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British Member of the European Parliament and leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, Syed Kamall, stated that a referendum on independence is “a good way” to resolve the situation in Catalonia. Furthermore, the politician believes that without it “problems will continue and never really be solved". In an interview with the Catalan News Agency, the politician said that “democracy is a good way of resolving these issues" and stressed that the right to decide is “a very good principle”. "I believe in self-determination and I was very proud when David Cameron offered the people of Scotland a referendumto vote on whether they wanted to be an independent nation or remain part of the United Kingdom”, the MEP stressed.  

Spain is failing in transparency and judicial independence. According to the Group of States against Corruption of the Council of Europe (Greco), the Spanish Government has not satisfactorily applied any of the eleven recommendations made by the Council of Europe (CoE) in 2013, which aimed at promoting the fight against corruption and guaranteeing judicial independence. In a report published this Monday, Greco states that it is “key” to increase “transparency of communication between the Prosecutor General and the Government”. Moreover, it warns that it is “crucial” that the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) in Spain is “not only free, but also seen to be free from political influence”. The text also stresses that “political authorities should not be involved, at any stage, in the selection process of judicial staff".

The Spanish Parliament’s Bureau, headed by the Conservative People’s Party (PP) decided this Tuesday to integrate the Catalan Democratic Party (PDC), former liberal Convergència, into the Mixed Group rather than allow them to be constituted as a parliamentary group. Thus, the PDC will see its influence in the Chamber much reduced and its interventions will have to be shared amongst the other minority forces in the Mixed Group. The decision, which comes just one day after the PDC was denied its own group in the Senate, is regarded by the PDC as a political reprisal for the Parliament’s approval of the pro-independence roadmap. This will be the first time since 1977 that the former Convergència party, the party which ruled in Catalonia for more than 20 years in coalition with Christian Democrats ‘Unió’, won’t have its own group in the Spanish Parliament. 

The Catalan Democratic Party (PDC), the new political force which has emerged after former governing liberal Convergència decided to reinvent itself, won’t have its own parliamentary group in the Spanish Senate. This is the first time that the former Convergència party won’t have its own group in the High Chamber since democracy was restored in Spain, in 1977. The four members in the Senate’s Bureau from the Conservative People’s Party (PP) voted against the PDC’s proposal to add two senators from left-wing pro-independence ERC to their four, two from the Canarian Coalition (CC) and two from Basque nationalists Bildu, as the regulation foresees a minimum of 10 senators in order to have their own group. The Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) abstained from the vote and the other member in the Senate’s Bureau, representing the Basque Nationalist Party (PNB) voted in favour. 

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.

The independence process in Catalonia has awoken international interest. Proof of this is the friendship group with Catalonia that Swiss MPs from different parties will set up in the Federal Assembly. The Delegate of the Catalan Government to France and Switzerland, Martí Anglada, celebrated the “plural and transversal component” of the initiative, which goes beyond political ideologies. Anglada also emphasised the importance of a country “which is a point of reference in terms of democratic quality, direct democracy and international mediation tradition” showing its friendship toward the Catalan people “in the middle of the independence process”. Other countries, such as Estonia, have also set up friendship groups with Catalonia in their Parliament.

Porcine Sanitation Group (GSP) in Lleida region, together with the Catalan Ministry of Agriculture, has launched 'Portal de Casos Clínics' ('Portal of Clinique Cases'), an innovative website to help veterinary tasks in the porcine sector. The application, a first in Europe, enables the professionals to do a follow up of the state and evolution of porcine illnesses in real time. The aim is to help veterinarians to diagnose as well as anticipate problems and optimise the resources and time used for treatment. This sanitary tool has already 7,000 cases indexed. The launching of the website is another step forward for GSP, a non-profit association which aims to improve the sanitary standard and profitability of porcine companies in Catalonia.  

Between the 5^th and 16^th of August, Barcelona will once again become the world's LGBT capital. For the 8^th consecutive year, the Catalan capital and its metropolitan area will play host to the Circuit Festival, which comprises a wide range of parties, concerts, sports events and other leisure activities for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people. The organisers expect more than 72,000 to attend this year, with 80% of them being foreigners. The average attendee is a gay male aged between 25-40, spending 250 euros per day and staying 8.4 days. However, the organisers also stress that many women and people of many other age groups are also coming to enjoy the festival and the manifold targeted activities. They estimate that the LGBT festival will bring €150 million to the local economy. Indeed, it is one of Barcelona's most important and most international events in terms of number of attendees and economic impact, although it is still way behind the city's jewel, the Mobile World Congress.

The telecommunications company Cronos Group, based in Hong Kong, is opening its European offices in Barcelona to offer services throughout the continent and worlwide. According to the Catalan Ministry of Business and Employment, the company is expected to create 25 new jobs in the first year operating from the Catalan capital. Currently 10 people are already working in Cronos’ Barcelona offices. The project received the assistance of the Catalan Government’s programme ‘Invest in Catalonia’, which focuses on attracting foreign investment and international business. Cronos’s Managers explained they have decided to settle in Barcelona because it had become the world capital of the mobile phone and of telecommunications, since each year it organises the main international event in this sector. Furthermore, Cronos Group praised the talent and skills of Catalan workers.

With a 15.5% stake in the Catalan infrastructure group Abertis, the private equity group CVC will become the company?s second largest shareholder

wo hundred and fifty-two days later, aid workers Albert Vilalta and Roque Pasqual are still being held in the northern region of Mali by a Magreb Islamist terrorist group

Prime Minister Zapatero needs the votes from other parties to pass his Labour Market reform. Artur Mas, President of the Centre-Right Catalan Nationalist Party (CiU) has affirmed today that his party will not block the reform in the Spanish Parliament. Ci