Civ 13

Catalan International View

Issue 13 • Autumn • 2012 • € 5

A European Review of the World

Catalonia? Yes, here we go

by Víctor Terradellas

The global oil supply: risks and uncertainties

by Mariano Marzo

Japan at the crossroads

by Lluc López-Vidal

Barça: the meaning of ‘More than a Club’

by Ramon Pont

Interview: Josep Carreras by Eva Piquer Cover Artist: Vilató

SECTIONS: Europe · Business, Law & Economics · The Americas · Asia Africa · Green Debate · Opinions · Science & Technology A Short Story from History · The Artist · Universal Catalans · A Poem

Contents

Editor

Víctor Terradellas

vterradellas@catmon.cat Director Francesc de Dalmases

director@international-view.cat Art Director

Positive & Negative

designer@international-view.cat Head of International Relations

To Our Readers

by Víctor Terradellas Europe

Quim Milla

Marc Gafarot

marcgafarot@catmon.cat

Editorial Board

Martí Anglada Manel Balcells Enric Canela Àngel Font Anna Grau August Gil-Matamala Montserrat Guibernau Guillem López-Casasnovas Manuel Manonelles Fèlix Martí Arcadi Oliveres Eva Piquer Ricard Planas Vicent Sanchis Pere Torres Carles Vilarrubí Vicenç Villatoro Chief Editor

Judit Aixalà Jordi Fexas

Language Advisory Service

Nigel Balfour Júlia López Coordinator

Maria Novella

coordinator@international-view.cat

4.........

5.........

8.........

Catalonia, 11th of September 2012 / The war in Syria Catalonia? Yes, here we go German Europe

by Carme Colomina

12........

The end of the Spanish banking system’s golden era

by Joan Contijoch Africa

16........ African states: failed states?

Asia

by Ferran Iniesta

22........ Nuclear trust

by Iris Mir

28........ Japan at the crossroads

by Lluc López-Vidal The Americas

34........ Obama in the balance

by Marc Gafarot

Interview

40........ Josep Carreras

by Eva Piquer Business, Law and Economics

48........

A new law for an evolving family

by Albert Lamarca Opinion

Webmaster

56........ The global oil supply: risk and uncertainties

Cover Art

62........ The Catalan High Performance Centre

Marta Calvó Vilató

The reproduction of the artwork on the front cover is thanks to an agreement between Fundació Vila Casas and Fundació CATmón

by Mariano Marzo

by Joan Fontseré

66........ The meaning of ‘More than a Club’

by Ramon Pont

70........ Subnational governments at the forefront of environmental

Executive Production

........... action

Headquarters, Administration and Subscriptions

74........ Barcelona: the capital of Catalonia

Fonollar, 14 08003 Barcelona Catalonia (Europe) Tel.: + 34 93 533 42 38 Fax: + 34 93 319 22 24 www. international-view.cat Legal deposit

B-26639-2008 ISSN

2013-0716

© Edicions de la Fundació CATmón. All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, protocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Edicions de la Fundació CATmón.

Printed in Catalonia by

Vanguard gràfic

by Susanna Rivero Barcelona Echoes

by Joaquim Llimona Universal Catalans

80........ Victòria dels Àngels

by Marina Villacampa Science & Technology

84..........The economics of accountability

by Sascha Haselmayer Green Debate

88........ Forest fires, an everyday occurrence

by Pere Torres A Short Story from History

92..........A million corks a day The Artist

94........ Vilató A Poem

96........ The Site of Rilke’s Tomb

by Marià Manent

Published quarterly

Catalan International View

Positive & Negative

by Francesc de Dalmases

Catalonia, 11th of September 2012

On the afternoon of the 11th of September 2012, Barcelona hosted one of the largest demonstrations Europe has ever seen. One and a half million people gathered in the streets of Barcelona under the banner ‘Catalonia, a new European state’. The march was called by the Catalan National Assembly, a movement which was the fruit of an organised civil society. The demonstration was noted for its civility, order and general level of enthusiasm. It marked a turning point in Catalan politics to the extent that in the General Policy debate that took place a few days later in the Catalan Parliament, President Artur Mas decided to dissolve the Catalan chamber and hold elections on the 25th of November. In the upcoming elections, the majority of Catalan political parties are to include the realisation of statehood in their manifesto in addition to holding a referendum on independence during the next parliament. It is expected that following the elections, the supporters of this alternative will hold a hundred of the 135 seats that constitute the Catalan Parliament.

The war in Syria

The Syrian resistance in exile is caught between the desire for a new future that appears to be within reach and the harsh reality of a brutal repression which takes the civilian population as its main objective. Bashar al-Assad refuses to consider exile as an option, knowing as he does that he has every possibility of being brought before an international court. He knows that he can only hope to hold onto power in Syria for a limited time, in spite of the extreme violence he is employing. He is well aware of the very different but ultimately identical end met by other autocrats in the region, such as Mubarak or Gaddafi. The Syrian dictator wants a new country that is protected by the international community. Dividing Syria into two new states is a difficult and complicated solution. Nevertheless, it is a solution and that is how China and Russia will try to sell it. The Chinese would gain prestige, influence and consolidate their growing role as an international police force. Russia would guarantee its military presence in both states and would strengthen its role in the region. And the Western democracies would also once more endorse a new Dayton Agreement, which would at least provide short term gains by putting an end to a war that they have been unable to stop.

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Catalan International View

To Our Readers

Catalonia? Yes, here we go

by Víctor Terradellas In recent weeks I have had the opportunity to visit numerous countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

For the first time I have become aware that I haven’t had to introduce Catalonia, the country I come from, and I have also found for the first time that most of the people I speak to ask me the same kind of questions: ‘Is what’s going on in Catalonia, for real? Does the political commitment to independence have a good chance of bearing fruit?’

The international impact made by the demonstration comprised of over one and a half million people that took place in Barcelona on the 11th September, Catalonia’s National Day, has a lot to do with this change. In Europe one rarely finds demonstrations of such magnitude and national liberation movements rarely have such a solid social and political base that is so democratic, peaceful and determined.

Nonetheless, we should be clear that this situation is not merely the result of the current economic situation or particular political circumstances. Indeed, Catalonia’s majority nationalism has facilitated the major political developments that Spain has experienced over the last quarter of a century. From the Spanish transition itself (which fell short when it came to holding to account members of the former dictatorial regime, as was the case in Germany and Italy), to decisive support for the Catalan International View

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To Our Readers

On October 7, at the start of the match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid the crowd created an immense mosaic, filling the stadium in Barcelona with a giant Catalan flag

governance of the state in key moments of political or economic crisis, to Spain signing up to the European Union and, later, the euro. The major international organisations all agree, however, that Spain has failed to evolve or adopt its own model of a standardised state, even in times of a supposed economic boom.

Catalan independence will be a peaceful process of radical democracy, a political challenge of the first order. We are convinced it will also be a breakthrough for the whole of Europe The conversion of the Spanish Constitutional Court into a virtual third chamber, the consolidation of an unfair and unbalanced tax system, the politicisation of financial supervisory bodies and the incompetence of the decentralised management of strategic state structures are indicative of a halfbaked state which is burdened by an outdated centralisation.

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For many years there has been widespread support in Catalonia for a form of autonomy with a wide ranging jurisdiction. It has evolved in an increasing, reasoned way in which the majority call for statehood for the simple reason that Catalonia is lacking in this respect. This statelessness, which can be defined as a lack of the infrastructures which ensure Catalonia’s future political, economic and social development, currently threatens the very existence of the welfare state.

Having reached this point, the president of Catalonia has chosen a process of national transition which has as its ultimate aim the realisation of an independent state for Catalonia.

The response I have offered to friends and the people I have met around the world recently is: ‘Yes, here we go’. It should be said that it is a process that is not aimed against anybody.

Needless to say, we wish all the best to France, Spain and Andorra and long for good neighbourly relations with them. We are working closely with the European Union to this end in our desire to be a bulwark of stability in southern Europe, which is something we are confident we can achieve.

We have the determination to succeed and the legitimacy to face up to this political challenge. Catalan independence will be a peaceful process of radical democracy, a political challenge of the first order. We are convinced it will also be a breakthrough for the whole of Europe. It will thereby confirm that Europe remains a privileged place where one can witness democracy’s role as a vital tool in the resolution of political conflicts.

As the president of Catalonia solemnly announced in the general policy debate held in Parliament on the 25th of September: ‘It is time for the Catalan people to exercise their right to selfdetermination’.

Tel. +34 977 757 473 · +34 977 756 265 • Fax +34 977 771 129 Camí Pedra Estela, 34 • 43205 Reus (Baix Camp) www.demuller.es

Europe

German Europe

by Carme Colomina*

A European diplomat recounts that in the 70s, during a meeting between Olof Palme and Aldo Moro, the Italian Prime Minister asked the Swede why his country refused to join the European Economic Community. ‘Because we’re a neutral country’, replied Palme. Moro rejoined: ‘So what? Accept European legislation, join up, and then it’s up to you whether you respect it or not’. Sweden did not join the EU until the mid 90s, a decade after Greece, Spain and Portugal, and nearly forty years after Italy. Today it forms the core of small northern countries, net contributors to the EU budget, which are aligned with the thesis of a tougher Germany determined to impose austerity and rigor on the Europe of ‘the olives’ as this wayward and profligate south is now known.

The economic crisis has brought out the worst in Europe and the Europeans.

The problems of a Greece at permanent risk of bankruptcy, the weakness of the euro and the threat hanging over the European banking system have exposed the leaden feet of a project, monetary union, which is now slipping away due to multiple contradictions. The Europe of stereotypes that during the good times served as the butt of jokes and to reassure everyone that they lived in the best country in the world has today become an insurmountable challenge.

The differences that before we thought made us compatible have become unbearable defects. The Protestant work ethic of northern Europe is rebelling against the cost of saving a handful of countries that have not applied the same budgetary discipline or the same responsibility in the management of public money. The Germans feel they have already paid too much. In Finland, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands the political discourse has been con8

Catalan International View

taminated by the Euroscepticism of the extreme right. Every declaration of distrust from the North emboldens the financial markets to speculate a little more with the South’s debt.

On the streets of Athens the Greeks see their government, the EU and the euro as being responsible for the economic crisis which has plunged them into poverty and despair. A financial crisis in a country of 11 million inhabitants which represents just 2% of the EU’s GDP has been sufficient to call into question the whole European project. Greece’s financial problems have exposed the political impotence of the Union’s current leaders. A few months ago, in one of the morning meetings where EU’s ministers of Economy and Finance agreed to the second rescue plan for Greece, the Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg declared as he left that they had finally ensured that ‘The Greek problem was only a Greek problem’. This had been the mistake from the beginning of the crisis, the

Europe

main reason why the Union was so slow to react, unable to stop the haemorrhaging that is now affecting the whole of Mediterranean Europe. Athens has also played with the stability of the entire EU. An EU spokesman complained that the Greek government took a year and a half to propose the privatization plan for public enterprises that Brussels had been calling for. During this period, ‘the population has become impoverished by bearing the brunt of spending cuts to protect the interests of a very privileged minority’, criticized the official.

Under the euro carpet

Europe feels tired and mutual incomprehension is growing. Every new bailout of the weaker euro economies has deepened the divide that separates the countries of the North and the South, with the exception of Ireland, which historically was already part of the states which along with Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal, received European

cohesion funds. It is an imaginary line on the physical map of the continent, yet very present on the Europeans’ mental map. Each new aid program for a country in crisis brings new internal dissent. There is a North-South divide and a divide between the triple A rated countries and the countries strangled by debt. Only Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Luxembourg retain the highest grade debt rating in the eurozone.

Greece’s financial problems have exposed the political impotence of the Union’s current leaders With each rescue plan, and the control measures, austerity and reforms they bring with them, social cohesion within the eurozone has weakened.

The differences between northern and southern Europe have been exacerbatCatalan International View

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Europe

ed. Agreement between the euro partners was never real, as sources at the European Commission openly recognize. ‘While the public accounts were good, the differences between countries in the single currency were swept under the carpet’, according to a senior economic adviser in Brussels in an off the record statement, but the crisis, ‘has simply increased the macroeconomic imbalances and disparities between the euro members’. This clearly demonstrates that the two-speed euro has existed since its inception.

There is no longer solely a northern and a southern Europe. A new fault line separates the eurozone into creditors and debtors There is no longer solely a northern and a southern Europe. A new fault line separates the eurozone into creditors and debtors. Between those, like Germany or Austria, who charge the markets for placing their debt and countries with a runaway risk premium such as Ireland, Spain and Greece. Now the South is somewhat more dependent on transfers from a North that rejects the role of paying for financial extravagances that were largely financed with EU money.

The debt burden

Debt is a burden, like guilt. Perhaps for this reason debt and guilt share the same word in German: schuld. Berlin imagines a more rigorous, austere and German EU of the future. A group of independent experts have presented the Chancellor with the idea of the European Redemption Fund. It is an almost biblical promise to liberate the eurozone from the weight of the accumulated debt that is drowning the wasteful economies. The arrival of 10

Catalan International View

the socialist François Hollande to the French presidency has, for the time being, eased calls for a way out of the crisis but, for now, the Union continues with a single model on the table: the German model. Chancellor Angela Merkel has exerted absolute leadership in an EU which has arrived late to every phase of the crisis since 2008. The German tabloid newspaper Bild posed the question some months ago, beneath a full-page silhouette of Angela Merkel, ‘Why is the chancellor silent on the euro drama?’

In private Merkel has acknowledged that the crisis is a clash between politicians and the markets which European leaders are unable to ignore but nevertheless they cannot be drawn into the daily fluctuations of stocks and shares. The problem is that the Chancellor has for too long been influenced by her coalition government’s hostility towards any steps that involve a more integrated Europe and more financial commitments. The EU received its diagnosis a long time ago. The way out of the crisis is through the economic governance of the single currency countries. However, it is too late for political indecision.

The former President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors once said that the Germans believe more in the Bundesbank than in God. At present, the problem appears to be that Germany, or at least a majority of Germans, are undergoing a crisis of faith in Europe. The country has changed. The reunification of the two Germanys, globalization, immigration and the ageing population has changed it, and with these changes has been lost the narrative which for decades linked the destiny of the German people with Europe. Benefits of European integration (the Union which grew as a consumer market thanks to the solidarity of the richest countries) have not been distributed equitably, neither in the

Europe

European Union nor in the interior of Germany, and this is why a part of the population feels cheated.

The German elite no longer have a pro-European discourse. It is not only the fault of the tabloid press, who in the midst of the Greek crisis, when the possible financial rescue of the Hellenic country was being discussed, showed a Venus de Milo on the front page with her middle finger raised. There is a new generation, which for over a decade was taught another narrative. The economic elites, the Constitutional Court of Karlsruhe and the political class have changed the discourse. Angela Merkel herself, who grew up in East Germany, did not join the EU until after reunification. Throughout this entire journey, while the Germans have been overcoming feelings of guilt, they have lost the courage to tell the other side of the story, the one which recalls how the

EU has grown at the pace and with the changes which interest Germany. How, for fifty years, German and community interests have been one and the same.

The Berlin which today appears to be rejecting a Union that it finds expensive, feeding a new discourse as a victim is nonetheless still the inspiration, the inducer and the arbiter of any decision taken in the European Union.

Germany has always wanted to be an economic power. It has never aspired to be the political leader of Europe but the crisis has left the EU in Berlin’s hands, and it is Angela Merkel who is designing the monetary union of the future, more integrated at the political, economic, fiscal and banking level.

