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The Catalan Minister for Business and Employment has stressed that the Government’s objective is to reduce unemployment by half by 2014. The plan foresees ten measures, with a special focus on the long-term unemployed. Some of the measures include incentives to SME companies to hire the long-term unemployed, collaborating with private temporary work agencies, enlarging the network of education classrooms and relocating staff from the Catalan Public Employment Service to provide job search council and other direct services.

September has been a bad month for employment over the last number of years, but this past September is the worst in the last 11 years. The Spanish Government has blamed the budget cuts undergone by the Autonomous Communities for the unemployment increase. The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government considers Madrid’s statements as “offensive” and “pitiful”, and he stressed that the Spanish Government had asked them to double their public spending cuts. He also added that the Spanish Government has not paid the money that it owes.

A grant allocated to the poorest, which is supposed to be their only income, was not paid regularly on August 1st as the Catalan Government changed the payment method. The official explanation is that the change was taken to avoid fraud and be able to ensure the sustainability of this grant system. From now on, the 37,000 beneficiaries will have to personally go the bank with a pay check that will be sent to them. In mid-August, most of the beneficiaries had already received the money. The opposition has heavily criticised the Government, which has recognised errors but stressed that many people were getting money without meeting the conditions. 500 beneficiaries and social workers protested on Thursday in Barcelona.

Farmers from Southern France have stopped lorries carrying Spanish fruit and vegetables across the Spanish border and have destroyed all of the produce. The Catalan Government asked the European authorities to intervene in the conflict, since the French police have not stopped the destruction. As a reaction, Catalan farmers threat to block French vehicles returning to France at the end of the month.

The Spanish Minister for Public Works, Jose Blanco, attended the end of the drilling works of the High-Speed Train tunnel that will cross Girona, part of the line that will connect with the French border. The Mediterranean Railway Corridor is a long running issues for Catalonia, Valencia, Murcia and Andalucía. It would link the Straights of Gibraltar, the harbours of Barcelona and Valencia, and Central and Northern Europe, allowing a freight train to go from Algeciras or Barcelona directly to Hamburg or Stockholm.

The good results at the municipal elections give the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Coalition ‘Convergència i Unió’ (CiU), running the Government, the support of citizens to carry on with the austerity measures and its plan to reduce public expenditure by 10%. After the Government’s approval, the budget will be discussed at the Catalan Parliament and approved by the end of July. CiU does not want to mix budget negotiations at the Parliament with local agreements after the municipal elections.

The Catalan Government will be able to keep the number of new teacher positions this year, after the Spanish Government withdrew its complaint. However, the Spokesperson for the Catalan Government insisted that the Spanish Executive continues with “its offensive against Catalonia”, as among other issues it still refuses to pay 1.45 billion euros from the Competitiveness Fund. In addition, only 0.8% of the Spanish Government’s approved public works in 2011 are in Catalonia.

The airline Vueling, which has its main base at Barcelona’s El Prat Airport, has a network of permanent operating bases, to which Paris Orly will be added if French authorities give the green light. Vueling’s Chairman, Josep Piqué, announced that a minimum of six planes will be based at France’s second airport. Across the 21 routes it has in France, the airline estimates that it will carry 26% more passengers in 2011 when compared to last year.

The Catalan Government received 3.2 billion euros last week from retail bonds, 0.5 billion euros more than the initial quantity released on the market. In addition, it will have to issue more debt and it needs the agreed money transfers from the Spanish Government. However, the Spanish Deputy Minister for Finance has rejected the request from the Catalan Government of 1.45 billion euros from the Competitiveness Fund and has warned Catalonia not to include that amount in this year’s budget. The Spokesperson for the Catalan Government accuses the Spanish Government of “acting as a defaulter”.

Kenneth Rogoff, currently professor at Harvard, predicts that Spain has a “high chance” of being rescued by the European Union. He also ads that, if it were not rescued, even France could fall.

On the same day that Catalan hospitals presented their plans to reduce their budget by 10% and cut several services, the Catalan Government’s Spokesperson sent a strong message to Madrid saying that "enough was enough." The Spanish Government answered the calls by the Catalan Executive by saying that if it does not meet the 1.3% deficit objective for 2011, it will run out of cash. Madrid is asking for greater budget cuts. Almost all Catalan political parties, including the People’s Party, back up the Catalan Government, the main exception being the Socialist Party, which supports Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The ‘Volta Ciclista a Catalunya’ celebrates its centenary in style. Alberto Contador has won the centenary edition of Catalonia’s cycling ‘Tour’. Michelle Scarponi and Daniel Martin are second and third respectively.

The Catalan race is one of the oldest cycling events in the world. The ‘Volta’ started in 1911, 24 years before Spain’s own ‘Vuelta’ and only eight years after the first Tour de France.

The Mayor believes the Catalan capital has a real chance of being chosen as the starting city to the world’s most famous bike race and the Tour organisation says it is a ‘remarkable candidature’.

The new employees hired will be people currently out of work. The Spanish car manufacturer, which is part of the Volkswagen group, has its factory in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. SEAT will for the next five years invest 300 million euros annually.