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Viewing cable 10BARCELONA20, BARCELONA BRIEF - A TWICE MONTHLY ROUNDUP OF POL/ECON

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
10BARCELONA20 2010-02-22 09:36 2011-08-24 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Barcelona
VZCZCXRO9403
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHLA #0020/01 0530936
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 220936Z FEB 10
FM AMCONSUL BARCELONA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1266
INFO RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 1227
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0008
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 1453
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BARCELONA 000020 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/WE MCKNIGHT AND ZERDECKI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SP FR AN PGOV PNAT PREL KCOR ECON EINV ELAB
SUBJECT: BARCELONA BRIEF  - A TWICE MONTHLY ROUNDUP OF POL/ECON 
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE BARCELONA CONSULAR DISTRICT 
 
BARCELONA 00000020  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
BARCELONA MAYOR TRIGGERS CONTROVERSY WITH 2022 WINTER OLYMPIC 
BID 
 
1. (U)  Barcelona Mayor Jordi Hereu's announcement that the city 
will bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics has sparked tension with 
the neighboring autonomous community of Aragon, which also seeks 
to host the Games.  Hereu's surprise announcement last month 
caught many off guard, as Aragon's capital city, Zaragoza, had 
announced last October that it would submit a bid with the 
Pyrenees mountain towns of Jaca and Huesca to host the 2022 
Games.  Aragon officials are perturbed as Barcelona's plans to 
enter the Olympic fray present unexpected competition, and is 
indicative of a long standing historical rivalry between Aragon 
and neighboring Catalonia.   Hereu, meanwhile, faces internal 
opposition, as the leftist eco-socialist party Initiative for 
Catalonia Greens (ICV) and the Catalonia Republican Left (ERC) 
parties both oppose the bid.  ICV and ERC are partners with 
Hereu's Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC) in the ruling 
tripartite government, but fault Hereu for not having consulted 
with other political leaders before making his Olympic 
announcement.  Leaders from the opposition Popular Party (PP) 
and the center- right Convergence and Union Federation (CiU) 
have also expressed skepticism over Hereu's Olympic ambitions. 
Hereu is officially visiting Vancouver during the current Winter 
Games to further pursue Barcelona's bid.  If successful, 
Barcelona would be the first city to host both the Summer and 
Winter Games.  Zaragoza and Jaca failed in their attempt to host 
the 2014 Winter Games. 
 
 
 
FOOTBALL CLUB BARCELONA PRESIDENT TESTS POLITICAL WATERS 
 
2. (U)  Joan Laporta, president of the immensely popular 
Football Club Barcelona (FCB), is flirting with entering 
politics, with an eye on the Catalonia presidency to be 
contested this fall.  Laporta is a Catalan nationalist strongly 
in favor of Catalan independence.  Laporta's popularity in 
presiding over what many consider to be one of the greatest 
soccer teams of all time has potential political rivals 
concerned of his impact on the fall elections.  Several 
scenarios are possible-Laporta could align himself with either 
one of the two main Catalan nationalist parties, the Catalan 
Republican Left (ERC) or the center-right Convergence and Union 
(CiU) federation.  He has also reportedly held discussions with 
the upstart  Reagrupament (Regrouping) association, which was 
founded by former ERC member Joan Carretero last October with 
Catalan independence as its main objective.  Another possibility 
is that Laporta would create a new political party, which could 
further divide pro-independence voters.  Laporta has been the 
president of FCB since 2003 and has utilized a mix of homegrown 
Catalan players and international superstars to become one of 
the top soccer teams in the world.  In 2009 FCB won an 
unprecedented six Spanish, European, and international 
tournaments. 
 
 
 
CATALAN INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUMS CONTINUE 
 
3. (U)   Several more rounds of unofficial referendums on 
Catalan Independence will be held on February 28, April 5 and 
possibly June 20.  The February referendum will be held in 77 
municipalities, which include approximately 300,000 potential 
voters.  The proposed June 20 referendum could include Barcelona 
suburbs, the first time that such an event would be held in the 
metropolitan area.  The symbolic vote for independence follows a 
similar event held in December in 167 small Catalan towns, and a 
referendum on Catalan National Day, September 11 in one small 
town.  While only 27% of voters participated in the December 
referendum, over 90% were in favor of independence.   The 
December 13 referendum and its predecessor on Catalan National 
Day have generated a great deal of national and even 
international attention, and help fuel internal debate on 
Catalonia's relationship with the rest of Spain, pending the 
Spanish Constitutional Court's decision on the Statute of 
Autonomy.  The practical impact of the symbolic referendums is 
limited, however, and Catalonia's two main nationalist parties 
are at odds over a proposed new law to govern the referendums. 
The pro-independence Catalonia Republican Left (ERC) has 
proposed a law to regulate the popular referendums, while the 
center-right Convergence and Union (CiU) federation opposes the 
proposal. 
 