It is the North which is committed to this German Europe where the South, overwhelmed by the consequences of the crisis, still does not know what role is in store for it. *Carme Colomina

A journalist specialising in the present day European Union. She has been with Catalunya RĂ dio for more than fourteen years, where she has been the Brussels correspondent, head of the International Section and News sub-editor. She is a member of Team Europe of the European Commission for Catalonia and the Balearics and the Catalan branch of the European Journalists Association. Currently she works for different media organisations and workshops on communication and the European Union.

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Europe

The end of the Spanish banking system’s golden era

by Joan Contijoch*

‘New York, September 24th 2008, [at a] ceremony organized by the American Chamber in Spain, the Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, accompanied by the executives of American multinationals and investment banks, declared that “the Spanish financial system was perhaps the strongest in the international community”. June 9th 2012, the date on which it was made public that the Eurogroup had been informed that the Spanish authorities would soon present a formal request for a pre-bailout of the Spanish Banks, the maximum amount that would be requested by Spain was to be €100,000 billion (10% of the wealth produced in Spain in one year). June 25th 2012, a letter sent by Spain’s Minister of Economy and Competitiveness, Luis de Guindos to Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Eurogroup, lays out the formal request of the Spanish bailout. The money will be granted directly in favour of the financial entities, becoming a direct bailout of the troubled banking sector once the European Banking Supervisor has been created’.

Anyone reading may think it is a practical joke, but indeed these dates are the beginning and the end of a long process of change and restructuring of one of the most complex banking systems in the world, the Spanish banking system.

In 2009, the Spanish financial sector had 52 credit entities for its 48 million inhabitants; more than 40 of those were Cajas de Ahorros (Saving Banks). Currently there are only 12 of such financial entities, and the forecasts (and also objectives) of the Spanish Government headed by Mariano Rajoy is to have between 8 and 10 credit entities after the restructuring process. September 15th 2008 will forever be burnt into the retina of all the world’s bankers: the failure of Lehman Brothers changed the way the USA banking system and subsequently the whole of the world does business. While the banking failures, 12

Catalan International View

bankruptcies and bank nationalizations were going on, in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, and so on, in Spain the banking map continued to be irresolute and ‘strong’ in spite of the failures of its brethren. We were the strongest system in the world! We could never doubt the words of our president! The truth behind these statements was very different, the operational problems of the Spanish banking system can be summarized in two aspects; the abuse of the Saving Bank system and the high volume of toxics assets (real estate assets) on their balance books.

The abuse of the Saving Bank system

As credit entities, the Saving Banks were similar to ordinary banks; the difference lay in their corporate purpose.

The former had to allocate their divi-

Europe

dends to social ends and their board of directors included a high percentage of political appointments. Originally their ‘banking business’ was based solely on deposits by individuals in order to receive loans. Their area of operations was regional or local. During the post-dictatorship Transition (1977), legal restrictions were abolished, allowing them to offer the same services as banks. Their profits were initially used to provide credit to the network in their geographical area in order to continue with their activities while simultaneously generating wealth and investing their profits in social ends within their territory. All 17 regions in the Spanish State had at least one Savings Bank in their territory, from the Canary Islands, Murcia, Castilla la Mancha to Galicia and naturally including Madrid and Catalonia. The regional governments

exercised control of the Saving Banks through a high level of representation on their boards and consequently political interference was substantial and harmful for their corporate purpose.

In 2009, the Spanish financial sector had 52 credit entities for its 48 million inhabitants; more than 40 of those were Saving Banks The high volume of toxic assets (real estate assets) on the Bank’s balance books

The Spanish property bubble began in 1997. Property prices rose annually by up to 10% . The causes of these increases were numerous and varied; land shortages, tax benefits, increasing immigration, speculation and an excess of credit. The credit entities found a good Catalan International View

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deal in property loans. Likewise there was a growing demand for housing (foreign investors and Spanish speculators) and the huge profits, due to rising prices, was the best evidence of the good deals to be had in this investment area. None of the banks or Saving Banks wanted to be left behind in the race and all of them focused their business on financing the construction of new houses, particularly on the Mediterranean Coast. The banks’ ‘former’ purpose; to attract money from the public to finance lending to the economy, and that of the Saving Banks’; to attract savings and to lend credit to the regional network, had been distorted by the new rules of the Spanish economy. The credit entities’ money was largely directed towards the brick economy. That fateful day of September 15th 2008, highlights a lack of liquidity of the international financial system alongside the exhaustion of the Spanish growth model based solely on the brick economy as the two major factors that caused the current situation.

In consequence the creditworthiness of the Spanish credit entities deteriorated 14

Catalan International View

due to the real estate assets. The balance sheets of the Spanish credit entities are extremely limited by the volume of their toxic assets. The problem was only diagnosed by the Spanish authorities following a four-year delay. If the creditworthiness of a credit entity deteriorates the (national) regulators demand more ‘quality capital’ and if the credit entities cannot generate it they are forced to go to the capital markets.

However, the atmosphere of mistrust negates this solution. Therefore, only a Spanish bailout accompanied by drastic measures will help us to discern the light at the end of this interminable, four-year long tunnel.

Spanish legislative process carried out during the 4 years of the banking chaos (2008-2012)

From the beginning of the international financial crisis until May 12th 2012, the Spanish Government issued 7 Royal Decrees guaranteeing the stability of the Spanish financial system. In October 2008, following the failure of Lehman Brothers, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s socialist government pro-

Europe

vided guarantees for issuances to an amount of €71,000 billion. Likewise it created the Financing Assets Acquisition Fund, to strengthen its capital base. In June 2009 the government created the Banking Restructuring Fund (or FROB in Spanish), with an amount of €9,000 billion to promote mergers of the Saving Banks and to finance bailouts. In July 2010 it reformed the Saving Bank’s Law, allowing their depoliticizing and their conversion into conventional banks. In February 2011, the European requirements (Basel III) raised the guarantee coefficient to 8% for those with access to capital markets and 10% for the rest. In October 2011, the socialist government carried out its final measure with the merger of the three guarantee deposit funds (banks, Saving Banks and Credit Cooperatives). In February 2012, Mariano Rajoy’s first measure in government as head of the People’s Party was to oblige banks to increase their funds in order to correct the value of the toxic assets of their balance books. Likewise the salaries of the directors of the credit entities which received public aids were reduced. May 9th 2012, BFA, the headquarters of Bankia, a bank with a 300-year history, that had subsequently re-emerged as a consequence of a merger between Caja Madrid and 6 other Saving Banks, was nationalized.

Last May, after the inadequacy of its first plan, Bankia needed an additional €28,000 billion from credit entities in order to balance the loans to developer mortgages, and was also forced to remove from its balance sheets the assets acquired as a consequence of bankrupt-

cies allocated to them by independent societies. The political error was due to the fact that the measures were always focused on liquidity problems when the real issue was the toxic assets.

The Spanish property bubble began in 1997.

Property prices rose annually by up to 10% June 29th 2012, put an end to the Spanish banking system’s golden era.

The bailout will have two major consequences for the Spanish banking system; first, the creation of a ‘Bad bank’ that will hold the nonperforming assets (toxic assets) owned by the state guaranteed banks and second, it will raise the guarantee coefficient to 9%.

In the same way the Spanish State will have to assume compulsory measures (increasing VAT, austerity, a reduction in public pensions and perhaps unemployment benefits). The positive side is that Spain has a strong negotiating ability that other countries which have been bailed out did not have. The Spanish banking system cannot collapse because the knock-on effect would be enormous and if Spain fell it could entail the end of the eurozone. The aim of these (political and economic) measures is to overcome the European credit-crunch in order to grant credit in favour of private individuals and SMEs (which in Spain represent 90% of the employment). From now on if the eurozone wants to compete in the global economy it must play as a single entity. Now more than ever we stand united. *Joan Contijoch

(Barcelona, 1981). Lawyer. Parliamentary Assistant at the Spanish Parliament (Madrid) responsible of the Commissions of Justice, Constitutional, Public Administration and Economy (Banking Area). Holds a degree in Law from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and a LLM in Company Law from Instituto Superior de Derecho y Economía (ISDE). He has also studies of Political Science. As a lawyer he has worked from Barcelona for one of the Leading Spanish Law Firms, Roca Junyent, S.L.P. He has worked in the Banking, M&A, Corporate and Finance department. Member of the board of the think-thank Sentit Comú per Catalunya. Member of the Commission of Justice of Unió Democràtica de Catalunya.

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Africa

African states: failed states?

by Ferran Iniesta*

I shall attempt to deal with a complex subject in a simple way by addressing the potential viability of the new states in Black Africa, which are known as Sub-Saharan Africa, for good reason. From the perspective of a Europe immersed in an economic crisis, it may well appear to be of secondary importance, but this is not the case once we appreciate that the whole of a global region has been virtually left behind by globalisation.

A distorted view

Our idea of the African states which gained independence in the 60s is a very distorted one: to the south of the great desert we only have societies which are experiencing permanent upheaval, subject to famine, war, dictatorship, corruption and all manner of atavistic ‘traditions’ such as ethnic and religious identities. This image comes from the media, from official speeches and the so-called civil society in the form of NGOs: private organisations which try to help Africans.

They tend not to say that in the last decade Africa’s growth has stood at an average of 7% and they fail to mention that currently some 40 African states function as ‘procedural democracies’ This view is strengthened by the role of the victim played by Africans politicians, and also the majority of Sub-Saharan African scholars, who 16

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tend to focus on ills with a foreign origin and the ineptitude of their own governments. The benchmark for comparison is always the West, whether it be for its philosophical values, the rule of democracy, levels of poverty or socio-economic statistics: the result is that rationalism is superior to the values of ‘the past’, that African democracy is only a caricature, the bulk of the population lives in ‘poverty’ and if exports increase it is due to multinationals and foreign powers.

What they tend not to say, however, is that in the last decade Africa’s growth has stood at an average of 7%, while Europe’s failed to exceed 2%.

They do not mention that currently some 40 African states function as ‘procedural democracies’, which means in other words that they play by the rules. Neither do they analyse the fact that if China, India, Brazil and Russia have begun to economically penetrate Sub-Saharan Africa it is because it is highly profitable and there are acceptable levels of social harmony. For this reason, since 2000, the Africa of boat

Africa

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people, refugee camps, and massacres in Rwanda and Liberia has fallen from view in the sensationalist news.

It is surprising that the discourse of aid, whether public or private, continues to resemble the old missionary discourse of the World Mission Sunday, where the more catastrophic the circumstances for Sub-Saharan Africans or South American Indians, the more money was raised from troubled Western consciences. This tearful, miserable Africa, which was genetically swindled

by Machiavellian foreigners and the perpetual victim, is a fraud, and it needs to be said.

It is worth reminding ourselves that it was the big NGOs who called for military intervention in Somalia in 1991, in order to facilitate their humanitarian work: the result was twenty years of war The nineties, the dark decade

When the Soviet bloc disappeared, the World Bank demanded that African governments implement a textbook application of Western democracy (good governance) and the elimination of state expenditure (the privatization of health and education), in exchange for loans. These were the years in which Bush senior proclaimed a new world order, and when US intervention in Somalia was intended to be a lesson to the said new order.

Perhaps it is worth reminding ourselves that it was the big NGOs who called for military intervention in Somalia in 1991, in order to facilitate their humanitarian work: the result was twenty years of war and mismanagement in the central-southern region of the country, making Somalia the official, one and only truly ‘failed state’. It could be that Guinea-Bissau, where the 18

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state is a sham and NGOs represent international power, was another example of a failed state. It is worth adding that the decade weakened the continent’s governments to such an extent that warlords proliferated on all sides and Africa witnessed a dozen years of bloody conflicts.

According to the World Bank, and its theoreticians, it was necessary to remove the historic debt of African countries and, in order to do so, it was necessary to confront the idleness of its governments. They were thought not to stimulate the process of the concentration of wealth or improvements in productivity. In African terms, what occurred is that governments of all political hues were limited to maintaining control of the armaments and ensuring that essential services (roads, hospitals and schools) did not disappear.

During that 90s, with the majority of teachers and health workers unable to function, and with no public assistance, numerous conflicts were unleashed and the population became hostages of veritable criminals. Thanks to neoliberal policies and the subservience of African governments, Africa went from social unrest to killings and mass population movements. Interestingly, the intellectuals (Chretien, Mbembe, Bayard, Ellis), who are often not particularly pro-nationalisation, came out in defence of the African state and against its systematic ‘criminalisation’ in the wider international press, since without a state there was no one to defend their citizens and no one responsible for basic services such as transportation, communications, health and public education.

State weaknesses

My study of conflicts in the Sahel, entitled Análisis de unas estructuras estatales inviables (An Analysis of Unviable State Structures) was published in Valencia in 2010, in a collective work

Africa

Las raíces históricas de los conflictos actuales, (The Historical Roots of Presentday Conflicts. E.Prat). I made it clear that the states of the Sahelian savannah were the only ones with no truly stable future, thanks to the grave historical hostility between Saharan nomads and settled peoples to the south of the desert. A year later, against OAU-AU regulations, the South Sudan declared itself independent, and this year the central northern region of Mali has seceded, calling itself Azawad. If one undertakes a serious analysis one can see that the situation in Mauritania, Niger and Chad is not much better.

Nevertheless, we have to admit that colonial irresponsibility outside Sahel has not proved to be as bad for other Sub-Saharan African peoples, since, in general they can work together if they are not institutionally marginalized, in spite of certain differences and conflicts. Sub-Saharan African peoples have strong linguistic ties which thus give rise to systems of thought which are closely related. This is reflected in symbologies, rituals and hierarchical political systems which are very similar. Strange as it may seem to observers who are unaccustomed to Sub-Saharan Africa, the vast ethnocultural diversity that exists in Democratic Congo or tiny Togo does not compromise, by its mere existance, the survival of the modern state, a colonial legacy.

As many African and Western authors testify (Clapham, Mamdani, Kabunda, MC Diop, Chabal, Mbembe) the main problem of African rulers is their mismanagement of the few resources available to them. This confirms a historical fact: the classic African powers never played an interventionist role in the production process or the institutional workings of every village integrated into a particular political system. Political scientists speak of ‘idle’ states, which historically gave great leeway to their people, but

nowadays this idleness fails to resolve the difficulties of population growth or the much-needed improvements in production in order to meet growing needs. However, this ‘idleness’ also explains the longevity of many of these governments, which are often electorally ratified without resorting to major fraud.

Nevertheless, aside from the noninterventionism of African states, there are social issues that nowadays have become more dangerous because they take on modern aspects such as extreme nationalism or religious fundamentalism: the killings in Rwanda (nationalist ethnicity) and the imposition of Sharia law in Sudan (religious fundamentalism) are present in everyone’s minds. Fortunately, neither ethnic diversity itself excludes nationalism, nor do religious traditions (Islam, Christianity, ancient traditions) tend to have an invasive impact on other tendencies.

The key to governance is and will continue to be political practice that avoids marginalisation and persecution, which tends to be the case among governments that perform a veritable juggling act by doling out benefits between ethnic and religious diversity.

Cameroon is a good example of this compensatory juggling act, although the country does not resolve the problems which accumulate. Nevertheless, Catalan International View

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Cameroon together with Senegal are good examples of elitist forms of government systems, since their democratic persistence at the forefront of power is not so much due to the public actions of the government, but rather the ethnic redistribution of material benefits, which is usually called corruption. To be sure, African governments have a strong tendency towards corruption, as the border between hierarchical clientelist redistribution and blatant theft perpetuated by some politicians in the past and present (Mobutu, Obiang Nguema), plundering the state’s meagre coffers for pure personal gain, is a thin line which is always difficult to distinguish.

