The Government and ERC are aware that they are assured of the band and band of a bullfight. The main folder that he had was the new financial model that, in parallel, was negotiated by the Spanish government. In fact, the Catalan side, in this negotiation, goes on a common front because the principle of order is guaranteed in the new system, always for Catalonia. There was a relationship of trust that, after the No d'Oriol Junqueras to negotiate the budgets, has been touched. Esquerra considers that the PSC "has not done its duty" to put pressure on the PSOE because it transfers the recapture of personal income tax; Instead, the Government believes that the Republicans have changed their position and are demanding more guarantees than those they initially demanded. Unfortunately, both parties have responded to contacts this week to try to resolve the situation. Finally, they have all given more room to negotiate and have extended the term to present reports to the totality of the comptes: the final debate will be on March 20.

The Spanish government is making a move. The Secretary of State for Transport, José Antonio Santano, announced on Monday an agreement with the Catalan government to expand the Commuter Rail Plan and assured that "it must reach 8 billion euros." The current investment, established until 2030, is around 6.3 billion euros, of which some 2.5 billion have already been spent; therefore, this would represent an additional investment of 1.7 billion euros for commuter rail. In an interview with ACN, Santano explained that more details will be given "shortly" in a public appearance. This is, therefore, the second major decision of the day after a week of rail chaos in Catalonia. The first was the dismissal of the Commuter Rail Operations Director, Josep Enric Garcia Alemany, and the Adif Operations Director, Raúl Míguez Bailo, announced minutes after the Catalan government demanded them. And these, Santano explained, will be, for now, the only ones. "They haven't lived up to expectations," he pointed out, referring to the role of Renfe and Adif in the railway crisis. "We don't want to point fingers, but it was undeniable that, if we want to move forward, there had to be a turning point and an acceptance of responsibility," he added. As the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has done on other occasions, Santano acknowledged that the commuter rail network is old and has suffered "many years of underinvestment." The solutions, he indicated, "aren't immediate." "We need time for an investment of this magnitude and those we have pending to provide the system that Catalonia needs," he stressed. In this regard, he noted that 330 workers are currently working on-site to reinforce the tracks and the railway infrastructure in anticipation of another week in which rain is also expected. Centered on Adamuz

According to Santano, Transport Minister Óscar Puente's absence from Catalonia is due to the fatal accident a week ago in Córdoba. "He is focused" on the Adamuz accident, which left 45 dead, he explained. "We must stop making noise and get down to solving things," he maintained, ruling out the possibility that Puente should resign for his handling of the two rail crises of recent days. Regarding relations with the Catalan government, he doesn't believe this crisis has damaged them. In fact, he sees an "opportunity to improve" and believes that collaboration with the Catalan government has emerged "strengthened." When asked about a possible acceleration of the timetable for the transfer of the commuter rail network, he indicated that they would have to discuss it with the Catalan government, but made it clear that they don't feel the established plan is "slow." "The transfer is underway," he concluded.

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Fatal accidents. Landslides. Sinking structures. Questionable maintenance. Lack of investment. Mutinous train drivers. These are just some of the issues that have characterized this tragic week on the Catalan rail network, which ends with a fatal accident in Gelida (preceded by another in Córdoba), three landslides, the collapse of two retaining walls (in Gelida and Pineda), and dozens of minor breakdowns. This unfortunate series of events has led the Generalitat – the body responsible for the service – to announce another shutdown of the entire system this Saturday morning. This has left Catalonia without rail service.More than 1,400 kilometers of track, but no trains.

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The lack of investment in commuter rail is one of the reasons commonly cited to justify its poor performance. And there is concrete data to support this. According to the latest official figures, between 2010 and 2023 – the most recent data available – only one out of every two euros budgeted was invested in both infrastructure and trains.

