In 1961, a group of residents from L'Eixample were looking for tables and chairs to stage their amateur theatre play. On Muntaner street, in a Barcelona still under construction, an ambitious and restless entrepreneur, Jaume Soler, saw an opportunity and embarked on an adventure. Why not offer a service to provide materials for one-off events? What began 65 years ago as a neighborhood project has grown to unimaginable proportions. Three generations later, that company called Dasler has become a benchmark in furniture rental and has provided tables for events such as the wedding of Infanta Cristina and Iñaki Urdangarin, the visits of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI to the Catalan capital, and the "vip area at Rosalía's latest concert.

Manufacturing is a source of quality employment, that is to say, of good salaries. It is therefore tempting to contemplate an attractive future for the Catalan economy as a smoke-free version of Català-Roca's photographs of a Poble Nou full of factories. I believe, however, that this will not be the case and that the combined forces of technological changes and internal and external competition will consolidate the historical trend towards a loss of manufacturing's weight in quality employment.

As a child, he imitated the actors from TV3's Polònia and the impersonators from Versió RAC1. What then seemed like a utopian dream, to dedicate himself to imitating public figures, has ended up becoming Xavi Espinosa's profession. Today he makes a living by voicing well-known characters.

The landscape surrounding Alcantarilla is arid and wide, until it meets the Murcian mountains. Along the way, highways, roundabouts, plots of land to be urbanized, and a few industrial warehouses are scattered. In this municipality, next to the city of Murcia, the 44,000 inhabitants coexist with a mosaic formed by the orchard, industry, and logistics. In the San Andrés business park, a huge red warehouse owned by PepsiCo attracts all eyes. What is this American giant doing in this corner of the Murcian orchard? It transforms tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers into the gazpacho of one of its brands: Alvalle.

The mining company Rare Earth Norway (REN) revealed last month that the presence of rare earth metals in the Fensfeltet deposit (located in southern Norway) was 80% greater than calculated two years ago, exceeding 15.9 million tons. From the mining town of Ulefoss, REN director Alf Reistad, who holds the exploitation rights, explained that he had many reasons to be happy: “This makes the deposit one of the largest rare earth deposits in the world. It could be of great strategic importance for Europe,” he said.Rare earths are composed of 17 metallic elements that are not particularly rare in reality, but are used for the manufacturing of electric cars, wind turbines, microchips, and in the production of weaponry, among many other things. Their demand is projected to increase exponentially in the coming decades, which is why the European Union has set the goal of covering at least 10% of internal demand by the year 2030. But in practice, this horizon seems unlikely, as today the extraction and processing of rare earths by European countries is zero.In this regard, the challenge for Europe is to stop depending on China, which until now supplies 98% of these precious minerals, a relationship that is considered strategically dangerous for the interests of the Old Continent's industry. This situation has led to Norway's deposit being classified “as of strategic importance” by the European Commission. However, despite the discovery, which has been dubbed “the new oil”, the Fensfeltet mine could end up never being exploited.Reducing dependence on China