The myth of massively flawed Sub-Saharan states needs to be revised The role of the states in the present day

The neoliberal position is not unique to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Instead it tends to be recycled in a benevolent form by many organisations dedicated to aid. This discourse emphasises the futility and rapacity of African states, and therefore the urgency and legitimacy of ‘bypassing’ state mechanisms when sending aid to the continent. This has led to the Somali crisis becoming more endemic (except for Somaliland, which strangely no one officially recognizes) and this

means that nowadays tiny GuineaBissau has a phantom state, because it doesn’t actually control anything.

The supposedly progressive, antistate position has joined forces with the theorists of large financial institutions, resulting in the horrors seen in the nineties, as mentioned earlier.

However, states continue to be the only guarantee of the preservation and growth of public infrastructure (ports, roads, trains, hospitals, schools). And the only protection that the people have against the warlords is that the state retains control of violence, despite the risk of abuse this brings.

Fortunately, since 2000, only three points of permanent conflict remain (southern Somalia, western Sudan, eastern Congo). Democratic procedures have significantly improved and the restabilisation of states is the main guarantee of international investments and projects: if Sub-Saharan Africa is once more coveted by Western states and emerging countries it is precisely because these African states have regained their public functions, the only ones which justify them. These ‘idle’ states are not an optimal solution, but they allow African societies a period of work, security and the recovery of the dynamism they have always shown.

The myth of massively flawed SubSaharan states needs to be revised, since not even the divided Mali-Azawad meets the parameters of a truly failed state. We need more information, less sensationalism and more confidence in Africa’s recent resurgence.

*Ferran Iniesta Currently director of the African Societies Research Group, (SGR 2005 - ) and coordinator of the research network ARDA (Research and Teaching for Africa, 1997 - ). Former Professor at the Universities of Dakar (Senegal, 1979-1980) and Antananarivo (Madagascar, 1983-1985) and Professor of African History at the University of Barcelona (Catalonia, 1985 -). He specialises in power systems and systems of thought in Africa and researches historical processes in the ancient and classical Nile and western Sudan. He is an analyst of the interaction between modernity and tradition in West Africa and Equatorial Africa. He has published numerous books, including El pensamiento tradicional africano (Traditional African Thought. Madrid 2010) and Thot. Pensamiento y poder en el Antiguo Egipto (Thot. Thought and power in Ancient Egypt. Madrid 2012) and is the scientific editor of numerous magazines.

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Asia

Nuclear trust

by Iris Mir*

In human relations, as well as in national and international politics, trust is a decisive factor in bringing opposing sides together. Conversely, a lack of trust has the opposite effect, becoming a force that drives people apart, resulting in them all preserving their very own interests. In times of peace, trust is easily maintained.

However, when disaster strikes, the status quo comes under scrutiny, bringing to light its greatest enemy: distrust. The civil use of nuclear power embodies this critical battle of opposites. In Asia, the world’s fastest growing economy, urbanization is taking place at such a pace that countries like China, India and Indonesia (the first, second and fourth most populous countries) see nuclear energy as the key to helping them keep the engine of growth working at high speed. It is clean and reliable (if security requirements are met). Moreover, as its use develops, the industry has the potential to help them maintain their long-term growth rates. One means of doing so would be by trading in nuclear supplies with other countries keen on developing their very own nuclear industry. In Asia, nuclear energy is bound to develop in numerous areas, to the extent that its use, beyond purely energy needs, will become paramount for the economies concerned.

According to the United Nations’ State of World Population Report 2011, the world is currently home to some 7 billion people. It is a huge number that reminds the international community of the need to be aware of the risks that accompany rapid population growth.

According to the report, the next 2 billion people to be born will live in cities, which means more energy will be needed to power these vast urban areas. The report asks what can be done, ‘to transform these growing cities into forces for sustainability’. Asia’s urbanization is giving birth to mega-cities built to 22

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house the millions of people that will inhabit the continent in the decades to come. Cities need to be sustainable in order to contribute, in the long term, to the further development of the country instead of just housing (in often poor conditions) the increasing number of urbanites. In other words, slums like the ones surrounding mega-urbs, such Manila, Jakarta or New Delhi ought to disappear if sustainable growth is to be achieved. But how can we ensure that Asian metropolises inhabited by 20 million people or so are powered in a sustainable manner? The UN Re-

Asia

port highlights that only, ‘with good planning and thoughtful policies, can governments usher in urban growth that boosts economies and creates jobs while using energy more efficiently’.

This is the dilemma facing the Asian nations: how to counteract the widening gap between the supply and demand of energy? The answer appears to be by going nuclear. The fastest growing cities in the region share two common problems: low energy security, resulting from a dependency on the availability of fossil fuels supplied by resource-rich countries and heavily polluted cities.

Take China, for instance. In 2011 it consumed 3.7 billion tonnes of its main energy source: coal, a mineral which is responsible for hazardous levels of air pollution arising from energy production. In contrast we have Japan, the world’s largest energy importer, where 30% of its electricity comes from nuclear energy. It is home to the world’s most populous city: Tokyo (with 36.7 million residents; a quarter of the country’s total population). Japan has taken the initiative on nuclear energy, having made it a national strategic priority since 1973. The population trusted Catalan International View

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its use and the country’s vibrant cities worked almost non-stop while nuclear reactors provided the energy. Prior to the Fukushima plant meltdown resulting from the March 2011 tsunami, Japan was eager to give nuclear power a greater role by increasing its share of the electricity supply to 45%. The target formed part of the country’s energy policy, which was aimed at minimising dependency on energy imports while promoting nuclear energy to the public, emphasising safety and non-proliferation. Nevertheless, Japan failed to ensure one essential element: safety.

Nuclear power’s export potential is so great that even China and India are willing to become major exporters Radioactive leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant forced the country to shut down all of its reactors for the first time in 40 years. The government’s decision was controversial but widely applauded. The Japanese public went about their lives while the government struggled to find a way to face the economic consequences of a complete halt of an energy source which is also used for industrial production. The move proved to be unsustainable, especially during the summer when energy consumption rises.

The government called for safety and stress tests to be carried out on all of the country’s reactors in order to restore the population’s confidence in nuclear energy. Tokyo believes that if safety is guaranteed, the reactors should be progressively restarted in order to return to nuclear power for the sake of the country’s economy. The public are primarily concerned by whether safety can be guaranteed. Multitudinous protests following the restarting of two reactors at the Ohi nuclear plant are proof of this.

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The Fukushima disaster also resulted in a dilemma that engulfed Japan’s Asian neighbours. Big economies (and big countries) like China, India and Indonesia were eyeing nuclear energy as the key to meeting the energy needs of their rapidly growing economies. In addition, for advanced countries like South Korea saying ‘no’ to nuclear energy means staying out of the lucrative business of trading in nuclear supplies.

For Seoul, investing in nuclear energy not only became a means to sustain its energy needs, but also constituted a strategic priority (‘the largest mega project in Korean history’, as they call it). Fearlessly ignoring the meltdowns in Japan, South Korea stuck to its plans to build 35 nuclear plants by 2024.

Seoul is committed to its nuclear strategy and to improving the efficiency of its plants; it is also developing its role as a major technology supplier. In 2009 South Korea signed a 20 billion dollar contract to supply the United Arab Emirates with nuclear technology. The deal included the sale of 4 modern nuclear power reactors. Its goal is to become the world’s third largest supplier.

Being a member of the national suppliers group is a lucrative business. It’s a very exclusive club. If they are committed to non-proliferation, its members are allowed to trade in nuclear technology. Even the five officially recognized atomic weapons states may be welcomed if they agree to having the International Atomic Energy Agency monitor their nuclear activities. In a continent like Asia, where geo-strategic interests are often traded under the banner of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs, nuclear trade outside the framework of the NSG is a powerful weapon of choice. It is in the world’s best interest to have heavily polluted countries like China and India invest in clean nuclear energy. Nevertheless, this gives them the means to expand their nuclear ambitions to oth-

Asia

er countries, with the risk of violating international non-proliferation treaties. Nuclear power’s export potential is so great that even China and India are willing to become major exporters.

Beijing may have found a good client in Pakistan, thanks to deteriorating relations between the latter and the USA. It is a game of influences that the White House is playing well in the region by signing an unprecedented deal with the world’s largest democracy. India’s development of nuclear civil energy was limited due to their reluctance to sign a non-proliferation treaty after acquiring nuclear weapons capability. It was a fact that ceased to be important for the United States in 2008 when they saw trade in nuclear supplies with India as a means to counterbalance the growing influence of other regional players.

Washington trusts India because it is a democracy, while refusing trade with other nations (like Pakistan) by sug-

gesting that their civil nuclear plans might not be entirely trustworthy.

Two thirds of the world’s nuclear plants currently under construction are in Asia, the most populous continent.

This shows the paramount importance of nuclear power for the region’s growth. China’s projects alone account for 40% of the projected global total.

Nonetheless, they were put on indefinite hold following the Fukushima disaster, amid safety concerns. Other developing Southeast Asian countries are having second thoughts as to their initial plans to make nuclear power a means to sustain the energy needs of their rapidly growing populations. Others are braver, dismissing the public’s concerns by emphasising the industry’s safety measures. The president of the Korea Institute for Nuclear Safety, Yun Choul-ho, stressed the country’s commitment to nuclear power: ‘We believe there is no alternaCatalan International View

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tive to nuclear energy at this stage, and instead we can take this opportunity to review nuclear safety, as well as to increase exports of nuclear technology’. Asian leaders are brave. Officials in Indonesia seem unconcerned by the fact that the country, prone to strong earthquakes, is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire: ‘The important thing isn’t that Indonesia is on the Ring of Fire or there are tsunamis, so we can’t build. No, the important thing is that we fulfil the requirements’, stressed the head of nuclear energy development at Indonesia’s National Nuclear Energy Agency, Adiwardojo. China also approved a nuclear safety plan in May of this year, aimed at enhancing nuclear safety standards and lowering the risks of nuclear radiation by 2020. Safety is the trending topic. But what does safety mean? A recent report published by

the panel investigating the Fukushima disaster concluded that, ‘it was a profoundly man-made disaster, that could and should have been foreseen and prevented’. The Energy ministers at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) concluded that the region should learn from the experience of Fukushima, expecting Japan to share its knowledge and experience of the accident. An accident that, as it is now known, happened due to negligence by both the government and the plant operator, coupled with a multitude of errors. Logically, such a conclusion won’t raise people’s trust in nuclear energy. It is not necessarily a matter of trusting the energy source per se, but rather a matter of trusting those in charge of monitoring and ensuring that it is indeed safe.

*Iris Mir She holds a degree in Media Studies from the Universitat Ramon Llull (Blanquerna Faculty of Communication Sciences) and a Masters in Political and Social Science, specialising in contemporary democracies from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. She focused her research on democracy in Southeast Asia. She has been living in Asia since 2006 working as the Asia Pacific correspondent and reporter for various media outlets such as COMRàdio, El Temps, Ara and Radio Netherlands Worldwide. She is currently working in Beijing, as the media and communications officer at the Instituto Cervantes.

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Asia

Japan at the crossroads

by Lluc López-Vidal*

In the last ten years, the nature of Japanese democracy has moved beyond the so-called ‘karaoke democracy’ (that is, a political system dominated by national bureaucracy, big business and a single-party-dominated system) to a new form of kabuki democracy. According to some prominent scholars, Japanese politics nowadays is no longer akin to a karaoke song, in which bureaucrats and big companies write the songs and politicians of the ruling party sing. Instead, it resembles the Japanese traditional kabuki, a colourful and extravagant dance-drama that is performed by elaborately made-up males. For such scholars, Japanese politics is being led by a new kabuki-style in which politicians show their personality and emotions and are accountable for their manifestos rather than the traditional vested interests of old-style politics.

Although in some ways this kabukistyle democracy is rather a desired prototype, the evidence shows without a doubt that Japanese politics have changed since the 2009 general election, when the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the party that had controlled Japanese politics for more than fifty years, suffered an overwhelming defeat that brought the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to power. Since then, the new ruling party (consisting of former members of the LDP, Social Democratic Party and other minor parties) has attempted to create a new Japan. Nevertheless, the task that lies ahead is undeniably huge and complex.

Japan, a prosperous society that has enjoyed decades of social, political and economic stability, faces a grave crisis 28

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that began with the bursting of the bubble economy in the early 1990s. In this article, I would like to outline the economic, societal and political challenges facing the new government in the near future.

As with the recent economic collapse in southern European countries, Japan suffered a triple fall in its banking sector, stock market and housing values at the beginning of the 1990s which led to a contraction in consumption, chronic deflation and a deep recession, a period generally depicted as Japan’s ‘Lost Decade’ of growth. Following a period of relative economic growth during the Koizumi administration (2001-2006), the current global economic recession and uncontrollable national debt (reaching 220% of GDP

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in July 2012) prompted the government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to raise consumption tax from its current 5% to 8% in 2014 and 10% in 2015. With this unpopular measure, the government is trying to tip the balance in the long debate on how the country should face the economic challenges that lie ahead: austerity in a free market or economic growth in a developmental state model.

Japan has proved time and again it has an extraordinary potential to meet these challenges with boldness and imagination and find its place in the tumultuous and uncertain age in which we live On the one hand, big business and the LDP’s old guard prefer an economy in which the main driving force is the state and national bureaucracy, and they rely on the idea that economic growth can only be achieved through economic activism, that is, involvement in the management of national economic activities, and high levels of public spending. On the other hand, a new political generation led by certain DPJ members regards such state intervention in the economy as highly dysfunctional and counterproductive, besides the fact that, ultimately, it involves snowballing, unsustainable national debt. For some DPJ politicians, market forces should be the driving force behind the Japanese economy and certain sectors should be deregulated in order to cut runaway debt, the worst among developed countries (130% in Greece and Italy).

In spite of the fact that 95% of the national debt has been financed by nationals, and that Japan has the largest saving surplus in the world, it is insufficient to ameliorate long-term economic stagnation. As Paul Krugman once 30

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pointed out, Japan’s monetary policy will be unsuccessful in the face of one of the most important challenges facing the country in the new millennium: an ageing and shrinking society.

Recent official documents released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare estimate that by 2060 Japan will have a population of less than 90 million, down from its current 128 million, and 40% of the population will be of retirement age by then. With the highest average life expectancy in the world, Japanese society is rapidly ageing and therefore the workforce necessary to ensure the social welfare system and hence the wealth of the country, will shrink to half of the total population. Moreover, the government has admitted that officials had been keeping poverty statistics secret since 1998 in order to maintain the notion that Japan is an egalitarian society. In a recent survey by the Labour Ministry, a total of 20 million people live in poverty, a ratio close to that of the United States, making Japan the sixth worst of the OECD countries.

Nevertheless, what lies at the heart of Japan’s malaise is a political paralysis that has endured since the beginning of the bubble economy. After years of political turmoil in the 90s, the arrival of Prime Minister Koizumi in 2001 represented a new style of Japanese politics, with his campaign against the corrupt old guard of his own party as the emblem of his political reform. His charismatic personality and personal leadership, highly relevant in a country where prime ministers tend to be passive, short-lived and reliant on the decisions made by the bureaucracy, were warmly welcomed by public opinion, gaining popularity of over 80 percent.

