The Catalan Government has appointed Roger Albinyana as the new Foreign Secretary. With a strong political profile, Albinyana (Barcelona, 1981) will assume the Government’s main liaison to the world in a moment when Catalonia’s international relations will play a crucial role. With a Degree in Economics and Business Administration, Albinyana is a founding member of Horitzó Europa and is member of the National Council and International Coordinator of Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya. He was founder of the Cercle d’Estudis Sobiranistes and is connected with the European Liberal Party, whose youth branch presided between 2004 and 2008. Horitzó Europa wishes him good luck and a great successes in this new and important position.
The European Union is going through tough times.
On 4 December Horitzó Europa organised a dinner-debate in Brussels with Muriel Casals, president of Òmnium Cultural, a paramount organisation in the promotion of Catalan language and culture. Several issues were discussed, related to the political situation in Catalonia after the regional elections on 25 November, hypotheses about the status of Catalonia in the event of its secession, comparisons with the Scottish case, the role of Catalan and pro-European civil society organisations, and the recognition of Catalan language in EU institutions.
The vote by the Federal Committee of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), gathered in Warsaw on November 18th 2012, confirmed Horitzó Europa as a candidate to become member of the Union.
The demonstration that took place on Tuesday September 11th 2012 in Barcelona with the slogan Catalonia, new state of Europe has placed at the center the debate on independence the continuation or not of Catalonia within the European Union.
On April 25 2012, Horitzó Europa held a dinner in Brussels jointly with Catalunya Empresa Oberta, in the framework of the Sant Jordi week, organised by the Catalan Cultural Centre in Brussels. About 30 participants from diverse professional backgrounds attended the dinner-debate. Ramon Tremosa i Balcells MEP (ALDE) was also present.
In a context of great social, political and economic challenges, European nations are in the need of improving their coordination by establishing a supranational institutional setting which takes the lead on fiscal and political matters. This argument, put forward by Dr. Costa-Font, has numerous detractors. Simon Glendinning, professor of European philosophy in the European Institute at the London School of Economics, is one of them. He argues that the United States of Europe, with the consequent loss of sovereignty would represent the end of freedom, and therefore, it can never be the will of the nation. But, what do we mean by “the will of the nation”? Joan Costa-Font argues that most of the times, the will of the nation is the will of the elites. Therefore, in the end, the steps towards a federation is nothing more than transferring some powers held by national elites to supranational elites.
The headquarters of the European institutions in Barcelona, and the delegation of the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia in Brussels hosted simultaneously the presentation of the last issue of the journal Àmbits de Política i Societat ‘Europe after Lisbon: quoi de neuf?’.
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