In a phone call with ARA, Reistad now admits he is impatient: “It is time to stop talking so much and act to get the rare earth extraction up and running,” he says. According to the mining company REN, the deposit in Norway could significantly help reduce dependence on China, as it “could supply 30% of the EU's need for rare earths,” Reistad explained. The company's hope was that the mine could start operating from the year 2030, but fear of the financial risk of carrying out the exploitation and environmental objections are getting in the way: “Unless the Norwegian authorities, the European Commission, and the EU member states mobilize, these resources, which are considered critical raw materials by Brussels, may never be extracted,” Reistad warned.At the Fensfeltet deposit, the minerals are buried 500 meters under a volcano that has been dormant for 580 million years. REN's plan is to build an underground mine and transport the extracted ore through a tunnel to a nearby area, where it will be separated and processed, while the remaining earth will be returned to the mine to prevent the ground from sinking.However, it has been difficult for the company to find a site for a waste disposal facility so far. The old volcano area is rich in wildlife and is home to 78 protected species of beetles, butterflies, and lichens. In early April, the Norwegian government announced that it was taking responsibility for planning the mine's construction and assessing its impact, but environmental reports have indicated that the operation would severely damage vegetation and animals.The mining company REN admits that there is a dilemma, as, according to Alf Reistad, “it must be considered whether it is a priority to allow the destruction of natural space in order to extract the rare earth metals that Europe needs so much.” Reistad justified the development of the deposit by the fact that “after all, rare earth metals will be used to manufacture electric cars and wind turbines that reduce the impact of gas emissions on the climate,” he said.Beyond the environmental issue, there is also a significant economic challenge. To maintain its monopoly position on rare earths, China provides financial support to its industry and can reduce mineral prices when it suits it to drive out competition, a practice known as dumping, according to Reistad.On the other hand, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, recently authorized an investment of 1.74 billion euros for two American companies involved in the extraction and processing of rare earths, a very significant public investment aimed at reducing their dependence on Chinese control.For the Norwegian deposit to be profitable, Alf Reistad warns that the European Union should provide financial support to ensure fixed minimum prices for the company responsible for the operation, in order to circumvent competition from China and the US. Reistad also advocated for the creation of a Norwegian public company to participate as a co-owner of the project, a proposal that the Oslo government has viewed favorably, although it has not yet made any decision on the matter: “For us, it is about the state participating by assuming part of the financial risk involved in a project that is not governed by normal market rules because the competitor is China,” Reistad stated.In conclusion, Reistad emphasizes that time is also a decisive factor in facing competition and, therefore, the project must be initiated without further delay. Despite everything, he admits with resignation: "In Europe, the average time to launch a project of this type is about 20 years from the discovery of the minerals."

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In any list of well-known whisky brands, you're very likely to find Jameson, an Irish brand that originated in the late 18th century when John Jameson left his native Scotland and moved to Dublin, where he dedicated himself to distilling this spirit. His descendants continued the work with great success, to the point that the family business has survived to this day, although now under the control of the French multinational Pernod Ricard. In 1966, Jameson joined forces with other distillers in the country to form the Irish Distillers brand, and twenty-two years later, this company passed into French hands.

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After Ángel Escribano left the presidency of Indra and his family exited the capital of the company now chaired by Àngel Simón, both Indra itself and EM&M, of the Escribanos, are strengthening their respective top management. Another notable change of the week is Ramon Alsina's promotion to the presidency of BonÀrea, replacing his father, Jaume Alsina.

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While international bodies this week called on Spain for stricter criteria for granting mortgages, the Bank of Spain has toned down the debate, assuring that it is not urgent and that if action is needed, it will be done in a “ surgical ” manner. But, at what point are we really?In theory, in Spain mortgages are limited to 80% of the lower value between the appraisal and the purchase price of the property. In practice, however, some entities finance up to 100%, especially for young people, in exchange for a higher interest rate or demanding additional guarantees. And this has a very high cost: an increase of one or two percentage points on a 25 or 40-year mortgage can end up costing tens of thousands of euros more in interest. Furthermore, unlike in other European countries, very long terms continue to be common in Spain, as they are not limited in years.And what about the rest of Europe? France, Germany, and Italy also typically limit financing to 80%, but with maximum terms of between 25 and 30 years. The United Kingdom raises the limit to 95% with a 30-year term, and the Netherlands is the most permissive case, with mortgages that can reach 100% of the property value. This comparison shows that Spain is already among the European countries with the most demanding criteria for granting real estate credit.The debate, however, is not only financial but also social. In a context of soaring housing prices and salaries that are not growing at the same rate, further tightening mortgage conditions could make it difficult for a generation that already has increasing problems to become independent to access homeownership. This time, I agree with the Bank of Spain when it says that this measure would put even more pressure on rental prices.