Following Koizumi’s departure, and after three prime ministers in swift succession in a three-year period, political stability finally seemed to arrive with a landslide victory for the DPJ and an

Asia

unprecedented defeat of the LPD. In a country characterized by a political culture that has been fundamentally conservative for the last fifty years, the DPJ’s victory was seen as a true revolution, a regime change. The day after the election, the Asahi Shinbun, one of Japan’s biggest newspapers, published a poll indicating that 70% of voters were happy with the election, and astonishingly, almost 50% of this group had voted for the LPD. The desire for regime change was self-evident and for many Japanese the victory provided a political stability and a change in the old political culture of pork-barrel politics (not spending money according to economic efficiency but out of loyalties to the legislator’s constituents).

So far, the reality has been different from what was expected. Since the DPJ came to power at the end of 2009, there have already been three prime

Japan, a prosperous society that has enjoyed decades of social, political and economic stability, faces a grave crisis that began with the bursting of the bubble economy in the early 1990s ministers, and cabinet reshuffles have sadly become all-too frequent, adding further uncertainty to Japanese politics.

By way of illustration, in the past two and a half years the post of Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, responsible for dealing with the problem of the ageing society, has changed eight times. Likewise, the minister in charge of government revitalization has been replaced six times in two years. Cabinet instability has once again become one of the main concerns of Japanese society in the new millennium.

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Along with the leadership vacuum, Noda’s government has had to tackle the problem of legislative paralysis in recent years. Under the 1947 Constitution, general legislation in Japan must be approved by the rather symmetrical bicameral parliament. According to the Magna Carta, the Upper House (House of Chancellors) can block a bill approved by the Lower House (House of Representatives) unless the latter passes the bill again with a two-thirds majority. This means that for the ruling party to govern successfully, it must retain control of both chambers of the Diet or, otherwise, reach agreement with the opposition. With the Upper House controlled by the opposition parties (a ‘twisted parliament’, or nejire kokkai in Japanese) Noda’s administration has been unable to reach crucial agreements on several key matters and thus faces a new, dramatic political stalemate.

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Last but not least, Japan’s political paralysis and inability to define broader national goals have also been observed in the realm of foreign policy. Since the end of the Cold War, Japan’s foreign policy has been reacting to changes in the international system following a strategy of progressive readjustment rather than through a rapid paradigm shift. The challenge for the LDP government was to achieve the normalization of its foreign policy (that is, assuming greater responsibilities in the realm of security) without arousing the suspicions of the countries that suffered the atrocities perpetrated by the Imperial Army during the Second World War. Koizumi’s visit to Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine and the final resting place of a number of war criminals from this period, far from easing historical animosities, contributed to deteriorating Japan’s relationship with its neighbours.

The DPJ government has an enormous task ahead to improve diplomatic ties with South Korea, Taiwan and China in particular.

Along with its security relationship with the United States, the rise of Chi-

na has undoubtedly become the biggest challenge for Japan’s foreign policy. The recently reinvigorated dispute over the Senkaku Island in 2012 has not only hampered Sino-Japanese relations, but poses a real threat to the security of the Island. China is too big for Japan to maintain a military balance without American assistance. Thus, after initial differences between Washington and Tokyo on the relocation of US military bases situated in Okinawa, Japan has enhanced security cooperation with its main ally, with the Japan-US security

alliance remaining the cornerstone of security in Asia.

The magnitude of the aforementioned domestic and international challenges that Japan will have to tackle in the coming years has been aggravated by the triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami and nuclear explosion) which occurred on March 11th, 2011. However, Japan has proved time and again it has an extraordinary potential to meet these challenges with boldness and imagination and find its place in the tumultuous and uncertain age in which we live. *Lluc López-Vidal

Holds a PhD in International Relations and European Integration at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), an MA in Asian Studies at the International and Intercultural Studies Institute (UAB), and a degree in Political and Administration Sciences from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), in Barcelona. He is currently the senior lecturer in International Relations and Political Systems in the East Asian Studies programme run by the Arts and Humanities Department of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC).

His dissertation is entitled: Cambio y continuidad en la política exterior y de seguridad de Japón (1989-2009). La transformación de la doctrina Yoshida y la adopción de una estrategia hedging ante el ascenso de China. [Change and Continuity in Japanese Foreign and Security Policy (1989-2009). The transformation of the Yoshida Doctrine and the Adoption of a Hedging Strategy Towards China]

Asia

The Americas

Obama in the balance

by Marc Gafarot*

Four years have passed and the November elections are drawing near. Barack Obama, the first black president in US history, is facing his possible re-election with a somewhat exaggerated air of confidence and a certain degree of respectability following four years in power. His international image has suffered no more than strictly necessary during his presidency. His image at home has never been spotless and is currently much worse than his supporters would like it to be. A wave of change is gradually spreading from west of the Rockies to liberal New England via the ever tough and conservative Midwest. The question the Americans are asking themselves is quite telling: will Obama absorb this change from his chair in the Oval Office or instead will it be Romney who uses his influence as opposition candidate and thereby the promise of change?

Right now the betting is on.

Much has changed in the nearly four years of Obama’s presidency. Four years ago Barack Obama was a young, inexperienced politician who took advantage of every opportunity to sell his vision of hope. He was expected to implement a unique liberal view of politics and social relations in the US and try to limit the socially reprehensible concept of ‘business as usual’ in Washington. Many compared him to a huge rock star and his influence, undoubtedly exaggerated, won him the Nobel Peace Prize without the need for him to get off his high horse. Nowadays we find a starkly different Obama, wellused to his political role and selling realism from his office. Nowadays, rather than speaking to us of dreams and desires, Obama speaks of the dangers and threats posed by the other candidate and their unique vision of the United States that characterizes the American conservative. Make no mistake, negative messages issued by both candidates 34

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will dominate the presidential campaign. Whoever benefits the most will emerge victorious.

During his term in office Obama has put up a spirited defence of making higher education more accessible to all levels of society. He has increased training programs for the young and opened up a veritable can of worms: the expansion of public health care.

This is all well and good, but there is a real possibility that Obama will not win. More so now that the elections are approaching and the Republicans have an official candidate that no one believed in just a few months ago. There is a real possibility that a new recession in Europe will crush hopes of an expected recovery of the US economy. Both the public and the President himself agree, lower growth and higher unemployment lessen Obama’s chances of being re-elected as president of the United States. The irony is that the Old Continent has not exactly been the number

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one priority of Obama’s presidency, yet he may see his re-election being complicated in part thanks to Europe.

Obama’s lead has been greatly reduced to the point that some commentators believe that the race for the presidency may now be a virtual tie between the current holder of the White House and Mitt Romney. There are those who suggest that the American electorate that came out largely in favour of Obama four years ago is once more looking for a significant change of direction and leadership. It is a fact that in theory ought not to favour the current holder of office, however much Romney fails to arouse passions or attract a close following.

Comparing 2012 with 1992 (the last time that a sitting president failed to be re-elected) the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, a reliable indicator, currently stands at a poor 76. It was at 77 when President Bush was defeated.

American voters place a high value on two factors: good leadership of the country and the economy. In most opinion polls Romney scores better than his opponent in both of these major areas. One must also avoid underestimating a detail of great importance for the outcome: Obama’s appeal among the working classes, the young and progressive voters in general has lost a great deal of intensity. As a result, Obama will have to play the card of discrediting his election rival, rather than relying on enthusiasm for his own person. Hence Obama’s somewhat surprising commitment to Bush’s political and strategic guru, Karl Rove, and his famous theory of fifty-percent-plusone. This involves strengthening one’s loyal voter base, rather than attracting newcomers, by making one’s discourse more radical and antagonistic, as far as possible, towards one’s opponent and thereby their ideas. Bush, whose presidency was neither popular nor particuCatalan International View

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larly satisfying, managed to polarize public opinion. Bush followed Rove’s Machiavellian commands as part of his antagonistic strategy during the 2004 campaign that pitted him against Senator John Kerry. The demobilisation and demoralisation of one’s opponent’s supporters also plays a crucial role in this strategy in order to achieve ultimate success. To do so Obama is appealing, now more than ever, to his political militancy with radical messages and concepts which are polarizing American public opinion. The president is filling his speeches with references to gay marriage, contraception, cheap loans for teenagers and veiled attacks (which are often not-so-veiled) on the alleged racism of his opponents.

In this tactic of no-return, Obama appeals to various social groups such as minorities, single mothers and homosexuals at the same time as he is losing support among the working classes, the political centre and the white electorate in general. Obviously the conservative vote he failed to win four years ago won’t be his now either. Worse still, he might lose support among lifelong Democratic voters. An example can be found in the West Virginia primaries where Democratic supporters gave forty percent of the vote to a convicted felon who ran against Obama from his prison cell. Nevertheless, Romney may be his own worst enemy if he is unable to build a coherent and inspiring discourse for his own people. Right now it remains to be seen what will happen and many doubts remain as to his candidacy and his chances of winning.

One of the president’s advantages is his charisma and greater appeal among the electorate as a whole. In elections which are as personality-driven as the race to the White House, Obama possesses superior credentials to Romney who does not seem to be sufficiently credible. Furthermore, he differs from 36

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the current president, in the eyes of public opinion in such sensitive matters as honesty, empathy, political consistency and in connecting with the public and (of great importance) appreciating their day to day problems.

That said, if what Americans voters want right now is change based on a new economic direction, then Romney is clearly perceived as a better manager of economic affairs and the one holding the most cards. Romney’s victory over Obama cannot be ruled out given an expected slowdown in the US economy thanks to the difficult situation in Europe.

President Obama should not be considered the clear favourite in the upcoming November elections. In part it is due to the economic distress suffered by the US, concerns surrounding the country’s affairs and the desire of large sectors of the electorate and the powerful lobbies for a major change in political leadership. This has led the renowned Democrat political analyst Peter Hart to estimate Obama’s chances of winning right now as being around fifty-fifty. This coincides with the current president popularity reaching its lowest point. For Hart, the American electorate’s discontentment with its institutions creates a general desire for widespread changes in faces and procedures and this is beneficial to Romney.

Obama’s greater institutional weight could hurt him, going against him and the interests of the Democratic party.

Hence the recurring questions that now arise: will the American electorate behave like a Jack Russell or a Doberman? If they act like the former, barking at his present misfortunes, Obama will win. If they act like the latter, the public’s aggression will lead to political change and the victory of the former governor of Massachusetts. The question is, as noted by the majority of the American news media, to what

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extent voters will express their clear disenchantment with politicians, their institutions and the state of the union.

Hence the results will depend on swing states, those states where loyalties are more loyal to a particular candidate than to any one political ideology. At present Obama is doing better and it is not a minor issue when considering the fight for the White House. Florida, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado and a number of other states could prove decisive.

The truth is that for Obama this election represents an enormous challenge, especially now that he is losing support among all segments of the American population. In some of them, blacks, Latinos, women, the young, Jews and trade unionists he continues to have majority support but less so than when compared to the 2008 election. The Catholic vote, traditional Democrat voters, is a case in point. According to the polls, Romney could take the lead. Aside from the black vote, the current president has seen his support

fall to levels that traditionally have not ended with the Democratic candidates winning. Where Obama did not garner support in 2008, whites, male voters, individuals without higher education, members of evangelical churches, war veterans and entrepreneurs, the results are even worse. This is a bad sign just a few months before elections in the most important democracy in the world.

The president is filling his speeches with references to gay marriage, contraception, cheap loans for teenagers and veiled attacks on the alleged racism of his opponents Nevertheless, the president scores better than his opponent in three areas which could be critical to his aspirations if he is able to maintain them: firstly he is rated as a good Commander in Chief. Interestingly, thanks largely Catalan International View

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to the success of the Bin Laden operation, Gaddafi’s downfall and subsequent death and the untraumatic exit from Iraq, foreign policy and security provide Obama with support in his political aspirations. Obama’s results are surprisingly good given that he is a Democrat. This is an area which traditionally has been dominated by Republicans, as they are seen as the party of law and order and national defence.

The other two elements in Obama’s favour are being rated as the best candidate to defend the interests of the middle classes and having better experience and knowledge than his rival of the country’s current state of affairs.

Obama is rated as the best candidate to defend the interests of the middle classes and having better knowledge than his rival of the country’s current state of affairs According to the media and conservative commentators, Obama’s strat38

Catalan International View

egy has been to attempt to distract public opinion away from ‘the real problems facing the people’ by appealing to a socially divisive discourse in the so-called cultural war. Such a tactic is complicated, and at best it raises many questions as to its success. For instance, all the thirty-two states that have held a referendum on same-sex marriage have voted unanimously against it, including the ever-liberal California. It is worth reminding ourselves that Americans tend to be more conservative when it comes to actually voting than they may initially appear in surveys and opinion polls.

Until very recently the general feeling was that Obama’s re-election was more than assured. The centrist, moderate Obama versus an overlyconservative, Mormon Romney. A fact that does not please conservative sectors of the country. But things may have changed. During the primary race Romney adopted positions on certain issues that made certain segments of public opinion and the political centre feel uncomfortable. Now

The Americas

that he is the Republican’s official candidate he does not need to make these statements every time he has to make a public statement, holds a press conference or attends a political meeting.

By not doing so he fails to see how it diminishes his image and his chances of being elected. Obama hopes that the electorate’s choice is between the moderate president and the conservative former governor. If this is the case he hopes to mobilize the support he has lost from those sections of the electorate that enthusiastically voted for him in the last election. The ethnic

and social minorities therefore become a key factor in shifting the balance in this virtual tie which currently appears to exist. Conversely if the economy deteriorates Romney will alter his image as a conservative who is far removed from the problems of the people, in order to obtain the votes of the minorities and young voters who will transfer allegiance from the Democratic to the Republican side. It should prove to be a hotly contested campaign in which the concept of a ‘civil war’ of words comes true.

*Marc Gafarot Holds a degree in Humanities from the Universidad de Navarra, an MSc in European Studies from the London School of Economics and an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of Liverpool. As a journalist and political commentator he has worked from London for Bloomberg LP, in Latin America for Summit Communications and served as a Parliamentary Adviser at the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg. Gafarot is currently Head of International Relations for Catalan International View. He has written a book on Flanders and Federalism in Belgium called ‘La mort de Bèlgica? La gradual i pacífica emancipació flamenca’ (The Death of Belgium? The Gradual and Peaceful Flemish Emancipation) and co-authored The Student’s Guide to European Integration.

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Catalan International View

39

Interview

Josep Carreras ‘The idea of a free Catalonia was once a utopia and now it’s a dream that could well come true’ Interviewed by Eva Piquer*

Photos provided by Josep Carreras Foundation

The tenor Josep Carreras (Barcelona, 1946) never stops saying that he feels extremely fortunate for many reasons: he was born with a vocation and he’s been able to dedicate himself to it; he has performed at the most prestigious opera houses in the world, receiving all manner of awards and accolades; and his battle to overcome leukaemia at the peak of his career led to a new personal challenge: the fight against the disease. The Josep Carreras Foundation, founded in 1988, aims to find a cure for leukaemia in the not-too-distant future. ‘It is my greatest dream, the ultimate challenge’, he says. He is convinced that he will live to see it.

We are in the middle of an economic crisis and we don’t know how or when it will end. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

I am a member of the public like anyone else, and my view is like most people’s. I don’t feel very optimistic, but that doesn’t mean there’s no hope. We hope that at one time or another, sooner rather than later, all these problems that affect society will be solved. It looks like the international community has begun to realize that in the Spanish state things haven’t exactly been done in a perfect way. That’s why the crisis has had such an impact.

And how do you see the future for Catalonia?

I’m very hopeful. It’ll be tough and it’ll be difficult, but we Catalans have an entrepreneurial spirit and one great virtue: we believe in mankind, in the human capacity to act, to create and to achieve goals.

We don’t need any help: as long as they don’t try and stop us we’ll manage. Obviously if they do put obstacles in our way it might prevent us from realising our potential.