 
 
GENERAL MOTORS SPAIN TO LAY-OFF 900 WORKERS IN ARAGON 
 
 
BARCELONA 00000020  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
4. (U)   General Motors' Opel plant in Figueruelas, near the 
Aragon city of Zaragoza, plans to lay-off 900 workers and 
temporarily suspend 600 night shifts as part of a cost-cutting 
plan.  GM says that the restructuring of its Figueruelas plant 
workforce will be "socially responsible", avoiding any abrupt 
dismissals.   The layoffs of 900 workers will happen gradually, 
with the final wave in February of 2013.  GM blames low sales in 
Western Europe, where the company envisions laying off a total 
of 8,300 workers.  On February 10 Opel management staff and 
labor unions met to negotiate the terms of reincorporation of 
the 900 laid-off workers.  The unions have asked that 350 
permanent employees be asked to leave on a voluntary basis, and 
that once sales improve, they would be allowed to return to the 
factory guaranteed the same salary and benefits.   GM has 
proposed a salary freeze for these workers until 2013, which the 
unions have rejected.  This is the latest restructuring move 
that GM has made in Aragon.  Last fall GM decided to keep the 
Figueruelas plant, rather than sell it to Magna, a German car 
company that would have likely transferred production to Eastern 
Europe.  The Opel Zaragoza plant exports cars to 72 countries, 
with 75% of the production going abroad. 
 
 
 
CORRUPTION SCANDAL ROCKS MALLORCAN POLITICS 
 
5. (U)   Francesc Antich, the president of the Balearic Islands 
Govern (central government), has removed all high-ranking 
members of the Mallorcan Union (MU) party from the government 
after the arrest of five MU officials for corruption allegations 
related to the Institute of Tourism Strategy (Inestur), a unit 
within the Balearic Ministry of Tourism.  In the investigation, 
known as Operation Vulture, Mallorcan anti-corruption police 
arrested the five MU officials on charges including fraud, 
misappropriation of public funds, prevarication, bribery, and 
coercion.  Businesses and other entities related to the MU 
alleged received up to 2.5 million Euros ($3.4 million) through 
bogus documents.  Mallorcan police have investigated at least 25 
individuals and 23 businesses as part of Operation Vulture.  The 
mayor of Palma de Mallorca and the president of Mallorca have 
followed suit, sacking MU members from the Palma City Council 
and the Council of Mallorca, thus removing MU from all three 
government institutions on the islands.  The Socialist Party of 
the Balearic Islands (PSIB ) and the Bloc for Mallorca, who once 
held a majority coalition with the MU, have agreed to a minority 
rule in all three institutions.   Antich plans to take advantage 
of the scandal by restructuring the Govern and reducing the size 
of the ministries.  He has dismissed the idea of holding 
emergency elections in order to avoid further public doubt. 
Miquel Nadal, the former minister of Tourism and leader of the 
MU is the most senior official arrested.  He had previously been 
implicated in two other corruption cases, which led to his 
resignation last December.  The Popular Party (PP) has been 
threatening Antich on and off with a possible censure. 
 
 
 
SARKOZY TO MAKE AN OFFICIAL VISIT TO ANDORRA 
 
6.  (U)  At a meeting in Paris on February 4 with Andorran Head 
of Government Jaume  Bartumeu and Andorran President of the 
General Council (Parliament) Josep Dalleres, French President 
and Co-Prince of Andorra Nicolas Sarkozy announced that he would 
make an official visit to the small Pyrenean nation some time 
before this summer.  Sarkozy4s visit would be the first a French 
head of state has made to Andorra in the past 13 years, the last 
being Jacques Chirac in 1997.  During their February 4 meeting, 
Bartumeu and Dalleres informed Sarkozy of Andorra's advances in 
exchanging tax information with the approval of a new law and 
the signing of ten accords.  President Sarkozy said that he was 
convinced by the steps Andorra has taken, and encouraged the 
country to "continue along the route of transparency by this 
exchanging of information." Sarkozy's announcement is important 
for Andorra after Sarkozy had threatened last year to abdicate 
his position as Co-Prince if Andorra did not take action to 
remove itself from the OECD list of tax havens.  Sarkozy, who at 
that time was preparing for last April's G-20 summit in London 
and a proponent of combating tax havens, did not want to be seen 
as claiming to fight money laundering while also serving as the 
Co-Prince of a country on the OECD list.  Andorran officials are 
pleased with Sarkozy's announcement and for French assistance in 
helping fight money laundering. 
CROUCH