Catalonia Today's blog

Saturday, 31 January 2009

President Companys' fascist sentence not to be nullified

The Spanish government announced yesterday that drafted the statement of recognition and restoration of the honour of the Catalan president Lluís Companys, executed by Franco in 1940. The President of the Generalitat, Jose Montilla, and Joan Saura had this "step forward" for the planned law of historical memory. For ERC, however, is a "farce" because it has no legal validity. In fact the execution decision from the Fascist Spanish illegal government still have all its legal force.

Friday, 30 January 2009

Montjuïc's funicular closed for maintenance

The funicular and cable car to Montjuïc close service to the public from next Monday until 20 February, both days inclusive, to carry out maintenance tasks. During this period, in which the infrastructure can not serve, will be a special bus service between the stops of Paral·lel and Montjuïc Park, which have the same schedule as the cable car, from two quarters of eight in the morning to eight o'clock in the evening. PHOTO: ORIOL DURAN

Thursday, 29 January 2009

The Mayor of Barcelona wants the State to guarantee Nissan loans

Barcelona's Mayor Jordi Hereu endorsed yesterday that the state guarantee Nissan loans, as had the Catalan minister of Labour, Mar Serna. The Japanese multinational company announced last week that requires the backing of the executive to achieve the money needed to ensure the continuity of the plant in Barcelona beyond 2012, and yesterday the Mayor insisted that the automotive industry is key to Barcelona and Catalonia. As it is, also insisted Hereu, the retail trade, threatened by the European directive that eliminates the restrictions to open malls in Catalonia.

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

The Olympic Stadium in Barcelona to be updated

Any strategic plan on the Lluís Companys stadium is, right now, eclipsed by the conclusion of the next European Athletics Championships. It will be the first competition of its kind being held in the state, and since the council is very important to your organization. An event of this nature, which has a strong media coverage, forced to make a general renovation to the Estadi Olímpic. 17 million euros will be spent to, among others, refer to the dressing rooms to enable new media and modernize the markers. The project, in short, tries to make a more functional facility built in 1929. (Photo:Oriol Duran)

Wednesday, 24 December 2008

Salamanca private documents return to Catalonia

The first private documents taken from Catalonia by Franco's nationalist forces in 1940, and kept in the Archivo General de la Guerra Civil Espanyola in Salamanca, returned to Catalonia's National Archive last Monday. The documents include 120 books, 75 of which were part of the private library of the writer, historian and politician Antoni Rovira i Virgili.
The rest of the documents, inlcluding private documents of political parties and various associations, are set to return to Catalonia in 2009.
More than 300,000 files and 1,000 photographs were taken by Franco's nationalist forces in 1940. Catalonian officials have campaigned for the return of the documents for more than 20 years.

Monday, 22 December 2008

Catalan investors buy a part of Spanair

The tourism group Consorci de Turisme de Barcelona and Catalana d'Iniciatives, a private equity group, will buy a part of Spanair, announced the Scandinavian airline operator SAS AB. The Stockholm-based company said it had signed an initial agreement with the Catalan investors. A final agreement is expected by January 31, SAS said. SAS has been trying to sell Spanair, Spain's second-largest airline after Iberia, for more than a year as the carrier struggles to turn a profit amid tough competition and a slumping Spanish economy.

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

House prices lowest in 50 years

New property prices are set to drop to their lowest level in almost 50 years, recent studies warn. Real estate experts are now predicting a drastic drop in residential construction next year, meaning that only 150,000 homes will be built in the whole of Spain, which is the fewest since 1960. This situation will certainly have a negative effect on employment as well. Studies say that one million people working in the real estate and construction businesses are likely to lose their jobs next year.

Friday, 5 December 2008

Pottery fair in Quart

The village of Quart, near Girona, has become popular for its first-quality pottery. 43 potters and ceramists from all the corners of Catalonia will gather at the 19th annual Fira Mercat de la terrissa catalana from December 6-8. Visitors to the fair will have the opportunity to see the different traditional techniques used by locals to make various kinds of pottery, such as rakú, or just practise their skills with the clay. Declared an area of artesanal interest, Quart has known how to use its geographical location (the village is located in an area with an extremely clayey ground) to build a long tradition in pottery -making. Quart is especially famous for the black ceramics, the terrissa negra.