Have you become more of a nationalist over the years?

I respect all the available options and beliefs, but I’m a nationalist (or pro-independence, if you prefer).

I have been all my life, it comes from my family.

These things depend heavily on what your parents and grandparents teach you, and in my home we have always had this way of thinking and this great dream. Basically, the idea of seeing a free Catalonia is a dream. Once it was a utopia and now it is a dream that could well come true.

Will we live to see Catalan independence?

My grandchildren will, yes.

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Interview

When you are abroad do you introduce yourself as Catalan or Spanish?

As a Catalan. I always perform with a senyera [the Catalan flag] on my lapel.

Do you find yourself having to explain what Catalonia is all about, acting like an ambassador?

Not often, it hasn’t been necessary. When I go abroad, people generally know about Catalonia.

And I don’t just mean the people who go to the opera, who supposedly have a certain cultural level, although it’s not always the case. I mean hotel porters, chauffeurs, taxi drivers, waiters... they are the kind of people I really enjoy chatting to, when I want to find out about the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the countries I visit.

I’d be my own worst enemy if I tried to sing the same repertoire as 25 years ago People really know about Catalonia? Maybe you have to mention Barcelona so people can picture it on a map...

Barcelona helps a lot, yes. ... and Barça [Barcelona FC].

And Barça, of course. The Olympics served to put Barcelona on the international map. Before maybe a lot of people knew that Barcelona was a Mediterranean city, but they were unaware of what this city really meant and still means. Nowadays the vast majority of people in the Western world know that Catalonia is within Spain but that it has the desire to become independent. They know we have our own language, our culture, our roots and our own identity.

You have publicly defended the idea of Catalonia having its own sports teams.

That’s because I hope I live to see it. We should have them long before my grandchildren are grown up.

You’re 65 years old, retirement age. Are you happy with what you’ve done?

It may seem arrogant to say ‘yes’, but it might seem ungrateful to say ‘no’. I’m very satisfied, although I could have done some things differently or bet42

ter. I believe in hard work, in discipline, and these elements have been present throughout my professional life.

How does an opera star manage to believe they’re not some kind of a god, that they stay in touch with reality…?

I’m the romantic hero for the three hours the opera lasts. When I hang up my cape and sword in the dressing room and I drive back to the hotel, I go back to being an ordinary man. I don’t take the character home with me after the performance. Whether you can adapt to success or not very much depends on the family you grew up in, and the values they instilled in you. The kind of success an opera singer achieves doesn’t come overnight and it isn’t shortlived. You go up one step at a time, and if you’re lucky enough to reach a certain level, you stay there.

So in my case, success is easier to accept.

You’re the son of a policeman and a hairdresser. Do humble beginnings mark one for life? Does starting from the bottom make you appreciate everything you achieve?

My background has neither hurt nor helped me.

What counts most is personal effort, regardless of the environment in which you’re born. I grew up in a proud, contented and happy family. I’ve never thought, ‘Oh, if only I’d been born into a different environment!’. I was born in the immediate postwar period and I never had any hang ups about being born into a poor family during the Franco dictatorship. Nor do I boast about it: it’s just the way things are. It’s my normality. Being born into a lower middle class family is also statistically much more normal than being born into a rich family.

Will you feel bad if your children or grandchildren don’t do as well as you have?

It all depends on what they want. The fact that society has changed so much in a few years doesn’t mean that the importance of individual effort has been lost. My children and grandchildren will be whatever they strive to be. My duty as a father has been to give them the opportunity to develop their skills in the fields they have chosen.

But perhaps now with the economic upheaval, individual effort may not be enough.

Unfortunately, you’re right. As much as we believe in the culture of effort and knowledge, it’s all gone

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terribly wrong, when you see how certain things were done badly, ending in the mess we’re currently in. Catalan politicians may have certain flaws but at least they have their dignity and are better prepared than certain Spanish politicians from the PP [Partido Popular or People’s Party]. I respect the PP’s supporters, but the mediocrity of some of their leaders is apparent. It’s not that they’ve brought us to the brink; it’s that we’ve already sunk. We’re in Atlantis! The worst is that we’ve sunk and they would have us believe that we haven’t. Let’s hope that Romney doesn’t win the American elections, because everything will be slower and trickier... fingers crossed!

You were very young when you made your debut at the Liceu [the Barcelona opera house]. Do you remember how it went...?

I sang from a very early age. When I was eight or nine I appeared on a charity program on the radio, around Christmas time, and I sang a couple of pieces. A short time later I got a call from the Liceu. It turned out they were preparing a production of Manuel de Falla’s El Retaule de Maese Pedro and

they thought I could play the part of the narrator.

My parents agreed because the Liceu was a big opportunity. I prepared myself well, we did it and that’s how it all began.

Being born with such a clear vocation is a good thing, isn’t it?

It’s a real luxury. Doing a job you love, that fulfils you, is a great luxury in life.

I suppose your voice isn’t what it once was. Is it difficult to accept that your abilities are declining?

One’s voice is a reflection of who we are as a person. The instrument grows with us, and time passes for the instrument in the same way that it does for us. Obviously I’d love to sing André Chénier today and Carmen tomorrow, but an artist has to be sufficiently sensitive and intelligent to understand their limitations. And if within these limitations you can continue doing what interests you most, which is to convey emotions, and people accept you that way, you can’t ask for anything more. I’d be my own worst enemy if I tried to sing the same repertoire as 25 years ago.

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Interview

Will you retire, or would you prefer to die on stage?

I know that sooner or later I’ll have to retire. I realize my professional demise will arrive sooner rather than later, but it’ll be hard to find the right moment.

But every day I become more selfish, the more I see the end of my career approaching, the more I realize how important it is for me, how much I enjoy it, and what it means to get up on stage. It will be hard to find the right time to retire, to say goodbye to the stage, but I hope and trust that myself and the people who surround me will know when to choose the right moment.

Have leukaemia and your fight against it made you a better person?

Leukaemia has made me more mature. I’m more forgiving, I’m more open to dialogue. It hasn’t made me a better person, but it has probably made me more reflective, made me change my priorities, made me learn to appreciate everything to the right degree.

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What should you be grateful to leukaemia for?

It showed me that I have a wonderful family, extraordinary friends and the unconditional support of all the anonymous people who wanted to be by my side in difficult times. It sounds a little presumptuous, but the thousands of letters and messages I received during the disease were a special gift. I sincerely believe that they were one of the reasons I wanted to fight.

The whole country was involved in your recovery.

Every Catalan had the feeling they had to attend your comeback concert at the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona.

It was amazing, amazing. Aside from the debt I have with the medical and scientific community, I have a debt to the people. That’s why I created the foundation. I felt that the best way to pay back society for part of what I had received was by creating an organisation that fights against the disease that I had suffered from. It’s another thing that I am grateful to leukaemia for: that it gave me the opportunity to

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Interview

try to help those who need it with my small contribution, and this is a special gift for a human being.

Every day the foundation gives me work and things to worry about, but the reward of seeing what we have achieved over the years is wonderful. Seeing a kid that nearly died three months ago go back to school, and that we have contributed in some way, this is priceless, you can’t compare it with anything.

Is the economic crisis affecting medical research?

We have created a research centre that investigates leukaemia which aims to be one of the best. Currently it’s based in two places: at Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic, where research has been going on for months, and another in a new building under construction in Badalona, part of Hospital Trias i Pujol. It is a half private, half public venture, with the participation of the Josep Carreras Foundation and the Generalitat of Catalonia: we are responsible for constructing the building and equipping the centre, which will initially be about 7,000 square meters, and we hope that soon there will be between 50 and 60 researchers working there every day to improve the lot of leukaemia patients. I really like the fact that it is a joint private and public initiative, and I’d also like to say that from the moment we launched the project, both the previous Catalan government and the current one have given us a great deal of support.

This isn’t the best moment to start a project of this kind, but the administration is sticking to the commitments it made. For a country to move forward, research should come as a top priority, immediately behind education and health.

In an interview for an earlier edition of the Catalan International View, the biologist Anna Veiga said: ‘if we don’t protect biomedical research from the crisis we’ll miss out on the future’.

That’s very true.

Culture is also an asset which needs to be protected.

Of course. Culture is crucial, it helps us to live better.

What debt do you owe to music?

Being able to develop my vocation, being able to express myself. The most important thing for an artist in whatever field it may be (music, visual arts, literature...) is being able to express themselves through a picture, a book, a song, a symphony or an opera. Music has given me the chance to get up on stage and

try to convey emotions and feelings. This is the best thing that can happen to an artist. If these feelings and emotions reach enough people to allow you to be placed in a certain league within your profession, it’s fantastic. I am a very, very lucky and privileged man. Extremely lucky.

My professional demise will arrive sooner rather than later, but it’ll be hard to find the right moment Should an artist be socially committed?

There’s no obligation. The obligation is determined by how things develop. In my case it was due to a personal experience. Or when you become aware thanks to something that happens very close to you.

Artists are sensitive people and we care about social problems.

And politically?

Politically, the artist has an obligation to be truthful, of not concealing anything, although sometimes it’s difficult. There are artists who reach political compromises out of expediency, to ensure their professional survival and that’s wrong. An artist should be honest with themselves, rather than saying what is politically expedient. To express what we feel we must be honest. And if you say things the right way, we can respect everyone’s point of view, everyone’s ideals, everyone’s beliefs.

Do you still have dreams left to fulfil?

Personally, I’d like my children and my four grandchildren to be as happy as possible. This is a very common dream, but it’s also very genuine. I love being a grandfather; I spend a lot of time with my grandchildren, maybe because I have happy memories of my own grandfather, who taught me such a lot. In the professional realm, there are always challenges ahead. In a couple of days I’m going to Vienna to hear the first act of an opera that’s being composed: it’s set during the Spanish Civil War, and I’m interested from both the musical and the drammatic point of view. As I said, I’m very lucky. I’ve managed to do everything that I wanted to do at the professional level. For better or for worse, the others will have to judge me. And my great dream, the biggest challenge, is leukaemia. That one day leukaemia

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will be curable for everyone, that it is eradicated as a deadly disease. If the cure for leukaemia was found tomorrow I’d find another objective to dedicate myself to for the remainder of my life.

Perhaps it won’t happen tomorrow, but a cure for leukaemia will be found in the near future, won’t it?

I really hope so. I’m a complete layman, I know nothing about medicine, but it seems as if in five, eight, ten or fifteen years I’ll be able to see that dream fulfilled. Remember that forty years ago they thought leukaemia was a terminal disease, while today we win the battle with 80% of children and adolescents, and 50% of adults.

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You were told you had a 30% chance of survival That’s right, but later I found out that I had less: just 10%.

You went to Seattle. Nowadays it isn’t necessary to go to the United States for treatment.

It’s great: today the same therapy, the same treatment and the same protocols are carried out here. I went to Seattle on the advice of a medical team, for both personal and clinical reasons. It was partly because I was under terrible pressure: there were people who came into the room with a white coat on and a hidden camera. You know what some journalists are capable of. At that time Hospital Clínic were

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Interview

doing bone marrow transplants, but only fifteen or twenty a year. In Seattle they did fifty every week.

I had what’s called an autologous transplant: they removed my bone marrow, they treated it, removing the leukaemia, and they injected it back into me again. At that time there was a molecule that was extremely important because it’s what cured me, but it couldn’t be used here in treatment, it wasn’t licensed. I think I was the second patient to receive it. I’m really pleased that nowadays a treatment they use in Seattle, Houston, England, Germany or any other highly developed country is used here too with the same efficacy and the same guarantees.

Both in Catalonia and the rest of Spain.

How healthy is music in Catalonia?

It’s not bad. In Barcelona, there has always been enthusiasm for the opera, we have had the good fortune to have a theatre like the Liceu. But aside from opera, we have a good level of both symphony music and classical music. El Palau de la Música and l’Auditori are almost always full. In recent years we’ve taken a big step forward in the world of music in our country.

Does musical education get the attention it deserves?

For me it’s never enough, but compared to when I studied we’ve come a long way. When I was at high school, the word Mozart didn’t even appear in the textbooks. However, when you go to countries like Austria you envy the level of education and musical training they get.

Why is it so hard to find good tenors?

Because it’s not just about the voice, the instrument alone isn’t enough. The composer Pietro Mascagni said, ‘To sing you must also have a voice’. There are a number of factors that go far beyond one’s voice: talent, one’s degree of musicality, stage presence, charisma... If you have all this and you also have the voice, then you are Plácido Domingo.

The Three Tenors, with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti must have been a great experience.

It was marvellous, we became great friends.

Is it another thing you have to thank leukaemia for...?

Yes, because it was a way of celebrating the fact that I was returning to the stage. My colleagues were excited and eager to participate from the outset. At first we were only going to do one concert, in Rome in 1990, during the football championship. We did the second concert in Los Angeles four years later, also with football as an excuse. And that’s when the tour was born. From 1990 to 2004 we did thirtytwo concerts in total, so it wasn’t that many. Thirtytwo concerts and four CDs.

An artist should be honest with themselves, rather than saying what is politically expedient Has believing in God helped you to carry on?

Apart from very religious people, the majority of humans are very opportunistic, we only think of God when we’re in trouble. One approaches faith and God when one is desperate, when one sees that perhaps it’s the only option. It’s a natural reaction.

When I was diagnosed with leukaemia, I became more of a believer, I have to admit. Before that, everything was wine and roses and I didn’t give it a second thought. I do believe in a force that is greater than us, but nobody has yet convinced me of the existence of a just God. I don’t know to what point this higher strength is only positive. All the things that happen wouldn’t happen if there was a just God. A four-month old baby wouldn’t get leukaemia. They say it’s a test to make us stronger, but I don’t buy it.

Whether there is a God or not, music helps you to achieve transcendence...

Of course. If it happens when you listen to music, imagine what it’s like when you’re on stage singing Verdi. Music is extraordinarily transcendent. That’s why I consider myself an extremely lucky man. It’s been a privilege to be able to experience it all in person. *Eva Piquer

Writer and cultural journalist. Works for several newspapers and magazines. Has been a lecturer at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a New York news correspondent. Won the 2002 Josep Pla prize for her novel Una victòria diferent (A Different Victory). Also author of several books, including La noia del temps (The Weather Girl), Alícia al país de la televisió (Alice in Television Land) and No sóc obsessiva, no sóc obsessiva, no sóc obsessiva (I’m Not Obsessive, I’m Not Obsessive, I’m Not Obsessive). Her latest book is called La feina o la vida (Life or work).

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Business, Law and Economics

A new law for an evolving family

by Albert Lamarca*

In every nation, family relations and inheritance by individuals are subject to regulation by civil law. We can truly speak of a revolution in this area in the last decade. Family structures and interpersonal relations have changed profoundly, and the law has had to examine the answers that it provides. In this respect, Catalan legal system represents a model which is well-worth taking into account due to its ability to adapt to new realities, and its innovative, modern, flexible nature which responds to the needs of a welfare state to which it also contributes.

The revolution in family law and the Catalan Civil Code

The last decade has been a time of profound changes in family structures and the responses of various legal systems. One can truly say there has been a revolution in family law. Same-sex marriage, divorce without prior separation and ‘no-fault’ divorce, prenuptial agreements, shared custody of minors, the legal recognition of cohabiting or unmarried couples, international adoption, including within same-sex relationships, parentage arising from assisted reproduction techniques, as well as the full protection of minors and the disabled have been on the agenda of family law in a context of the internationalization of family and interpersonal relationships. Catalan law has played a prominent, leading role, in this process, in keeping with our society’s vision of the world.