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AstraZeneca has launched its own hub global in Barcelona, ​​in the Estel building, formerly occupied by Telefónica. The company's president in Spain, Rick R. Suárez, took advantage of the inauguration ceremony to ask the Spanish government for "agility, stability, and a long-term vision" to guarantee the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical and scientific sectors. He made these remarks during the opening of this headquarters at an event also attended by President Salvador Illa; the Minister of Health, Mónica García; and the Mayor of Barcelona, ​​Jaume Collboni, among other high-ranking officials.

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A shift in priorities. Criteria, La Caixa's investment arm, plans to have an investment capacity of up to €8 billion in companies and funds and will make up to €4 billion in dividends available to its parent company, the La Caixa Foundation, for social programs, research, scholarships, and culture between now and 2030. These are the pillars of Criteria, which holds the largest portfolio of corporate holdings in Spain, valued at over €37 billion. The company, chaired by Isidre Fainé, like the foundation, "will focus its investments on projects centered on obtaining recurring, sustainable, and responsible returns. It will also promote value creation in its portfolio companies with a long-term vision." The holding company's priority, which will maintain a 30% stake in CaixaBank, is "to preserve and increase the Foundation's assets."

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The Catalan pharmaceutical company Rubió has invested 14 million euros in the expansion of its production plant in Castellbisbal (Vallès Occidental). The expansion will double the current production capacity of approximately 10 million units to 20 million units, the company reported.

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Miura Partners has announced that it will invest in Grupo PMP, a company specializing in industrialized residential construction. The transaction will be completed through a capital increase via the Miura Impact Fund. With this initiative, Miura strengthens its commitment to a strategic sector with an environmental impact, such as industrialized construction.

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The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, has come to Barcelona to deliver a message of calm. "There is money and there are many projects underway," he said at a meeting with business leaders at the Círculo de Economía (Economic Circle), before outlining the main initiatives and investments his ministry has planned for Catalonia; some as complicated and historic as the transfer of the commuter rail network, the expansion of the airport, and the improvement of access to the port.

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Despite their dedication to producing solar energy, it's a tough sell in the world of small photovoltaic investors. In addition to the retroactive cuts in remuneration—first approved by the Socialist governments in 2010 and subsequently consolidated and aggravated by the PP governments starting in 2012, with changes to the rules and turning the "Official State Gazette" into a dead letter—are the effects of regulation, which reduces the current amount many producers are currently experiencing. This is a positive situation for consumers thanks to the influence of renewables and the contributions these pioneers made, but it is now penalizing them, while large investors are not suffering because they have greater financial strength and can take advantage of economies of scale. "They're forcing us out of the market. Many have had to sell off," complain the small investors, who number around 62,000 families, some 8,500 in Catalonia, especially in rural areas, and are demanding solutions from the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

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The poor implementation of the State's budget in Catalonia is an endemic issue that has been dragging on for years. The Generalitat (Catalan government) has long been pushing to create mechanisms to ensure that state investments actually materialize, but so far it has been to no avail. an "observatory" to "monitor the main investments" that the State makes in CataloniaHowever, this is more of a tool of pressure than control, because the State is not represented; the idea was to include part of the Catalan economic fabric and also the political parties with the greatest representation in Parliament.

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The Spanish government has increased its average real investment in Catalonia by approximately €158.9 million annually since Pedro Sánchez took office, compared to the period under Mariano Rajoy. This increase is due, in part, to the rise in investment in Catalonia that appears in the general state budget since Sánchez took office. In fact, the fact that the total budgeted investment has grown more than the total investment actually invested means that the current government's execution rate is significantly lower than that of the previous PP administration.

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The Spanish state approved projects and budgeted infrastructure works worth €35bn in Catalonia, which, on the other hand, have not yet been carried out. This is the calculation made by the Catalan employers' association Foment del Treball after analysing and comparing the initial budget of works announced with their final result over the last 12 years (between 2009 and 2020). According to Foment, this figure should be public since it "totally distorts the state budgets", since the works which have not been carried out "are appearing year after year in the budget" without an assessment of the real state of the works or what has already been invested and what has not.

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