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In terms of budgets, it could be said that Catalonia is not (really) Spain. The balance of parliamentary forces will allow for them before summer. Specifically, so that they can be approved by Parliament in July. It only remains for ERC, which has convened a national council for Monday, to give it the go-ahead. The situation is perceived in the happy faces of some government members, especially the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero.

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While the debate on the energy transition in Catalonia often gets bogged down in the conflict between the territory and large private operators, in Osona and Lluçanès they have decided to write their own script. The Nova Energia Osona project has become one of the three finalists for the European Sustainable Energy Awards 2026, a nomination that enshrines a model based on public control and citizen participation that already brings together 50 municipalities and 175,000 inhabitants.

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In recent years, the role of immigration has been placed right at the center of the country's social debate. And, in economic terms, arguments for and against have suggested that it both enriches and impoverishes us. But, really, what are the jobs that immigrants hold in Catalonia? What type of foreigner has more weight in each sector? This year's extraordinary regulation has amplified the debate on whether demographic growth will or will not be sustainable in the long term. For now, a large part of the business community has not hesitated to position itself in favor, seeing foreign talent as the best way to fill the gaps in the Catalan labor market.

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Catalonia has for decades opted for a model of cultural policy focused on financing the supply. The main instrument has been editorial, audiovisual, and artistic subsidies. The logic of this model is sound. Many cultural activities generate high social value but have insufficient or too uncertain private profitability. Without public support, a part of the cultural production in Catalan would simply not exist.

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An uncontrolled cry. This is how Jorge Aragone remembers the day he discovered Casa Batlló. The same reaction at the MNAC when faced with Duchamp's The Great Glass. One gets goosebumps listening to the emotion that emanates from the memories and erudition of who is undoubtedly one of the greatest stained-glass artists we can find in Barcelona today. He has had his workshop for ten years on Carrer del Peu de la Creu. He offers his services for restoration and also for the creation of new work. It's easy to fall head over heels for one of the stained-glass windows hanging on the walls. Perhaps for a Corto Maltés, perhaps your favorite comic book character. Whenever he makes it, he sells it. And there have been quite a few.

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You enter a supermarket. First, you head to the candy aisle. On the shelves, there are bags of M&M's, the mythical chocolate pearls coated in colors; Snickers bars, made with peanuts and caramel; Twix, with crunchy cookies; Mars, fluffier and sweeter, and Maltesers, chocolate-covered balls. Now you turn towards the pet product area. The route continues with Pedigree cans for dogs and Whiskas for cats, bags of Catsan litter, and Royal Canin kibble. And when you're about to pay, next to the checkout, rows of little boxes of Orbit gum still catch your eye.At first glance, it might seem like a random assortment of brands you can find at the supermarket, but they all share the same owner. They are owned by Mars, one of the largest family-owned companies in the world: in 2024, it had a turnover of approximately 47 billion euros, according to its annual sustainability report. The figure coexists with another striking piece of data: Forbes placed the Mars family's fortune at around 117 billion dollars in 2024, just behind the Waltons, the heirs of Walmart, among the richest dynasties in the United States. But who are the Mars family and how did they found this empire?The origin: a Washington kitchen

The story begins in 1911 in a kitchen in Tacoma, Washington state. It was there that young Frank C. Mars began to manufacture and sell wholesale butter cream candies. As a child, his mother had taught him to hand-dip chocolates, and little by little, he had been perfecting the technique. The project, however, didn't last long, as local competition and difficulties in increasing production ended up stifling it.The leap came a few years later. In 1920, Frank C. Mars moved to Minneapolis and launched a new candy business, the Mar-O-Bar Company. There he began experimenting with more resistant chocolate bars and fillings, designed to better withstand transport and reach more customers. The first attempt, the Mar-O-Bar, did not quite work out: it was too delicate a product and did not withstand travel well. However, that failure made him realize that to grow, he didn't need a product that was simply good: it also had to be easy to manufacture, package, and distribute.In 1923 he stumbled upon what he was looking for: the Milky Way. The idea arose after a conversation between Frank and his son Forrest. It occurred to them to convert the taste of a malted milk shake, very popular in the United States at the time, into a chocolate bar that could be eaten with one's hands. The result was an immediate success. That bar not only boosted sales, but also changed the scale of the business. Mars went from being a candy maker with few aspirations to a company capable of hiring salespeople, expanding production, and starting to think about expanding.From Snickers to M&M's