This article deals with the areas of family relationships which have undergone this transformation, both on a social and legal level, contrasting them with statistical evidence. It gives a Catalan perspective and values the input of an ancient nation such as Catalonia, with institutional structures which allow it to possess its own civil regula48

Catalan International View

tions in order to adapt to the realities of civil and social demands. In Catalonia, this change has coincided with the development of a new Civil Code, a basic law that regulates relationships on a private level, in order that the existing laws can be brought together in a single regulatory body. The civil law is one of the most genuine expressions of a nation, and it shows its way of understanding the world. Catalan law has survived many historical vicissitudes, often hostile in nature, which have stood in the way of full regulation, something which it hopes to achieve soon, in the context of legislative unification and harmonization. A phenomenon which is growing at the European and international level.

In 2002 the Parliament of Catalonia passed the First Act of the Civil Code of Catalonia (CCCat), composed of the first book on general provisions, which came into force in January 2004.

It has since been followed by different acts from other books of the CCCat, which have received widespread support from the various Catalan political groups. In 2006 the fifth book came into force, devoted to property rights, the third and fourth books in 2008, relating to juridical persons and suc-

Business, Law and Economics

cession law, respectively and finally the second book regarding the person and the family, in 2010.

The second book of the CCCat is a modern, innovative and flexible regulation, meeting the new challenges facing family law and the person in present-day society, with proposals that have been at the centre of international agenda on the matter. The Catalan reform has coincided with the introduction of new legislation at the state level, such as a reform of the marriage and divorce law, and also the European Union rules on applicable law and judicial cooperation, harmonization work in the form of principles from the Commission on European Family Law, together with leading decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This set of legal changes

in recent years clearly reflects the contribution that can be made to social progress in people’s private lives via a modern law adapted to new family structures, in a context of the internationalization and complexity of interpersonal and family relationships.

Catalan law represents a model which is well-worth taking into account due to its ability to adapt to new realities, and its innovative, modern, flexible nature Family property and the idea of marriage

Family economics regulates the rights and duties that each spouse has with respect to the other in terms of attenCatalan International View

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Business, Law and Economics

tion to their respective needs, known as marital solidarity. It also deals with the spouse’s earnings and any surplus assets accumulated. Marriage implies the basic duty of contributing to the family’s expenses (in a manner proportional to the earnings or assets of each spouse) and also with housework. In addition to taking care of these basic needs, the family economy must decide on the rights of each spouse in relation to the assets of the other. In other words, to what extent a partner’s earnings are to be shared. In every country the legal system answers these questions differently, via the regulation of matrimonial property regime. In general, property rules differ according to the type of goods, those which the spouses had prior to marriage and those acquired after, whether gratuitously (through inheritance or a gift), or earned through work.

Catalan law has survived many historical vicissitudes, often hostile in nature, which have stood in the way of full regulation, something which it hopes to achieve soon, in the context of legislative unification and harmonization There are jurisdictions which consider that the community of life generated by marriage is consistent with sharing the earnings of the spouses.

That is to say, if marriage involves sharing all things in life, it should also mean sharing the profits and assets accumulated. Some countries exclude assets acquired before marriage and from succession or gifts, and determine that the acquisition of assets by a spouse through employment automatically implies that the other also shares half. This is typically the case in Belgium, France, Italy or Spain. Exceptionally there are countries in which 50

Catalan International View

the spouses share all their assets, even those acquired prior to marriage. This is the situation in Holland, where there is a universal community of property.

For others, such as Germany, rights on the assets acquired by the other occurs only at the end of marriage, once respective gains have been quantified, and as a personal claim. In this context, the Catalan model of the separation of property, in which each spouse individually owns their assets, without the participation of the other, is quite unique.

The separation of property is a distinctive characteristic of Catalan law and family economics in Catalonia. It is also the rule in most jurisdictions in the US and of English Common Law. Previously, the separation of property presupposed a system of matrimonial property regime with a dowry between the future spouses. Since this practice has largely disappeared from agrarian societies, the strict separation of property may sometimes lead to unjust outcomes. Spouses are not required to share property, but it is common that they do, and that they share the ownership of certain durable goods, such as housing, or have their savings in joint bank accounts. Nevertheless, it is understood that nothing obliges those who enter marriage unequally to leave it equally in terms of property. Indeed, the debate surrounding marriage as to whether it should also ensure the sharing of assets, and to what extent, is present in current legislation on family law. It is clear that the separation of property can lead to unjust results when one of the spouses has been engaged in childcare and has thereby over-contributed to domestic work, allowing the other to accumulate property that they do not share. In such cases, Catalan law has developed the right to economic compensation by reason of work, which takes into account the often intangible contribution made by a spouse that has led to

Business, Law and Economics

the enrichment of the other, in which they have not participated. The institution displays important similarities, and manifests a parallel development, with the equitable distribution of US law and the principle of equal sharing in English law.

The domestic economy is subject to a level of autonomy or freedom of the spouses, with the limitation of basic marital solidarity consistent with the idea of marriage. However, more recent developments have addressed the admissibility of agreements between spouses in anticipation of divorce, or premarital agreements, in some extent due to Anglo-Saxon Common Law influence, but also to their own evolution. Civil law jurisdictions have mainly allowed spouses to choose their matrimonial property. However, there is a fundamental disagreement as to whether the effects of a future crisis can be anticipated, excluding possible compensation arising from divorce.

The Catalan Civil Code regulates these prenuptial agreements in anticipation of divorce according to the model proposed by the American Law Institute’s Principles of Family Dissolution of 2002 and the most advanced developments in comparative law. In principle, spouses must be able to freely negotiate the effects of a crisis before it arises.

However, for this to be valid it must be made before a notary, who advises them independently, and assures that spouses understand the implications of what is agreed, they must also give full disclosure of their assets. Nevertheless, if circumstances have changed significantly when the agreement is executed, such that the agreement can produce an unjust and severely damaging outcome, the judge may decide not to respect and execute it. Statistics show that such agreements are beginning to be made, but that most marital agreements at a European level are made in order to change from a community

of property regime to the separation of property, where the first is the legal matrimonial regime.

Evidence that Catalonia’s model of family law works reasonably well is shown by the fact that in only 10% of divorces is there some kind of compensatory or maintenance payment between spouses, a figure that is particularly low. In the remainder, the vast majority, the spouses have no financial claims on each other once the marriage is dissolved, aside from the allocation of the use of the matrimonial home, related to the welfare of their children.

Therefore, we must infer that laws relating to the family economy, based on the separation of property, have not led to results which substantially unbalance the position of spouses in relation to the assets they initially owned. This is essentially due to the daily conduct of the spouses, however, the importance of domestic work should not be underestimated in family economics and the role of gender in economic relations between spouses, especially in terms of child-bearing and the raising of children. According to recent statistics, the wage structure of men and women differs widely, since the average woman’s wage is clearly inferior to a man’s, by 23% on average, a difference that increases with age, from a difference of 14% between 25 and 34 years of age, to 30% over 55 years of age.

From the economic relations between spouses, and their effects once a crisis in the relationship arises, one must distinguish its consequences regarding the children. New trends in family law stress the possibility of attributing shared custody of children to parents, which assumes the joint responsibility in the care of children. Recent data still shows that most children stay with their mother, in 2011 this occurred in 73% of cases, while just 5% lived with their father. However a fairly recent trend that is on the rise is that Catalan International View

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in 20% of cases there is joint or shared custody between the parents. In the majority of cases, therefore, due to the guardianship of children, one parent must make a periodic payment to the other for the maintenance of children, in keeping with the rules of custody. In practice this largely means that the man transfers a certain amount of money to his ex-wife each month which she in turn administers in the interests of the children.

Catalan law was one of the first legal systems to recognize the phenomenon of unmarried couples in the European context, with a pioneering law of July 1998 Regulation of marriage and access to divorce

In Western societies the fight for the right to divorce has been a lengthy process, plagued with difficulties. Where the formal recognition of the right to divorce has been achieved, it has not always implied the basic right to obtain it directly by individual request based on free will alone. In fact, this has been the exception, and is still the main rule in some states. There has been a preconceived idea that divorce should be made difficult and that obstacles should be put in its way, such as the need for a period of reflection or an invocation of a legal ground or fault of the other. Divorce, then, could be seen as a remedy for one spouse and a sanction for the other.

Since mid 2005, thanks to pioneering state regulation, legal separation is no longer required as a first step to divorce and nor must there be a fault or ground as a basis for it. Obviously, groups which are opposed to divorce see this legislation as an incentive to divorce, as it generates the feeling that the marriage bond is somehow weaker and can be broken at will. Indeed, 52

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the reality is that Western societies have very high rates of divorce when compared with the number of marriages which take place. In Catalonia, in 2011, 26,692 marriages took place, while 18,531 divorces were granted.

This means the percentage of marriages dissolved in relation to the number created is 70% in any one year: for approximately every three marriages that are made two are dissolved. The situation was similar in previous years, and the proportion is similar to European countries and developed countries in general.

The high proportion of divorces in relation to the number of marriages is due to a variety of causes, but one can be certain that the existence for many decades of laws which served as an obstacle to divorce, making it very costly economically, in terms of time and especially in human or emotional terms, has served in the collective consciousness to reinforce the idea that although getting into marriage is simple, getting out of it can be very difficult. As a result, it can sometimes be convenient to establish cohabitation relationships aside from their legal formalization.

It is apparent that until recently the regulations did not respond to current social preferences by the fact that legal separation, which is still optional and an alternative to divorce, was only chosen by 1,172 spouses in Catalonia in 2011. This is a negligible amount in relation to the 18,531 divorces, a mere 6% of the total. As to the duration of marriages ending in divorce, statistics for 2011 show that 21% lasted at most ten years, with some 22% of marriages breaking up in less than five. Surprisingly therefore, 29% of divorces are for marriages lasting over twenty years.

The figures have changed in relation to a decade ago, when in 2000 the divorce rate for marriages lasting less than ten years stood at 34% and now is at 43%.

While figures relating to divorce

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rates and the duration of marriages are disturbing and reflect significant changes that should be analyzed carefully, the reality also provides very useful information as to the practice of family law. Thus, in terms of Catalan society, we can see an increase in divorces by mutual agreement. For the year 2011, 74% of divorces processed in Catalonia were with the joint agreement of the spouses. This means the couple presented the judge with an agreement as to the consequences of the failure which the latter validated. In only 26% of cases, one in four divorces, did the spouses disagree as to the economic consequences of the break up or as to custody of the children. This is a very significant change in comparison with previous years. Only a decade earlier, in 2000, divorces by mutual agreement were 62% of the total, with 38% that were contentious. Such findings in the behaviour of Catalan family law is possibly due to an increased level of welfare of the spouses which legally bring an end to their marriage, leading to a clear reduction in costs on all sides.

Obviously, an agreement does not mean complete satisfaction, litigation could have been more beneficial for one of the parties, but it clearly involves less suffering and achieves a certain equilibrium. New legislation has clearly influenced this reduction in matrimonial litigation, but other factors, such as the organisation of the family’s economy based on the separation of property and indicators which are unique to Catalan society, in terms of income per capita or education, among others, suggest how these figures came about. A comparison with the Spanish state as a whole, which contains notable regional differences, shows 67% of all divorces are by mutual agreement and 33% are disputed, compared with 54% to 46% in 2000. This suggests distinct social dynamics which are highly significant.

The regulation of divorce, its causes and

consequences involves dealing with the essence of marriage. A significant novelty in this area, which has put an end to the debate as to the options available, has been the recognition of samesex marriage. Alternative suggestions gave these unions a different name, rather than ‘marriage’, as is the case in other European countries. Figures show that in Catalonia around 1,600 people a year have sought such a union.

In 2010 the figure was 831 marriages out of a total of 28,007 (3%), a figure which is fairly consistent in previous years, with a ratio of around two thirds of marriages between two men for a third between two women.

Cohabitation versus marriage

Marriage is the institutionalized form of living with a partner, but although it is the majority form it is by no means the only one that exists. There are no reliable statistics that provide an approximate percentage of people living with a partner without being married, but it is clear that in recent times civil unions or cohabitation have taken on a very important role as an alternative to marriage. This is especially true among young people, but can be found throughout all age groups. The percentage of children born outside marriage, 35% in Catalonia in 2010, compared with 10% two decades ago in 1990, is a good indicator of this phenomenon.

Faced with this reality, the various legal systems have reacted in very different ways, sometimes reluctantly and slowly, but nevertheless following models that frequently recur in comparative law.

On one hand are the jurisdictions that have not adopted any general or institutional regulations regarding cohabitation, aside from specific matters, leaving the resolution of conflicts that may arise to the discretion of the court, with rulings varying in each case, based on the matrimonial model and the general principles of law. On Catalan International View

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the other hand, there are jurisdictions that specifically regulate civil unions.

These include those which only take into consideration couples who have registered their union or have formally constituted it in writing, and other legal systems, as is the case in Catalonia, which recognize the existence of civil unions when the couple can prove they have lived together for a reasonable period of time.

Catalan law was one of the first legal systems to recognize the phenomenon of unmarried couples in the European context, with a pioneering law in July 1998. For Catalan law, a civil partnership is considered to exist following two years of cohabitation, or when the couple live with children of the relationship. Furthermore, the couple may also formally establish their relationship in writing before a public notary. All three means of constituting a relationship coexist. However, the figures show that a formal constitution of a union is clearly in the minority, with but a few thousand couples registering their relationship before a notary. Thus, during the first eight years of the legislation’s existence only 3,500 cohabiting couples had been established in writing.

The new second book of the CCCat approximates legislation regarding unmarried couples and married couples to a significant degree. The practical consequences of this equivalence are lower in Catalonia than in other legal systems, given the existence of separation of property as a legal matrimonial regime. However, the extension of the principle of marital solidarity to cohabiting couples is very significant during a relationship crisis. Regarding children, there is no difference in terms of custody and maintenance according to whether the parents are married or not. However, the comparison is more important in the area of inheritance, as in the absence of will, the cohabitant occupies the same position as a spouse, 54

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and, therefore, in the absence of children stands to inherit the whole estate first before the partner’s parents. In the presence of children they are entitled to either usufruct or a quarter part of the inheritance. This, however, is only with regard to the effects of the death of a cohabitant in private law, under public law a partner would only receive a widow’s pension in certain specific, exceptional instances.

Family and inheritance

The regulation of family relationships is closely linked with the process of inheritance following the death of its members. This matter is regulated in the fourth book of the CCCat on succession law, which came into force in January 2009, and has meant a significant revision of a law applied during centuries by Catalan society. The previous Succession Code of 1991 and the Family Code of 1998 were important precursors of the new second and fourth books of the CCCat. Wills are among the key institutions in the intergenerational transmission of wealth, allowing for it to be planned with certainty and adjusted to each family situation, defining people’s ability to choose in this field. We must also take into account the order of legal heirs given the absence of a will, and the forced or compulsory share that the law reserves for particular relatives.

Catalonia is clearly a country of testate succession, where feelings of freedom in private relations can also be seen during the succession process following a death. Since the beginnings of feudalism, the Catalans have adopted a legal system that prioritises the people’s own decisions. Thus, it is not surprising that the number of wills executed before a public notary is very high, with around 110,000 wills per year. For a society in which persons who are old enough to make a will number just over five and a half million, this means that approxi-

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mately one will is made for every fifty Catalans aged fourteen or over.

In spite of the primacy of the will as a way of regulating one’s own succession, Catalan law also contains contracts or succession agreements, which allow two or more relatives to plan together, in a binding agreement, the transmission of wealth respectively.

