The largest energy cooperative in Europe is based in Girona. What began in 2010 as a project linked to the UdG seeking to break the oligopoly of the big electricity companies has managed to become a recognized player in the Catalan energy landscape and also in the State as a whole, with 87,000 members.

The Russian economy has faced pessimistic forecasts since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when a large part of Western countries gradually imposed all kinds of industrial and financial sanctions on it. Despite this, Moscow's narrative had been that the country's economy was holding up well to the economic shock, partly thanks to public investment and industrial activity resulting from the war, which offset the impact of the sanctions.

The digital euro project has been on the lips of all European institutions for years. Ever since it was proposed in 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) argued for its implementation, both to speed up payments between states in an increasingly digitized environment and to strengthen the strategic independence of the European Union. But six years later, public ignorance of the project remains high. According to a survey by the Foundation of Savings Banks (Funcas) published in February, only one in four Spaniards understands what it consists of.

Xavier Fitó (Barcelona, 1972) is a businessman with an extensive career linked to the seed sector and a strong defender of innovation in the field. The executive, who claims the role that the agri-food sector must continue to play within the Catalan economy, maintains that the agronomists of the future must be capable of assuming functions "of lab coat, boots, and tie".

Albert Sorrosal (Barcelona, 1964) has been working for over thirty years in companies advising on and auditing European funds, particularly of a regional nature. Among other things, he is an external consultant for the Directorate-General for Regional Policy of the European Commission itself and is currently focused on European Union funding programs in Ukraine, through the German company TESIM. We interview him to discuss the European Commission's new proposal for the next European multiannual budgets (2028-2034), which affects the governance of funds allocated to regional cohesion policies.

Ficosa workers begin an indefinite strike in protest of the dismissals planned by the company. This Thursday, union representatives and the company met to renegotiate the impacts, and the number of dismissals was reduced from the initial 172 to 113. Specifically, the reduction was made through two channels: on one hand, the automotive components company agreed to transform the impacts in the engineering department into an ERTO (Temporary Employment Regulation File) of 18 months for 38 workers. And, on the other hand, of the 125 dismissals planned for the production plant, the figure has been reduced to 113.

In August, holidays. The Spanish Federation of Professional Associations of Tax Technicians and Tax Advisors (Fettaf) has asked the Ministry of Finance to declare this "month an inoperative period for tax and administrative deadlines". This organization, made up of 12 associations from across the country, has written to the ministry, but also to the Secretary of State for Finance and to the different parliamentary groups in the Congress of Deputies, to request several matters. These include, in addition to requesting a break in August, also adjusting the IRPF tariff to inflation (indexation) – which has only been approved on two occasions in the last 20 years – or extending the objection period from 10 to 25 days.

The refusal of the Spanish big banks to back Enrique Riquelme's candidacy for the presidency of Real Madrid has pushed the businessman to knock on the doors of foreign financial institutions, and with only a few hours left before the deadline to present a project with substance expires – he has until this Saturday, May 23, at midnight – negotiations remain open. This is the case of Andbank España – the Spanish subsidiary of the Andorran bank Andbank –, with whom Riquelme was finalizing a guarantee this Friday afternoon, according to financial sources speaking to ARA. However, the businessman has also looked across the Atlantic and has knocked on the door of Scotiabank (Canada), as reported by Expansión. This firm is not unknown to Riquelme, as it was part of the banks that financed the purchase by Cox, the energy company he chairs, of the subsidiary that Iberdrola had in Mexico.

After almost three months of budget negotiation, ERC and Comuns have managed to commit 893 million euros from the 2026 budget, 1.8% of the Generalitat's total spending of 49,162 million euros. Broadly speaking, however, the main figures of the accounts that the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, brought to Parliament this Friday are the same as in February: 49,162 million euros in budget spending, 4,146 million in investments, and 329.6 million in deficit (0.1% of GDP). Even the dossier presented as a summary of the project approved by the executive council this same Friday has been practically identical to the one from February. Where do these 893 million come from, then?

The Barcelona City Council plans to raffle 598 protected housing units (HPO) during 2026, more than 80% of which will be for rent. According to information obtained by the newspaper ARA, they are divided into twelve developments, and the council will hold a raffle for each one. To date, Barcelona has already held five, which have served to distribute 246 apartments, 41.13% of the total. A raffle is planned for this May, one in June, one in September, a couple in November, and two more in December.

