tortosa

Matteo Renzi and eight families related to the coach crash victims arrive in Catalonia

March 21, 2016 07:21 PM | ACN

Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, travelled this Monday to Catalonia on a private visit, as he was related to one of the victims of the coach crash which occurred in the South of Catalonia on Sunday, killing at least 13 internationals who were returning from a trip to Valencia. 7 of the 13 victims, all of them female, were Italian, two were German and the rest were from Romania, France, Austria and Uzbekistan respectively. All of the victims were aged between 19 and 25. Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, received Renzi at the airport in Tortosa and will accompany him during his visit. Eight families have already travelled to Catalonia to start the identification of the victims and three more are expected to arrive throughout this Monday.

Barcelona and 700 other municipalities approve motions supporting 9 November's independence vote

September 22, 2014 09:44 PM | ACN

The City Council of Barcelona as well as 300 other town halls throughout Catalonia approved on Monday a motion supporting the self-determination consultation vote, scheduled for the 9th of November. Some 400 other municipalities have confirmed they will do the same in the current week and more could join in the coming days. With this action, Catalan municipalities want to back the parliamentary agreement to carry out such a vote, which is being unilaterally blocked by the Spanish Government.  The motions will be sent to the Catalan Government, the Spanish Authorities, the European Union institutions and the United Nations. Town Halls throughout Catalonia are approving the same motion, which has been proposed by the Association of pro-Independence Municipalities (AMI) and the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM).

Tortosa recreates the Renaissance with its annual international festival

July 28, 2014 09:04 PM | ACN / Neringa Sinkeviciute

From Thursday to Sunday the 19th edition of Tortosa's Renaissance Festival attracted more than 200,000 visitors from all over Europe, who filled the city located in the Ebro Delta area in southern Catalonia. The Mayor of Tortosa, Ferran Bel, emphasised the consolidation of the festival  and the high participation numbers with many international visitors, including foreign tourists and participating companies, such as theatre groups, music bands and food traders. Bel revealed that development work  would soon take place in the old town of Tortosa and further changes would be introduced to improve next year's festival.The Mayor said that the festival had attracted considerable attention not only in southern Europe, but across the entire continent.

Catalan Government to take Ebro Hydrologic Plan to Brussels as it endangers the Delta’s survival

March 4, 2014 09:45 PM | ACN

The Catalan Executive announced it will take the Spanish Government’s Hydrologic Plan for the Ebro River (Plan Hidrológico del Ebro) to the European Commission, as it will damage the river’s delta, which is a unique environment and one of UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserves. The European Commission replied that it will need “weeks or even months” to analyse the plan, which only guarantees that around 30% of the river’s volume of flow will reach the delta. According to scientific studies, such a volume of water is absolutely insufficient to preserve the Delta, which is a reserve for wildlife as well as a tourist and agricultural centre. The project foresees allocating almost 11,000 cubic hectometres of water per year upstream to irrigate 1.41 million hectares of fields, a third of them newly-created. Brussels is still waiting for Madrid’s documentation but the Commission warned that it will look at the plan “from all the possible angles”.