This is an important exception in the European context. For cases where individuals have not made a will or inheritance agreement, the law provides a legal framework in favour of certain relatives, the intestate succession. For Catalans the principal beneficiary is the spouse and the children, leaving parents, siblings and nieces and neph-

ews in second place, who only inherit in the absence of the former. Regarding the compulsory share, Catalonia has established a minimum right in the succession of the parents, but at a reduced level, 25% of the estate, in favour of all children to be shared equally.

This forced participation of the family in inheritance is much smaller in comparison with other legal systems, which generally set a proportion of 50% or even higher. In addition, the legal entitlement in Catalonia is a personal claim, which does not entitle one to receive property in the inheritance and which may be paid in cash if the heir so chooses.

*Albert Lamarca Holds a PhD in Law from the UniversitĂ degli Studi di Bologna and a degree in Law and Modern History from the Universitat de Barcelona. He lectures in Civil Law at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and has conducted research at the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg, Cornell University in New York and at Cambridge University. He is a member of the Catalan Codification Commission (the body responsible for proposing revisions and updates to private law in Catalonia). His current area of interest is family law and inheritance.

Authentic Catalan cuisine +34 934 874 765

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The global oil supply: risks and uncertainties

by Mariano Marzo*

The New Policies Scenario of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2010 (WEO 2010) states that during the 2008-2035 period oil will continue to be the most widely used fossil fuel, although its global share of the global energy demand is projected to fall from 33% in 2008 to 27.8% in 2035.

Forecasts based on the above scenario indicate that the increase in world oil demand, estimated at around 15 million barrels per day (mbpd) for the period 2009-2035 (excluding biofuels), will come entirely from non-OECD countries. China’s contribution to the increase will be around 48%, while that of India will be around 30%. In contrast, the forecasts for the OECD point to a drop in oil use from 41.7 to 35.3 mbpd during the 2009-2035 period.

Overall, global oil demand during the same period will grow at an average rate of 0.6% annually, from some 84 to 99 mbpd.

The IEA identifies the transport sector as responsible for the entirety 56

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of the aforementioned increase in demand. The contribution of biofuels to transport will increase from 1.1 mbpd in 2009 to 2.3 mbpd in 2035. The transport sector’s participation in primary global oil consumption is projected to increase from 53% in 2009 to 60% in 2035. The share of the use of oil products in road transport is expected to fall from 96% in 2009 to 89% in 2035.

These forecasts on demand are at odds with the conclusion of a report by the National Petroleum Council (NPC, 2007) that warns of a disquieting fact: ‘the world is not running out of fossil fuels, but the continued increase in oil extraction from conventional sources presents growing risks and these con-

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stitute a serious obstacle to ensuring medium-term demand’. What is the precise meaning of this statement?

What risks is it referring to?

Availability of oil reserves and resources

Aside from a few extreme forecasts, which thanks to methodological flaws grossly over or under-estimate reality, there is a high degree of consensus in the international oil industry that proven reserves of crude oil and natural gas liquids that remain to be extracted range from 1.2 to 1.3 trillion* barrels (including about 0.2 trillion barrels of unconventional oil). In theory, therefore, given current rates of consumption, there is a sufficient volume to secure global supply for the next 40 years.

Meeting global oil expected demand between 2010 and 2035 in the New Policies Scenario of the WEO 2010 will require a cumulative investment of nearly $8 billion (2009 US dollars)

*1012

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The IEA notes that the figure for proven reserves has almost doubled since 1980, while recognizing that most of the increase comes from revised estimates (which have little technical justification) made during the eighties in the OPEC countries and therefore do not come from new finds. Furthermore, the IEA points out that although since 2000 the average annual volume of conventional oil from new finds has been slightly higher than during the nineties (due to increased exploration activity and technological improvements) the reality is that since the eighties extracted volumes have exceeded those inventoried through new discoveries (despite some big recent finds, such as those in deep water off Brazil).

Catalan International View

Reserve estimates give a rough idea of how much oil can be extracted in the short to medium term. Ultimately recoverable resources (URR) indicate the total volume of oil that may eventually be produced in a commercially profitable manner. The IEA’s WEO 2008 estimates that the URR of conventional oil (which include initially proven and probable existing reserves in already discovered fields, the growth of reserves and oil which is yet to be discovered) is close to 3.5 trillion barrels, of which, to date, only one-third has been consumed.

The URR of unconventional oil, which to date has barely been exploited is also very large. Among these, the tar sands and extra-heavy oils (mainly located in Canada and Venezuela, respectively) could total between 1 and 2 trillion economically recoverable barrels.

If to these unconventional resources we add the potential of oil shale, the recoverable total could rise to 6.5 trillion barrels. And if we further add to this figure the potential of technology to transform coal and gas into liquids, the final quantity of unconventional URR could be as high as 9 trillion barrels.

Aside from the fact that some studies considerably revise downward these figures, in the future, the greater or lesser degree of exploitation of these resources and production costs will depend on political, environmental, regulatory and fiscal factors. The exploitation of unconventional resources will entail a significant environmental impact and the emission of greater amounts of greenhouse gases during the extraction process than is produced when obtaining conventional fuels. Therefore, the widespread introduction of incentives for reducing CO2 emissions would have a major impact on the costs of extraction.

Furthermore, the exploitation of these unconventional resources implies an

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energy balance (the ratio of energy used for their production and the energy obtained through their use) that is significantly lower than for conventional oils.

The decline in conventional oil production

The points raised in the previous section could lead one to draw the conclusion, erroneously, that although oil may be more expensive in the future, its supply is guaranteed. Nevertheless, this is not the case. Aside from knowing to a greater or a lesser degree of accuracy the availability of reserves and resources, we should also analyse the situation and prospects surrounding production in order to see if the transformation of resources and reserves into production

flows will be undertaken fast enough to meet the projected demand.

In this regard, the IEA has highlighted the importance of accurately estimating the rate of decline in the production of oil fields currently in operation worldwide. Knowing this rate, which measures the loss of annual production of a reservoir when it enters the mature phase, is critical to planning new production capacity and the necessary investments for meeting global demand.

For this reason, the IEA’s WEO 2008 addressed the detailed analysis of historical trends of 800 fields which in 2007 constituted more than 60% of world production. The results show that the observed decline rate for fields that are past peak production averaged Catalan International View

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6.7% per year globally and that this percentage could reach 8.6% in 2030.

Uncertainties and risks in oil production

The WEO 2010 states that to meet the growing demand outlined in its New Policies Scenario and in order to offset the decline mentioned above, the oil industry needs to develop a new production capacity close to 67 mbpd between now and 2035. This is a volume equivalent to almost 7 times the capacity that currently exists in Saudi Arabia. And time is short, since eight years from now, in 2020, 28 mbpd of new capacity will be required. The question is, can the oil industry meet this challenge? The IEA answers the question in the affirmative. However, everyone is aware that the risks that must be faced and overcome in this endeavour are many and varied.

Other types of geopolitical risks that could jeopardize the security of supply are the products of disputes between producers and transit countries Some of these risks are essentially technical in nature. They include the following: a) Exploration and production costs are increasing as a result of working in increasingly remote regions and extreme environments and drilling at greater depths, leading to growing technological challenges. b) The oil industry is suffering from an alarming shortage of staff, especially of highly qualified scientists and technicians. c) The relationship between the energy obtained by extracting oil and the energy consumed by this process is declining very rapidly, which means that each new barrel of reserves added has a lower net energy content.

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In addition to the aforementioned technical challenges we must consider others of a clear geopolitical nature: a) Peak oil production has already been reached in thirty of the fiftyfour oil producing states, while there is a tendency towards stagnation in ten of them. This means that in future the oil supply will largely depend on fourteen countries, many of which belong to OPEC: b) Peak oil production has already been reached in the countries outside of OPEC and has gone into decline. c) The world will become increasingly dependent on OPEC exports.

This implies the consolidation of an oligopolistic market, which is anticompetitive and a threat to the existence of a ‘free market’ in oil.

One of the most significant risks facing the security of oil supply lies in the uncertainties relating to securing the necessary investments. Meeting expected global oil demand between 2010 and 2035 in the New Policies Scenario of the WEO 2010 will require a cumulative investment of nearly $8 billion (2009 US dollars). Of this amount, approximately 85% corresponds to exploration and production, with the remaining 15% relating to the refining and transportation sector. Some 75% of the cumulative investment in oil exploration and production scheduled for the above period corresponds to countries outside the OECD and, in the majority of these countries, the mobilization of the necessary investments would require overcoming a significant number of legislative, regulatory and trade barriers.

The main obstacles or risks that could limit or delay the said investments in oil producing countries are essentially geopolitical in nature and include: a) Those policies imposed by governments in order to control the rate of resource extraction.

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b) Those resulting from ‘petronationalism’ that prevents or limits access by private multinationals to exploit resources. c) Those linked to political instability, terrorist threats or military conflicts.

Other types of geopolitical risks that could jeopardize the security of supply, causing temporary interruptions, are the product of disputes between producers and transit countries as well as those caused by conflicts or terrorist attacks that block trade routes to markets or damage transportation infrastructures. The OECD countries maintain so-called strategic reserves in order to deal with such contingencies. Large consumers such as China are also taking such precautionary measures.

A final consideration

Everything points to the fact that in around 2030-2035, in spite of increases in the efficiency and generation from renewables, fossil fuels will still account for the lion’s share of global energy consumption. This is a fact that in the case of the EU will result in a greater dependency on imports, the supply of which will have to be met by non-OECD countries. In the case of oil this is a situation that will lead to an increase in threats to the security of supplies. These threats can be grouped into three broad categories: geological, geopolitical and economic. The preventive management of these risks is a national priority and should therefore be on the government’s agenda at the highest strategic level.

*Mariano Marzo Is Professor of Stratigraphy and Professor of Energy and Petroleum Geology in the Faculty of Geology at the Universitat de Barcelona. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Barcelona, the Advisory Council for the Sustainable Development of Catalonia (CADS) and the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome, in addition to numerous advisory boards related to the administration of energy and other private institutions.

He has worked and conducted applied research in the oil and gas sector in Europe, USA, South America, Middle East and North Africa. Member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the European Association of Petroleum Geoscientists & Engineers. Marzo has published numerous papers in scientific journals, edited or co-edited 15 books and over 100 papers presented at conferences and congresses and has served on the editorial boards of prestigious international journals in the field of geology, such as Basin Research, Geology and Sedimentology.

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The Catalan High Performance Centre: a model of excellence

by Joan FontserĂŠ*

The Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan government) created the High Performance Sports Centre in 1987 at the behest of D. Juan Antonio Samaranch, in preparation for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.

The High Performance Centre is an organisation with 25 years experience, which gives support to sportsmen and women in order that they can be competitive at an international level, optimizing resources of the highest technical and scientific quality. The aim of the centre is to provide athletes with everything they need for their complete training so that they can share knowledge as to their activities. Barcelona enjoys a Mediterranean climate with abundant sunshine and low rainfall, which is ideal for training outdoors. Our team uses our facilities to work with athletes who are preparing to compete. Their success motivates and encourages us to improve every day and try our best to make their dreams come true.

CAR

The CAR (High Performance Centre) of Sant Cugat provides support to sportsmen and women in order that they can compete at an international level, being a pioneer in the comprehensive training of its athletes. Twentyfive years ago, the Barcelona Olympic Games enabled us to design an infrastructure to support both athletes and trainers and help them improve their sports performance. This spirit of overcoming adversity has encouraged and allowed us to transform the CAR of Sant Cugat into one of Europe’s cen62

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tres of excellence and motivates us to continue working in order to become one of the most prestigious sports centres in the world.

Training (commitment)

The CAR residence is one of the nerve centres of the centre. There are 325 places available where athletes can enjoy a pleasant stay with a mentor who guides them in both their studies and the personal enrichment of living together. Moreover, it is also a basic tool to help athletes coming from Catalonia and abroad, including training camps.

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The high school achieves perfect harmony by combining sports training with secondary education: the international baccalaureate and professional sports training. For twenty-five years we have been committed to creating a comprehensive training regime for athletes. This makes us the first high school in the world with comprehensive sports training in a high performance centre.

The Athletes’ Care Service (SAE) was formed in 2004 and is a pioneering project in Spain. It takes care of the comprehensive training of the athletes and offers them personalized, individu-

al guidance in their academic training, job counselling and support when finishing their sports career. We therefore take all the necessary steps in establishing and maintaining their comprehensive training.

The SAE provides instrumental competence, both specific and crossdiscipline. Moreover, it offers guidance on personal, academic and professional projects, as well as facilitating the transition period until retirement, in diverse fields of development.

We believe in comprehensive training which responds to the different Catalan International View

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The recent addition to the CAR of a 25,000m2 sports building opens a new vision for the concept of a high performance centre. Sports like swimming, diving, artistic gymnastics, taekwondo, wrestling, judo, table tennis and weightlifting can now benefit from one of the best equipped buildings that are in existence, to practise sport at the highest level.

Services (innovation)

needs of a sports career and an athletes’ development. For this reason, we are working together with high performance athletes, both today and in the future.

Our Centre provides support to sportsmen and women in order that they can compete at an international level, being a pioneer in the comprehensive training of its athletes Facilities (excellence)

The CAR sports centre covers an area of 148,000 m2 in which high level sport can be practised. In fact, it is considered to be one of the most important centres in Europe due to its facilities and its infrastructure of the highest scientific technical quality for sport in general, and for high level sport in particular.

The swimming pools, athletics track, tennis courts, gymnasiums and many other facilities cover all Olympic sports. *Joan Fontseré Director of CAR (High Performance Centre).

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The CAR’s Science, Medical and Technology services improve our athletes’ performance thanks to the joint work carried out by trainers with professionals in the different scientific disciplines. This collaboration is based on a precise combination of knowledge and experience in order to achieve the desired outcome.

The CAR of Sant Cugat’s sports physicians attend to athletes with injuries or illnesses on a daily basis. Apart from treating injuries, the medical and physiotherapy services advise athletes on the prevention of injuries and general health education.

At the CAR of Sant Cugat we are committed to technical innovation. It is especially important for us to give trainers and scientists the most up– to-date tools in order to facilitate the evaluation of their work and training control.

The new sports building is a definitive move in the attainment of excellence. In this facility the trainers’ experience, scientific knowledge and the latest technology combine in order to attain success. We also consider it important that we have an energetic, responsible and efficient management team in tune with the sporting spirit.

Opinion

The meaning of ‘More than a Club’

by Ramon Pont*

FC Barcelona’s motto ‘Més que un Club’, or ‘More than a Club’, better defines the club than any possible adjective: FC Barcelona [Barça] is known for being much more than a mere football club, it is known for its attractive playing style developed in the ‘Masia’, for its social commitment and its identification with Catalonia. Nevertheless, this model did not grow overnight: its roots reach deep into the history of the club, its dedicated fans and professionals and the social environments that have shaped its private and public faces.

So, what makes FC Barcelona so special? Is it possible to win sporting championships year after year while at the same time being seen as a social role model? Its sporting and social model is based on a set of core values that accompany all the elements in the FC Barcelona structure. Values such as teamwork, respect, tolerance, commitment, responsibility, effort and excellence are rooted in the club’s philosophy.

