Representatives from Catalonia and four other communities –Andalusia, the Balearic Islands, Murcia, and the Valencian Community– met this Thursday with the European Commissioner for Fisheries, the Cypriot Costas Kadis, to demand that the fisheries proposals to be presented shortly by the European Commission for 2027 ensure the viability of the sector and coastal communities. In the same vein, the five territories have claimed from Brussels the "efforts" that fishermen have made in recent years to improve the state of fish stocks in the Mediterranean.

The Volkswagen Group's supervisory board approved the company's restructuring plan this Friday evening, which will involve the elimination of 50,000 jobs in Germany and the possible closure of four factories in the country—Emden, Zwickau, Hanover, and Neckarsulm—by 2030. The meeting's resolution was expected for this Friday, but the company advanced the result on Thursday evening. The group, however, did not explain tonight what the future of the Seat brand, controlled by Volkswagen, will be. The CEO of the Volkswagen Group, Oliver Blume, in a statement, celebrated the unanimous approval of the restructuring plan as a "decisive" signal for the company's future and announced million-euro investments for the coming years. The supervisory board includes representatives from the founding shareholder families, unions, and the government of Lower Saxony.

A big day at the Port of Barcelona. The Chinese company Hutchison Ports officially announced this Thursday the incorporation of two state-of-the-art cranes at the BEST container terminal, which accounts for 42% of the wealth generated by the entire infrastructure. According to the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, "they are much more than just two cranes, they are the difference between being a transit port or a gateway."

The Catalan business management and human resources software platform Factorial has acquired the German startup Empion, which specializes in the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to talent and human resources management, as part of the Catalan company's international expansion into Germany.

The Department of Economy and Finance of the Generalitat has decided to extend the mobile banking service in municipalities without an office until 2028 under the same conditions as until now. In this way, CaixaBank and Caixa Enginyers will continue to be responsible for offering this type of coverage to a total of 453 Catalan municipalities.

A month and a half of implementation has been enough to produce the first measurable effect: imports of small packages from China to the European Union have fallen by between 30% and 40%. This was communicated by the French Ministry of Economy, citing data from the country's customs. The 3 euro fee applied to each product category included in shipments from outside the EU, which came into force on July 1st, is achieving the goal for which it was designed: to curb a flow that in 2025 had reached unprecedented dimensions.

The housing crisis affects all of Europe, especially in large cities and the most densely populated areas. According to a study by the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien), 44% of Europeans with an average income level can only afford to buy a property of less than 50 square meters, that is, the equivalent of a one-bedroom apartment or a studio.

The rent cap has taken up almost all the media attention, but the declaration of a stressed residential market area (ZMRT) provides for other instruments to facilitate access to housing. This Wednesday, the Spanish government announced direct subsidies to these territories, as established by the state housing law: it intends to distribute 90 million euros among the five autonomous communities that have applied the measure. Of this figure, Catalonia will receive 60 million, as it concentrates 75% of the population living in an area where the housing market is stressed, and 85.5% of the municipalities.

Cirsa, a Catalan company in the gaming sector, announced this Wednesday its merger with the Italian group Lottomatica. According to the agreement, communicated to the National Securities Market Commission, the Catalan firm, of which Blackstone is the main shareholder, will be absorbed by its Italian counterpart, in a cross-border operation that will create one of the leading global companies in the gaming and sports betting sector. The resulting company sums a combined accessible market of 34 billion euros and an adjusted gross operating result of 2 billion euros. With these figures, the merged group will become the second largest listed gaming operator in the world.

Asabys has co-led a €15 million investment round for iPremom, a molecular diagnostics company dedicated to the early prediction of pregnancy complications. The round was led by Amadeus Capital Partners and also included Apax Ventures.

Catalonia closes the month of August with the now traditional rise in unemployment that marks the end of the summer season. According to the data published this Wednesday by the Spanish Ministry of Labor and Social Economy, the Principality ended the eighth month of the year with 329,468 job seekers, an increase of about 14,594 people compared to the month of July, 4.63% more. If compared with August 2025, it must be said, the rise is more controlled, with about 2,100 more unemployed people, an increase of 0.64%. In this way, the Catalan labor market moves away from the minimums it reached 12 months ago, when it registered 327,365 unemployed, the lowest figure since 2007.

Apple announces structural changes at its top. The CEO until now, Tim Cook, confirmed this Tuesday that he is handing over the reins to a new chief executive, a decade and a half after taking on the complicated task of succeeding the company's founder, Steve Jobs. He will be followed by John Ternus, until now vice president of hardware for the digital giant. The new era will be clearly marked by Apple's great challenge within the technological ecosystem: competing in the already crowded artificial intelligence market.

The defense and security company Indra has signed an agreement with the Sant Cugat-based Gutmar to promote the industrialization and manufacturing of critical components linked to the defense sector in Catalonia. The pact, as detailed by both companies in a statement this Tuesday, opens several lines of collaboration, including the industrialization and manufacturing of high-precision components for defense programs, mechanization to create critical parts for land, naval, and aerospace systems, and the production of mechanical infrastructures for radars, sensors, and electronic systems.

The Government approved this Tuesday a series of economic and financial support measures, which will be channeled through the Catalan Institute of Finance, for companies and businesses affected by African swine fever (ASF). The aid package, designed by the departments of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food; Business and Labor; and Economy and Finance; will have three lines of action: direct aid for companies located in high-risk municipalities that maintain restrictions on the natural environment; aid for pig slaughterhouses affected by regionalization – that is, from areas where they cannot export – and subsidized financing lines for pig farms affected by movement restrictions.

Mortgage loans were the main drivers of credit growth granted to Spanish households during the past month of July. According to data presented this Tuesday by the Bank of Spain, loans granted by financial entities to families and non-profit institutions across the State totaled 723,867 million euros, 3% more than in July of last year.

The summer of historic results in tourism that the sector predicted in spring. This July, spending by foreigners in Catalonia has for the first time exceeded the threshold of 3.7 billion euros, according to data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Tuesday. The increase in total spending has also been reflected in the average consumption of each visitor, which has also reached a new high, surpassing 1,500 euros per stay for the first time.

September 1st marks the beginning of the political, social, and educational year. One could also speak of a new school year for household economies which, in 2026, appears to be tough, with a generalized price increase that directly impacts families' spending power, after a particularly expensive summer mainly due to the rising cost of energy.

Parlem's board of directors has agreed to dismiss the company's executive president and founder, Ernest Pérez-Mas. According to a statement sent to BME Growth, the stock exchange for SMEs, the governing body of the Catalan telecom company has decided to dispense with its founder. His replacement as non-executive chairman will be lawyer Sílvia Martínez Losas. In the same communication, the company informs that Pérez-Mas will remain on the board as non-executive vice-chairman.

The Spanish stock exchange operator BME allows Holaluz to list on the stock exchange again from tomorrow, Tuesday. The Catalan company will rejoin the BME Growth market – the stock market for SMEs – once the ministry's procedure for Ecological Transition, which could have resulted in its disqualification as an energy marketer, has been archived.

The twelve-month daily Euribor, the reference for variable-rate mortgages, closed August at an average of 2.952%, close to the 3% level it reached on some days of the month that is ending and which had not been seen since September 2024. On the last session of August, the one-year daily Euribor reached 3.003%. As a consequence of this trend, those whose mortgage loan review is this month will see their monthly installment increase by an average of 80.32 euros, up to 936.76, and about 963 euros annually.