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the CiU actually won, though not with a workable majority.The upshot was the
same left-leaning coalition as before, with
José Montilla
of the PSC as the new
president – interestingly, a native of Córdoba province in the deep south,Montilla
is the first president of the Generalitat to have been born outside Catalunya.
Meanwhile, a pointer to future Catalan politics is the emergence of the new
Ciutadans
(Citizens) party, a left-leaning, non-nationalistic grouping that takes
exception to the official exclusive promotion of all things Catalan (especially
language). It won three seats in the 2006 parliamentary election, offering a less
partisan, social democratic view of how Catalunya might develop.
Economic development
Along with the Basque Country and Madrid, Catalunya is one of the most pros-
perous regions in the country. The number of firms in Barcelona accounts for
fifteen percent of all the companies in Spain, while around a fifth of all new firms
starting business in Spain do so in Catalunya. Barcelona is Europe’s most popular
convention site and the continent’s number-one port for cruise ships, while the
airport is in Europe’s top ten for passenger numbers. Catalunya boasts the highest
GDP of all Spain’s autonomous communities, attracts almost a quarter of Spain’s
total inwards investment, and has Europe’s largest savings bank, La Caixa.
Tourism
is an important factor, accounting for sixteen percent of Catalunya’s
GDP, with over twelve million visitors a year now coming to the region. Other
major employers are telecommunications, metal products, and chemical and phar-
maceutical industries, though it’s as a self-proclaimed “
city of knowledge
” that
Barcelona is now positioning itself, attracting an increasing amount of information
and communications technology business, as well as big-budget biotechnology and
aerospace companies. MareNostrum, Spain’s most powerful supercomputer, for
example, is located in Barcelona, not Madrid, while the Catalan city also hosts the
annual MobileWorld Congress (3GSM), the world’s biggest wireless communica-
tions trade fair.
The
1992 Olympics
are still regarded as a turning point in the city’s recent
history. They were an important boost, involving radical restoration of the
old-town and port areas and prompting massive new developments – at a pace
that the city has endeavoured to maintain ever since. In recent years, among
countless other ambitious projects, this has meant the complete renovation
of the
Port Vell
neighbourhood, a cleanup of
El Raval
, the development of
Diagonal Mar
and the
Fòrum
convention and leisure site, and the ongoing
regeneration of
Poble Nou
as part of the so-called
Project 22@
. This last
project alone has already attracted more than a thousand companies and created
over 30,000 jobs, with new social-housing schemes to follow.
Other
current development schemes
include the complete remodelling of
the Glòries district, the further expansion of the city’s airport and metro system,
the completion of a high-velocity train (AVE) link with Madrid and France, and
concomitant building of a new transport interchange at Sant Andreu-Sagrera,
and the transformation of the Arenes bull ring into a city gateway and leisure
centre. Over the next decade, massive new city
business and residential areas
are also being planned near the port and by the river Besòs – all evidence that
Barcelona’s economic development is far from finished.
Immigration
While immigrants from elsewhere in Spain have long settled in Barcelona
(indeed, were encouraged to do so by Franco to dilute Catalan nationalism),
those bearing the brunt of
racism
are the newcomers from North Africa, the
CONTEXTS
|
Barcelona snapshot