Ever-green fir trees at Espinelves Christmas fair

What would be Christmas without a tree? For all those in love with the festive season, Espinelves (Osona)celebrates the traditional Fira del Avet, its annual fir tree festival, from December 6-14. Espinelves has become famous for this rural Christmas fair, over 25 years old. Visitors can choose from a myriad of fir trees, as well as Christmas decorations and crafts, exhibitions and street shows. http://www.espinelves.com/

Plastic bag controversy goes on

The three members of the Catalan government don't seem to agree on the hot issue of plastic bags. While ICV-EUIA goes for the elimination of the bags, the other members of the government propose to charge customers for plastic shopping bags beginning with next year. The three left-wing parties need time to clear their thoughts and have given themselves six months to take a mutual decision. A special commission including government experts in environment, businesses, customers and other groups will be created to help them reduce the use of the environmental-damaging plastic bags. The deadline is June 2009.

Thursday, 4 December 2008

Explosion in Gavà

A gas explosion injured 24 people, 16 of them seriously, and killed a 60 year-old woman in a block of flats near Barcelona in northeast Catalonia on Wednesday. An accumulation of gas in the lower part of the three-storey block in the town of Gava could have set off the explosion, the spokeswoman for the interior ministry of the Catalan government said. The blast happened around 3am and at least four children were among the injured.The building was almost completely destroyed by the blast and a subsequent fire. Around 50 people living in neighbouring blocks of flats had been evacuated as a precaution.

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

Joan Baptista Humet dies aged 58

Catalan singer-songwriter Joan Baptista Humet died Monday in Barcelona of stomach cancer, aged 58. Humet's songs, such as Que No Soy Yo , Terciopelo, and Gemma, among others, put to music the difficult years of Spanish transition, and became instant hits. Soon after, his songs Busco una Flor, Hojas, Clara, Hay que Vivir and Terciopelo, turned him into one of the most symbolic singer-songwriters of the 1980s.

Sunday, 30 November 2008

El Punt newspaper celebrates the fifth anniversary of its Barcelona's edition

Five years ago, November the 30th, El Punt published the first issue of its Barcelona`s edition. It was the opening of a new era for the newspaper, a milestone in the company's mission of achieving a Nation-wide Catalan newspaper. El Punt Barcelona was the result of months of preparatory works from a large team of journalists. Five years later, El Punt is the country's #1 newspaper written in Catalan by circulation and by readers.

Saturday, 29 November 2008

Brown worried about plunged retail sales in UK

Another front in his war against the crisis worries PM Gordon Brown, as British retail sales plunged in November at their joint-fastest pace since records began 25 years ago while a growing number of Britons predicted prices would fall, not rise, next year. Lending rates on dollar loans between banks rose for the second day running yesterday amid ongoing funding concerns despite the rescue of Citigroup Inc. earlier in the week. The rate on three-month loans in dollars — known as the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor — rose over 0.01 percentage points to 2.22 percent, according to the British Bankers’ Association.

Friday, 28 November 2008

Catalan novelist Juan Marsé, Premi Cervantes

The Catalan author Juan Marsé, the writer who best portrayed Barcelona's post-war period, won the Cervantes literary award, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honor. The prize, considered a Nobel for literature in Spanish, worth 125,000 euros, has been awarded to Marsé for the body of his entore work focusing on the hardships of life in post-civil war Spain. The author of Últimas tardes con Teresa was born in Barcelona in 1933. Last year the Cervantes prize went to Argentine poet Juan Gelman. Previous winners include Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Vargas Llosa and Carlos Fuentes.

Plastic bags to be banned in Catalonia

Catalonia's regional government is set to approve legislation that will ban all shops and supermarkets to give out plastic bags for free. From January next year, customers will have to pay for each plastic bag or bring their own shopping bag from home. This measure is meant to raise people's awareness on protecting the environment and follows the example of other coountries in Europe and the U.S.

Wednesday, 26 November 2008

Festival del Mil.lenni kicks off in Barcelona

From December 16 to April 27, the 10th festival Mil.lenni will be offering around thirty concerts in Barcelona. Venues include the Palau de la Música, Auditori, Auditori del Fòrum and Gran Teatre del Liceu. The festival boasts a long list of Catalan artists including Raimon, Antonia Font, Jarabe de Palo, Josep Carreras, Manu Guix, Nena Daconte, Roger Mas and La Locomotora Negra, among others. Other highlights include Michael Nyman, Enrique Morente, Paco Ibáñez, Noa, Goran Bregovic and Ainhoa Arteta. Mil.lenni will also bring Sara Baras and Josep Carreras, who will be singing together for the first time in Barcelona. The festival kicks off with the Gotan Project and closes with Pasión Vega, in a show specially designed for the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Three Mossos d'Esquadra sentenced to jail for torturing innocent immigrant