The Spanish economy is holding its ground despite the impact of the war in the Middle East, but it is not without risks. This is one of the main conclusions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) economists in their annual report on the Spanish economy, the so-called Article IV, in which they launch a series of recommendations to the Spanish government, starting with the need to carry out fiscal consolidation to help strengthen public finances.

The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda has set itself the goal of ending abusive practices in rental contracts. Now, in addition to pursuing large real estate companies –These clauses are those that have been declared judicially or legally abusive and that form part of the complaints usually filed by tenants.

The market punishes Puig for broken talks for the merger with Estée Lauder. The Catalan multinational of premium beauty has plummeted more than 13% on the day after the talks ended without an agreement. At Friday's market close, the stock fell to 15.18 euros, after closing on Thursday evening at around 18 euros. With this move, the titles of the perfume multinational are moving further away from the price of the stock market debut it undertook in 2024, around 24.5 euros. Estée Lauder shares, on the contrary, show a strong recovery: around 12 noon in New York, two hours after the start of the session, they were up 9.4%, to 86.3 dollars.

The Catalan company specialized in the development of sustainable microchips, Ideaded, is already executing the investment of 9.5 million euros made by the Spanish government at the end of 2025. The firm has dedicated the public funding to expand its facilities in Viladecans (Baix Llobregat), with an improvement of its clean room. The expansion of the short-run chip manufacturing area is already in the award process, as confirmed in a statement, and will be completed in November. The intervention is part of the company's industrial and technological plan, which also includes acquisitions of machinery and new hires of specialized profiles in the world of semiconductors.

The Spanish Minister of Digital Transformation, Óscar LópezSpanish Minister of Digital Transformation, Óscar LópezIn his speech at the event, López called for "empowering Europe" to earn a place in "the industrial revolution that is changing the shape of the world." Although the leadership of these transitions is far from the 27 – the United States and China are benchmarks – the minister has championed a Spanish innovative fabric that "shines in disruptive technologies." In this regard, he highlighted the role of the Catalan technological institute, both in research and in the technological transfer of these new capabilities. The ICFO, he recalled, has already generated fourteen spin-off companies that are active in the market, and "projects like PIXEurope help to ensure that this trend continues."

The Supreme Court partially rules in favor of those autonomous communities that filed an appeal against the single registration of short-term housing by the Spanish government, as they believed it encroached on regional competencies. In a ruling published this Thursday, and in response to an appeal filed by the Generalitat Valenciana (Andalusia also filed one), the high court annuls the measure because it considers that the State does not have the authority to create such a tool.

As Pedro Sánchez announced at the end of last year, the Spanish government has set the goal that, by 2035, no more combustion vehicles will be sold. To achieve this, the head of the executive presented the Auto Spain 2030 Plan, also called the Auto+ plan, which, through 25 measures comprised in five pillars, aims to boost innovation in the automotive industry in Spanish territory. This Thursday, at an event held at Casa Seat in Barcelona, the sector presented the opportunities that the plan can create in Catalonia. "We have a historic opportunity to lead the new era of mobility," assured the CEO of Seat and Cupra, Markus Haupt.

Elon Musk is preparing a new operation to shake up Wall Street. SpaceX, his aerospace company, revealed its IPO prospectus this Wednesday. Just hours after the judicial defeat against OpenAI founder Sam Altman, the richest man in the world seeks to achieve two unprecedented milestones: SpaceX's would be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, through which it hopes to raise around 80 billion dollars; and the firm would become the first in history to assault the market with a total valuation exceeding one trillion dollars.

While the eurozone continues to register an anemic economic growth, Spain remains the major economy that is growing the most. Brussels has improved the State's economic forecasts and estimates that this year it will increase its gross domestic product (GDP, the indicator that measures the size of an economy) by a tenth more than it had predicted, 2.4%. A percentage that far exceeds the average of 0.9% for the countries of the single currency and 1.1% for the European Union as a whole.

The Spanish government announced this Thursday a new sanctioning procedure against a "large real estate company" – the executive refuses, for the moment, to make its name public – for allegedly violating consumer rights in housing matters. It is the fourth procedure on this issue opened during the legislature, which began three years ago, according to sources from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs confirmed to the newspaper ARA.