Valencian Community and Galicia, ‘Compromís’ and ‘En Marea’, will seek to have their own group in the Spanish Chamber.

47.7% of Catalans would vote for independence while 42.4% would opt to keep the current status quo. This is the first time that ‘yes’ surpasses ‘no’ since 2014, when the 9-N symbolic vote on independence was held. Moreover, the percentage of those who don’t support Catalonia’s independence has dropped by 5 points, in comparison to the last poll released by the Centre of Opinion Studies (CEO), in March 2016. The survey, run by the Government, also showed that governing cross-party list, pro-independence ‘Junts Pel Sí’ would win the elections again, if they were called in the coming weeks, obtaining between 60 and 62 MPs in the Parliament; currently they hold 62 seats. Alternative left alliance ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’ would come second, nearly doubling the number of seats they got in the 27-S Catalan Elections. 

The Spanish Ministry for Home Affairs warned this Thursday that it is highly probable that the new ‘Catalan Democratic Party’, the name chosen for the reinvented liberal ‘Convergència’ (CDC), won’t be registered in the party register. Thus, the Ministry have the same view as that of ‘Democràtes de Catalunya’, the party which split from former CDC partners Christian Democrats ‘Unió’ who consider the name ‘Catalan Democratic Party’ too similar to their own. The Ministry pointed out that there was a previous attempt to register a party with a similar name in 2015 and that it was rejected for the same reasons. Therefore, “the precedent shows that this name can’t be registered”, the Ministry stated. 

Liberal ‘Convergència’ (CDC) will be from now on named the ‘Catalan Democratic Party’. This is what 871 people voted for at this weekend’s 18^th Congress of the party, while 657 opted for the other final option, the ‘Catalan National Party’. The aim of the Congress was to reinvent CDC, which ruled in Catalonia together with Christian Democrats ‘Unió’ for nearly 30 years, and adapt the party to “the new challenges ahead”. The ‘Catalan Democratic Party’ is defined as a pro-independence party instead of sovereigntist, which CDC used to be. Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, celebrated that the new party “is at the Government’s, Parliament’s and Catalan society’s disposal” to help him achieve the task which he was entrusted with, that is to say putting Catalonia at the gates of independence.

Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont considers pro-independence radical left CUP’s veto on the bill for 2016 to “mark a turning point” and assumes that the stability agreement reached between pro-independence forces CUP and cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ is now broken. However, Puigdemont nuanced that this doesn’t mean that the current term of office is over but assured that from now on ‘Junts Pel Sí’ will rule in minority, with the 62 MPs they have in the 135-seat Catalan Parliament. During a meeting with the Catalan executive held this morning, right before the debate over the budget, Puigdemont stated that the bill for 2016 won’t be passed “at any price” and that the Government’s project is not “for sale” as the main goal continues to be achieving independence

Four out of the ten Spanish universities included on the 2016 Times Higher Education (THE) list of the top 150 universities under 50 years old are native to Catalonia. The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) was named 12 out of 150, with Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) ranked 15^th. Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV) as well as the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) were included among the rankings. Though the universities are young, THE’s editor-at-large and the editor of THE’s World University Rankings, Phil Baty, cites Catalonia’s “strong sense of civil engagement” as a driving force in the universities’ growth and stand-out performance in this year’s rankings among educational institutions both young and old. 

The committee designed to study the constitutive process which has to put in place the basis of a future Catalan Republic has set to work. This Monday, pro-independence cross party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ MP Lluís Llach took responsibility at the head of the committee, after his predecessor, Muriel Casals, died from a head injury after suffering an accident in the beginning of February. The pro-independence parties in the Parliament considered it “indispensable” to set up a debate on the future Catalan constitution. “It will never be prohibited”, stated alternative left coalition ‘Catalunya Sí que es Pot’ MP Joan Coscubiela. The committee starts its work amid warnings from the Spanish executive, which ultimately took this committee before the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) to evaluate its legality and potential future suspension.

Association of Municipalities for Independence (AMI) president and mayor of Girona city Carles Puigdemont has been instated as Catalan President number 130 by an absolute majority of the Parliament. Puigdemont, a member of cross-party list ‘Junts Pel Sí’ proposed by current Catalan President Artur Mas, obtained 70 votes in favour, 63 against and 2 abstentions. The investiture debate took place this Sunday after a last-minute agreement between pro-independence forces ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and CUP and just before all the legal deadlines were due to expire and new elections would have had to been called in Catalonia.

'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.

‘Fotografia a Catalunya’ compiles Catalonia’s photographic patrimony into one website. This initiative is the first of the measures set out in the Photography National Plan, approved in 2014. “This website starts to make Catalonia’s photographic patrimony visible” stated current Catalan Minister for Culture, Ferran Mascarell, and added that by launching this website “a lifelong pending issue has been sorted out”. There are 1,600 pictures from 497 different photographers already available which summarise outstanding collections from the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), the Museum of Contemporary Art (MACBA) and Barcelona’s Photographic Archive, amongst many others, and the aim is to extend the offering to 15,000 by the end of next year. Catalonia’s photographic patrimony includes more than 35 million pictures, kept in more than 323 public archives, museums and other centres all over the territory.

The Catalan chamber will present a plea against the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC)'s suspension of the independence declaration. The Parliament's Bureau approved this on Tuesday, with the support of pro-independence 'Junts Pel Sí' and alternative left coalition 'Cataluna Sí que es Pot's 5 members of the Bureau. The Bureau’s two Anti-Catalan nationalism representatives, from Ciutadans and the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), voted against the proposal. "We don't understand that a jurisdictional body could stop democracy" stated Parliament's first vice-president and 'Junts Pel Sí' MP, Lluís Corominas. According to Ciutadans' representative in the Parliament's Bureau, José María Espejo, the declaration of independence "did have an unconstitutional component" as it stated that "only those laws approved by the Catalan Parliament would be obeyed".

For the first time in the Parliament's history, a candidate for President hasn't obtained a majority in the second round. This Thursday, 73 MPs from the 135 in the Catalan chamber refused to re-elect current President Artur Mas, which is exactly the same result that the candidate got in the first round of the investiture debate. The only MPs who supported Mas' candidacy were the 62 of the pro-independence cross-party list, 'Junts Pel Sí'. Their partner in the roadmap towards independence, radical left CUP, repeated their 'no' to Mas, as they repeatedly announced they would. In the following weeks, the parliamentary groups will hold meetings to choose an alternative candidate, but if one is not chosen before the 10^th of January, the Parliament will have to call elections again.