The expansion gained momentum in the late twenties. In 1929, Mars moved to Chicago, a better-connected city with greater logistical capacity, and opened a production plant there. That same year, Forrest E. Mars, Frank's only son, officially joined the family business. Shortly after, in 1930, the company launched Snickers, which would eventually become one of its great global icons. In 1932, Forrest moved to the United Kingdom, from where he boosted the group's international expansion and consolidated the idea that would shape Mars' culture for decades: growing the company by thinking not only about the product but also about the relationship with employees, suppliers, and consumers.The new great leap arrived with M&M’s. In 1940, Forrest E. Mars returned to the United States and founded M&M Limited in New Jersey. A year later, the first M&M’s were produced for the U.S. Army, conceived as a sweet that was easy to transport and more resistant than conventional chocolate. In 1945, after World War II, the brand reached the general public. From then on, Mars was no longer just a bar company: it added new candy brands, entered the pet food business with products like Chappie, Whiskas, or Pedigree, and opened the door to other categories, such as rice. Today, Mars remains in the hands of the founding family.

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Another former politician changes jobs. Former PP minister Luis de Guindos will leave the European Central Bank and will begin collaborating with IESE. A week of changes at the top of GSMA Ltd., the company that organizes the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona: John Hoffman becomes president and will be replaced as CEO. And the changes also affect the Mobile World Capital Foundation, from which Francesc Fajula departs. Meanwhile, Banco Sabadell begins a new era with the replacement of its CEO.

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A 66.5%. This is the accumulated inflation we have suffered between the years 2000 and 2025. In only two of these years, the value of money has remained or increased. The rest of the time, our savings have been losing purchasing power. And you don't need to look twenty-five years back to notice it: you just have to think about the last five. The price of houses, cars, or even eggs has skyrocketed.

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"If I'm asked, I think the options between merging or not merging Puig Brands with the American Estée Lauder are at 50%.". This is the statement of a person who knows the negotiations between the two family beauty and fashion companies, which became known at the end of March. One of the points that makes it difficult to reach an agreement is the price of the Catalan group, which is worth around 10 billion euros, compared to Estée Lauder's 30 billion dollars (26 billion euros).

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The arms and defense industry is almost nonexistent in Catalonia. The Principality has never strived to play a relevant role in the large contracts of the Ministry of Defense, and the ministry has not been concerned with it being so. The reason: Catalonia has always been a hostile territory for this type of industry, and society has shown its opposition to this sector. No major manufacturer of military equipment has settled there, although some companies have been – and are – linked to it as suppliers.This does not mean, however, that anyone has been interested in growing this sector. “It is an unsatisfied desire”, summarized the researcher from the Delàs Centre Pere Ortega in a report in 2013. Ortega thus referred to the ambition of some companies and politicians to develop this industrial fabric already at that time. Today, more than a decade after the researcher's reflection, and in full European and Spanish rearmament, that desire is more alive than ever and satisfying it does not seem a chimera for those who pursue it: has it gone from taboo to idyll? The cornerstone is the current defense investment cycle: in 2025 alone, the State has mobilized at least 33 billion euros – a Sipri report places the figure at 40.2 billion– to reach 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) in defense, and the European Union has also opened the tap through special programs. This contrasts with the spending that has been allocated to the sector in recent years: “We are coming from a drought period,” says a senior executive from a defense company. Furthermore, this is a boom that will not end tomorrow: a voice that has been working in the sector for years estimates that it will last 48 months: “A year has passed and there are three more months of spending growth left.” For this reason, large companies (Indra, Navantia, Airbus, Escribano, or Santa Bárbara) plan to double their turnover by 2030, according to a report by the consulting firm EY published this week.

