October

Disagreements cause Catalonia’s ruling pro-independence coalition to break up while thousands turn out to mark 5th anniversary of October 1 referendum

1. Catalonia’s governing coalition broke up over disagreement about how hard to push for independence. The Together for Catalonia (Junts) party quit, arguing that president Pere Aragonès was not doing enough for separatism. Aragonès rejected the possibility of new elections and vowed to govern in minority.

2. Thousands of people turned out in the centre of Barcelona for the fifth anniversary of the referendum on independence held on 1 October 2017. During the event, many of the attendees expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of progress made by the pro-independence Catalan political parties.

3. As Europe’s energy crisis deepened due to a reduced supply of Russian gas amid the Ukraine conflict, Spain, France and Portugal agreed to build a gas pipeline between Barcelona and Marseille, dubbed the BarMar pipeline, which will take five years to build and will also transport green hydrogen.

4. FC Barcelona midfielder and captain of the club’s womens team, Alexia Putellas became the first woman to win the Ballon d’Or for two years in a row. Last season, Putellas scored 34 goals and got 21 assists in 43 games, finishing top scorer in the Champions League with 11, and third in La Liga with 18 goals.

October

The business of benefiting society

The business of benefiting society.

This issue focused on the growth of the social and solidarity economy, in which a rising number of cooperatives and companies are putting the common good ahead of profit, and showing that there is another way of doing business.