Barcelona's Audiència (High Court) has sentenced to six-and-a-half years in jail to three members of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) who tortured and threatened a Romanian man they confused with a thief in July 2006. On July 27, 2006, the Mossos d'Esquadra went to Lucian Paduraru's home, five days after a woman had identified him, although expressing her doubt, as the man who had robbed and assaulted her. According to the prosecutor in the case and eye witnesses, the officers beat Lucian Paduraru all over his body, and verbally abused him, threatened him and put a gun in his mouth to force him to confess. They also abused his girlfiend who was three months pregnant at the time. In recent years the Mossos d'Esquadra been the object of various allegations of police brutality and mistreatment. At present the three men are free and still working as police officers.

Tuesday, 25 November 2008

EU has its own Stimulus Package

Today the European Commission is presenting a huge stimulis plan to meet the looming economic downturn, with more than 130 billion euros in initiatives.

President José Manuel Durao Barroso said the plan is based on a "groundwork coordinated measures by member states, which are tailored to each specific situation."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel approved injetions of capital in Europe's biggest economy of 32 billion euros over the next two years.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants to lower its VAT from 17.5 to 15 per cent, starting next month, and even wants lower rates in some instances, such as restaurant bills.

All governments in Europe are facing the same challenge of preparing anti-crisis plans. Most choose from a menu that includes public works expenditures, tax cuts, monetary handouts, benefits for the families and other measures that can be applied fast.

Monday, 24 November 2008

Former Royal Navy officer accused of murder in Barcelona

A former Royal Navy officer has appeared in court in Catalonia accused of murdering a Scottish man in Barcelona last october. The body of Derek Cowan, 46, was discovered in his Catalonian apartment on 8 October. The Mossos d'Esquadra described his death as "violent".
William Madley, also 46, from Huddersfield, Yorkshire, was arrested by Mossos in Barcelona at the weekend after a five week search. He was sent to the city's Model prison to await trail after appearing before an investigating judge at a closed door hearing.
Mr Cowan's body was found at his apartment in the upmarket Eixample neighbourhood. The discovery was made by a German business associate of Mr Cowan, Andreas Langweider. Mr Madley is reported to have served in the Royal Navy aboard a nuclear submarine at Faslane for four years during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Police in Barcelona would not give any details of how Mr Madley was traced and arrested.

Monday, 28 July 2008

Prison population to hit 10,000

If the current growth trends hold steady, Catalonia's prison
population will exceed 10,000 by the end of 2008.
Currently, Catalonia's prisons are holding 9,845 inmates, according to
a study by the Departament de Justícia, up 4.78% since the end of
2007. The population of Catalonia increased 1.06% in that same period.
Of the total, 22.7% are in preventative custody awaiting trail, the
highest proportion in a decade. (Full story in printed edition).

Fewer tourists leave more cash

Despite an endless stream of worrying news about the economy,
Barcelona's tourism industry is still having its cake and eating it
too.
While in the first five months of 2008 the Catalan capital saw the
first decrease in tourists seen in a long, long time, the tourists who
are coming are spending more money. At last, the elusive hunt for the
"quality tourist" seems to have born fruit, although it is at least
partly due to the global economic slump that keeps some tourists at
home. (Full story in printed edition).

Interviews with statues

The human statues on Les Rambles are a longtime fixture of the city's
premier tourist thoroughfare. Residents often stride by without giving
a second look, but they are out there everyday, plying their curious
trade. What is it like to embody Julius Caesar or Che Guevara, a
Japanese World War II infantryman or an enormously fat lady? How do
they prepare, what do they think about and do they get bored? These
are some of the questions we asked the four human statues below. (Full
story in printed edition).

Neighbourhood renovation plan

Some €99 million from the Generalitat and a further €99 million from
municipal authorities around Catalonia have been earmarked for
renovation projects in 22 local areas for 2008, in line with the Llei
de barris, passed in 2004. (Full story in printed edition).

Beijing 2008: Catalan talent infiltrates Spain

There is no doubt that Catalonia has always acted as a hothouse for
domestic basketball talent. In recent years, however, the number of
home-grown players produced has been phenomenal. Even a glance at the
make-up of Spain's national squads reveals the dominance of Catalan
basketball players, with eight of the 15 players called up for
national duty in Beijing coming from Catalonia and a further eight
currently in the national reserve team. (Full story in printed
edition).

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