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Financial markets seem unfazed. Despite the war between the United States and Iran, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as the epicenter of the conflict, and repeated warnings from major international organizations about the risks of a prolonged escalation, the reaction has, for the moment, been one of containment. Or, at least, of a certain indifference. The world's main stock exchanges are trading near all-time highs, and in some cases continue to break records, as if the geopolitical background noise is being muffled by a confidence that, even today, is holding up better than many anticipated. It's not just a matter of markets: household behavior also doesn't seem particularly altered.The stock market is not always a good predictor of the economic future. Sometimes it is right, but it often underestimates risks, especially when they are complex or difficult to quantify. Is this the case? The economic dynamics of the main economies – also the Catalan one – remain relatively solid, at least for now. First-quarter corporate results have been, in general terms, positive and have reinforced the perception that global growth maintains a certain favorable inertia, despite the accumulation of shocks and uncertainties.To this optimism is added another key element: the growing expectation about the impact that artificial intelligence can have on productivity. Not in a distant future, but already today. The latest advances, both in capabilities and applications, fuel the perception of a far-reaching economic transformation, which is not limited to specialized technological sectors, but is beginning to extend to the economy as a whole. If you tried an AI application a few years ago –or even a few months ago– and it disappointed you, try it again. And if you haven't done so yet, the time has come. The qualitative leap is evident, and its transformative potential, difficult to ignore. You will be amazed!Macroeconomic data confirm that the economy is resisting better than could have been feared. In the Spanish case, GDP grew by 2.7% year-on-year in the first quarter, slightly above what had been forecast before the outbreak of the conflict. This growth is healthy and rests mainly on domestic demand, with a prominent role for household consumption and investment that consolidates the momentum of recent quarters. High-frequency indicators suggest that this inertia is being maintained, even though the conflict has already lasted two months: household spending continues to advance strongly, especially in items sensitive to confidence such as leisure, restaurants, or, more recently, fashion, furniture, and decoration.To all this is added a factor often forgotten, but key to understanding the reaction, so far contained, of the price of energy: before the outbreak of the conflict, global oil reserves were at historically high levels. It is true that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has generated a significant deficit in the global production of oil and gas – insufficient, at the moment, to meet demand – and that reserves are being reduced rapidly. But the starting point was relatively favorable.Finally, there is an implicit calculation –risky, but fundamental– that helps explain the markets' serenity. From the outset, they have assumed that the conflict would be short-lived. Perhaps because a prolonged scenario would end up having a serious impact on the global economy, also on the North American one, in a context marked, moreover, by the fall in popularity of the President of the United States a few months before the midterm elections. The fact is that oil and gas futures markets continue to anticipate a contained and time-limited price increase.It is, however, a risky calculation. The situation could turn sour, the conflict intensify and drag on. In this case, the scenario would change substantially: supply problems in some Asian or less resourced countries, a much less accommodating attitude from the markets, sustained tensions in energy prices and, finally, a clear impact on household budgets. We are not yet at this point. Time is running out, but, for the moment, the economy is holding up and looking the other way.

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Fluidra starts 2026 slowed by currency effects. Despite having closed a first quarter of "good performance", the company chaired by Eloi Planes has registered a slight decrease in net profit, over 4%, to 46 million euros, due to the weakness of the dollar. It should be recalled that the Catalan listed company concentrates more than 40% of its business in the United States and, therefore, the exchange rate with the North American currency affects the declared accounts. In fact, as indicated in a statement, earnings at constant exchange rates would rise by 6.4% compared to the same period in 2026. The same would happen with revenue, which remains stable at 564 million, but rises by 5.4% with a comparable dollar value.

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