Through Avui I read that Renfe, the Spanish railway operator, has finally cancelled the high speed train line between the cities of Toledo, Cuenca and Albacete. The line has transported 2796 passengers in 6 months and had a daily maintenance cost of 18000 euros.
If we do the math it means that every ticket was subsidized with more than one thousand euros of public money. The cruelest side of the story is that this is only the tip of the iceberg. And while this is going on in Spain in …

The CEO, the department for opinion studies of the Catalan Government, has just published the results of the latest poll. It asks for the first time about what would voters do in a referendum of independence.
The results confirm what similar polls (like here) made in the last two years said, a clear win for Catalonia’s independence. 42.9% votes to yes, 28.2% no, 23.3% abstention and 4.4% doesn’t know. Meaning the yes would have a 60% support against a 40% for the no.
The link to the full report can be …

In order for CiU to approve this year’s Catalan budget they seem to have no choice but to reach an agreement with PP. Agreements which are now less understood by CiU’s voters. Because that would mean dealing with a party whose first measures taken since reaching power in the Valencian Country and Balearic Islands have been aimed at attacking the core of the Catalan language educational system. Even in Catalonia PP’s leader Alicia Sánchez-Camacho has demanded the dismantling of the Catalan immersion system in schools, following last …

article by Antoni Ferrando
Recently some world press published horror stories about the profligate Catalans, as a threat for Spain, in the wider context of the euro crisis. Catalan budget for 2011, even with a hefty cut of 10 per cent, doesn’t meet the deficit target. But this happens because that same Central Government that sets the target with one hand, blocks the funds to meet it with the other hand. Why do they do it? Probably the Catalans were expected to cut even more and demand less funding. But they …

Catalan President, Artur Mas, has travelled to Brussels this week to explain the state of the finances of the Generalitat to the president of the European Council, Hernan Van Rompuy. Mas has explained that Catalonia’s deficit will be 2.66%, above the 1.3% threshold set by Spain but that Catalonia has reduced its budget 10% and reducing it further would affect the Catalan’s people welfare since the Generalitat manages healthcare, education and culture, amongst other services. Mas also pointed out that the Generalitat’s deficit would meet with the Spanish target if …