This core set of values are transmitted to all the young sportsmen and women who grow up in the youth teams at FC Barcelona, possibly later becoming world-class stars such as Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta or Xavi Hernández, excellent football players, while at the same time, excellent role models both on and off the field. As Pep Guardiola said in his acceptance 66

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speech for the Honorary Medal of the Catalan Parliament, ‘what I am now as a person, what has taught me to be so, is sport. I have learned how to win, and to celebrate with humility, sport has taught me how to lose and that really hurts, but losing is what teaches you how to rise up and to value how difficult it is to win’. This sums up the philosophy inherent in FC Barcelona’s working model, from the first team stars to the 8 year olds or the 16 year old youngsters who participate in the FC Barcelona Foundation social projects in Barcelona or in such far-flung places as Rio de Janeiro. This is what makes FC Barcelona so special, its set of core values is truly respected by all, players are nurtured by this methodology and their on-field attitude reflects as much.

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FC Barcelona is not a Societat Anònima Esportiva (Public Limited Company) with shareholders and subject to individual powers. The club is run as a democratic institution, with presidential elections being held every 6 years by the club members (more than 169,000). This is a fundamental principle of Barça’s model, that the club is run and elected by its members, and as such, it must represent their wishes and goals.

The wishes and goals of FC Barcelona’s members go far beyond just winning sports prizes, they also encompass the Club’s need to be a relevant social actor, known for its social responsibility both in Catalonia and around the world.

The FC Barcelona Foundation is the institution responsible for channel-

ling FC Barcelona’s sense of social responsibility. Created back in 1994, the Foundation has since been the vehicle for all of the Club’s social initiatives and projects, thus becoming an important social force in the construction and execution of said projects.

The president of Catalonia, Artur Mas, and the president of FC Barcelona, Sandro Rosell -second and third from the right-, in a FutbolNet event

The club is run as a democratic institution, with presidential elections being held every 6 years by the club members (more than 169,000) Nowadays the Foundation focuses on four key elements: Sport as a social tool, Education in Values, Infancy and Youth as its main targets and FC Barcelona’s social projection.

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Therefore, the Foundation’s mission is to educate in values through the use of sport as a social tool for individual and community development.

It is extremely interesting to see how the Foundation finances its projects. It receives 0.7% of FC Barcelona’s ordinary income, following the UN mandate on official development aid. The Foundation also receives 0.5% of every professional player and staff member’s salary, which is an unprecedented arrangement in professional sport that allows the Foundation to work with an effective budget.

The Foundation receives 0.7% of FC Barcelona’s ordinary income and 0.5% of every professional player and staff member’s salary The Foundation divides its work into three areas. The first of these are the General Programmes where we find the FutbolNet and the Barçakids programmes.

FutbolNet is a social development project aimed at youngsters aged from 10 to 16 who come from underprivileged backgrounds. In the programme, football is played with a new, innovative methodology: there is no referee and the game is divided into three parts. During the first part, both teams meet and discuss the rules of the game (some of the rules are pre-set such as mixed teams or that for all goals to count, one of them has to be scored by a girl), a ‘teamer’ follows and guides the discussion. The second part is the actual football game.

Since there is no referee, both teams play under their own rules and they must solve the conflicts that arise during the game, with the ‘teamer’ only intervening if no solution can be found. Finally, during the third part, both teams meet again and discuss the results of the game 68

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and obtain points according to their sporting and social results. FutbolNet is being carried out in 20 Catalan towns and in Rio de Janeiro, with the help of the local social services. The programme lasts for 6 months with the participants progressing through different stages, ending up in a joint tournament.

The programme Barçakids aimed at children aged from 6 to 12, takes place during an entire school day (from 9 am to 5 pm) and aims to transmit the inherent values of sport and of FC Barcelona to the participants as well as giving the school system and its teachers resources to use throughout the year.

The digital platform www.fcbkids.cat offers educational content for children, teachers and parents, by facilitating values in sport that are accessible to everyone. Barçakids is now being implemented in many Catalan schools and is looking to extend itself to other countries and social areas.

The second area is that of Campaigns. Under the ‘We Are What We Do’ slogan, the Foundation has three yearly campaigns that concentrate on three different values to be promoted in society. These campaigns aim to raise social awareness and to help the social entities that work with them on a daily basis. The campaigns are: We Are What We Eat; promotes the Mediterranean diet and healthy habits We Are What We Respect; fights against racism and promotes tolerance.

We Are What We Achieve; promotes sport for disabled people.

Last but not least, another important area of the Foundation’s work are the Alliances that are established with other institutions with a common and particular goal. Examples include an

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alliance with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation against Polio, with the Fundación Pies Descalzos, the InterAmerican Development Bank’s project for youth development in the Americas and with UNICEF’s worldwide youth development projects. These alliances help the Foundation promote FC Barcelona’s values while tackling specific issues alongside some of the most important social entities in the world.

Therefore, FC Barcelona’s ‘More than a club’ motto is more than a slogan.

It is a truthful reflection FC Barcelona’s sporting and social relevance. From its footballing superstars to its youth coaches and its social programme, everything that FC Barcelona touches is based on one philosophy, in the belief that sport, when correctly channelled, can, as far as possible, promote change in many people’s lives and solve many of the world’s problems.

In July 2011, FC Barcelona and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation kicked off a three-year partnership to End Polio and Give Every Child an Equal Shot at Life (AP Photo / Jose Luis Magaña)

*Ramon Pont Vice President of the FC Barcelona Foundation.

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Subnational governments at the forefront of environmental action

by Susanna Rivero*

Regardless of one’s view of or appraisal of the overall results of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, it did take a giant step forward when it issued a landmark decision regarding subnational governments. The conference’s outcome document, ‘The Future We Want’, in an unprecedented step under the aegis of the UN, fully recognized subnational governments as governmental authorities and acknowledged their key role in the arena of Sustainable Development.

Since the Rio Summit of 1992, local and regional governments have become directly involved, and have demonstrated in innumerable ways that not only their contributions, but also their leadership, are essential to attaining specific sustainable development objectives. Such initiatives have evolved significantly over the past 20 years, and it has become abundantly clear that the efforts and actions of any one country are stronger when it can work cooperatively with its own regional and local authorities.

The Rio+20 conference’s recognition of the importance of subnational governments did not just suddenly spring up; it has grown gradually, in the context of the UN system. In 2008, the United Nations Development Program began to anticipate collaborating with subnational governments carrying out projects on the ground. The Territorial Approach on Climate Change (TACC) is a project that assists subnational governments in developing countries to 70

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elaborate low-emission and climateresilient development strategies in line with their overall development plans.

Ever since, subnational governments have been gaining recognition in intergovernmental processes.

In October 2010, the 10th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity endorsed its ‘Plan of Action on Subnational Governments, Cities and other Local Authorities for Biodiversity’, which calls for capacity building and promotion of the best practices. The conference recognized the importance of local and regional biodiversity expertise when assessing urbanization plans.

The Plan encourages national governments to review their national biodiversity strategies and action plans and, as in doing so, to involve local and regional authorities in their revision and implementation. It also actively establishes two Advisory Committees, one for local and one for subnational governments, to provide input and support.

Opinion

The 16th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in December 2010, was a milestone: for the first time, a UNFCCC agreement ‘recognize[d] the need to engage a broad range of stakeholders at global, regional, national and local levels, including subnational and local government…’ and ‘...invite[d] all Parties to enhance action on adaptation under the Cancun Adaptation Framework, taking into account their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, and specific national and regional development priorities…’.

Today, the Rio+20 document has cemented this recognition. It explicitly highlights past efforts and actions at all levels of government, with a special mention of Agenda 21, one of the outcomes of the Rio Summit of 1992. It recognizes that the results achieved in previous years have only been possible thanks to actions at all levels of govern-

ment, which has created a formula for success that can be followed and replicated.

The Rio+20 document explicitly highlights past efforts and actions at all levels of government, with a special mention of Agenda 21, one of the outcomes of the Rio Summit of 1992 The document also recognizes, ‘the important role that local and subnational authorities and communities can play in implementing sustainable development’. It relies upon multi-level and multi-stakeholder governance, since gaining participation at all levels is key to implementing sustainable development. Thus, it recognizes, ‘the importance of involving all decision makers’ (inter alia, subnational governments with legislative competence) ‘into planning and implementing sustainable development policies’.

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Next, it stresses that multi-level and multi-stakeholder governance must be incorporated into policy making and financing. Effective governance is critical at all levels. Sustainable development will not advance, much less be achieved, without it; therefore, an improved and more effective institutional framework is absolutely necessary. The document encourages all levels of authority to mainstream sustainable development strategies into their decision making processes.

The Rio+20 outcome document has decisively recognized subnational governments as key actors in, and efficient facilitators of, sustainable development within their respective territories The accessibility of financial mechanisms is of course critically important, never more so than in these times of crisis, for subnational and local authorities seeking to implement sustainable development programs. The document calls for the implementation and strengthening of such accessibility, thus opening up a wide range of opportunities for subnational governments to access funding from international institutions. The legitimacy of subnational governments, which the document endorses, together with the growing recognition of the work they have done over the years, will help them develop new partnerships, and more innovative sources of financing.

Since they are particularly well placed for identifying the needs and the strengths of their communities, subnational governments are often, quite rightly, responsible for planning and implementing policy, legislation, action programs, fiscal mechanisms, and public investment plans in a variety 72

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of areas, such as transport, energy, agriculture, forestry, industry, land planning, resource management, waste disposal, water resources and sanitation, technology research and transfer, civil protection, education, health, and development cooperation. All these areas have a direct impact upon the progress of sustainable development. It is up to subnational and local governments to enhance public awareness, build capacity, and deliver on the ground projects and real solutions to the citizenry.

The Network of Regional Governments for Sustainable Development, nrg4SD, is an international organization that represents regional governments and associations of regional governments that are committed to the environment. The nrg4SD network promotes sustainable development at the regional level throughout the world, and is the voice and representative of its members at the international level. Created in 2002 at the Johannesburg Summit, nrg4SD, which now represents nearly 600 subnational governments, is a platform for political dialogue and technical cooperation between members from the north and the south. It promotes understanding, partnerships and projects for sustainable development among its members and partners. Since its inception it has been working with organizational partners, such as The Climate Group, ICLEI, and UCLG, to influence the process.

The Government of Catalonia, convinced of the key and strategic nature of sustainable development issues, pursuant to its mandate in that regard, is one of the founding members of nrg4SD, and at present holds the position of co-chair of the North, along with S達o Paolo, as co-chair of the South.

After 10 years of tireless advocacy for recognition of the crucial role

Opinion

subnational governments play in the process of sustainable development, nrg4SD is determined to take a quantum leap forward for global sustainable policies by translating and promoting implementation of the agreements achieved at Rio+20. To obtain effective results from public policies, territorial cohesion is important, as is a territorially specific approach to the resolutions reached. Therefore, more effective governance subsystems at the regional level are needed, to facilitate implementation of projects, and to ensure access to the corresponding regional funds.

This would include forums in which all stakeholders can participate. Territorial cohesion requires a free-flowing exchange of knowledge and expertise related to sustainable development.

Mature and effective governance relies on all these elements. So, in the future international environmental governance must evolve into a robust model

of engagement among governmental stakeholders. It will promote enhanced collaboration and partnerships among all stakeholders, and between them and international organisms.

The Rio+20 outcome document has decisively recognized subnational governments as key actors in, and efficient facilitators of, sustainable development within their respective territories. They have a depth of experience incorporating sustainable development into their plans. As fully recognized governmental stakeholders, they now can participate fully both in decision-making processes and in accessing the necessary financing.

From here forward, even more so than in the past, subnational governments will contribute to sustainable development through institutional engagement and political leadership, and will lead the process by example. *Susanna Rivero

Holds an Industrial Technical Engineer and Environmental Science degree, an MA in Public Administration and Environmental Management and an MA in Food Control and Technology.

Currently the Head of Foreign Affairs and Aid to the Secretary of Environment and Sustainability of the Government of Catalonia.

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Barcelona Echoes

Barcelona: the capital of Catalonia

by Joaquim Llimona*

In the past, Barcelona was involved in intense international activity aimed at strengthening and structuring the international municipal movement, particularly during Mayor Maragall’s terms in office. The most visible result of these efforts was the creation of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), which are based in and led by Barcelona. Simultaneously, beginning with the 1992 Olympics, the Barcelona brand has generated an international appeal that has clearly positioned the city as a leading global asset which is often sought after as a partner in diverse activities and collaborations on a global basis.

There is a need to carefully analyse and evaluate the benefits which the city obtains from this state of affairs, and the subsequent costs in terms of time and money. In doing so we can give the correct focus to the city’s interests, especially in terms of the international networks of which Barcelona is a member, in order to determine where to place an emphasis and where political involvement is required. The council must also ensure that it seeks the participation of everyone involved in the city. Barcelona has significant international assets, which can combine with and strengthen more strictly institutional actions.

Barcelona is nowadays our country’s most important international asset, and the development of its potential should take into account its role as the capital The aim of the new city government, therefore, should be to develop innovative initiatives in the international arena and to apply new methods to initiatives which are currently under-performing. In the field of international relations, for example, which is not the direct responsibility of the 74

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city council or one of its obligations, the criterion of profitability of actions must be taken into account, with an emphasis on continuity in the actions being undertaken.

Furthermore, Barcelona’s international activities ought not to be separated from the fact that it is the capital of Catalonia. Barcelona is nowadays our country’s most important international asset, and the development of its potential should take into account its role as the capital, both in functional terms (e.g. investments, tourism potential, infrastructure and logistics) and the promotion of its own identity, language and culture. In this sense Barcelona’s international image ought to form a part of these efforts.

This new philosophy in terms of the city’s international projection results in the establishment of certain priorities. During the current term in office we work on the following areas and activities:

Capital of the Mediterranean

Barcelona sees its role as the capital of the Mediterranean as fundamental to its identity and has certain arguments that support such a goal. The municipal government’s actions in this area are

Barcelona Echoes

aimed at the institutional level, firstly giving active support to the Permanent Secretariat of the Unió per la Mediterrània (the Union for the Mediterranean, UpM), which is working to present a strategic project of Euro-Mediterranean cooperation as one of the UpM’s areas of operation. The city council also participates in the creation of a Centre for Mediation in Mediterranean Conflicts and supports the creation and location in Barcelona of the Mediterranean Court of Arbitration. Barcelona needs to consolidate its position as the diplomatic capital of the Mediterranean.

Being the capital also involves exporting the city model by strengthening bilateral ties with Mediterranean cities such as Casablanca, Tunis, Istanbul and Tel Aviv, and providing a model for countries undergoing political transition.

Finally, a capital needs to be built in terms of infrastructure and its ability to attract investment. The development of the port, the airport and Zona Franca (a logistics and industrial area) should be targeted at strengthening Barcelona’s potential as the logistical capital of the Mediterranean, by spearheading initiatives such as the connection of European cities via a railway corridor.

Although it goes beyond the Mediterranean dimension, making Barcelona a city of reference in the Jewish world is also a priority. This can be carried out by building on the important historical legacy that exists in our city, strengthening ties with the Jewish community, correcting errors made in the past and fostering business, cultural, scientific and educational relationships. A key element in this objective Catalan International View

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is the opening of a Jewish cultural centre in Barcelona with a clear historical perspective, but very much focused on current and future relationships.

The ability to innovate, to be proactive, is the key to attracting major international events such as the Mobile World Congress and becoming the capital of the mobile industry

A leading European city

Barcelona must actively work towards building a transfrontier space in the north-western Mediterranean, led by Catalonia. With our city’s economic, demographic, cultural and logistical potential, we can be ambitious in defining a network of cities to work in close collaboration in order to contribute to a territorial partnership which goes beyond political boundaries. What in the past has often been done in opposition to Catalonia, must now take place in the context of the country’s strategy.

Moreover, as I shall outline below, Barcelona must work on a regular basis with the major European cities.

Our city has been recognized in Europe as a model of innovation. Last July Mayor Trias was invited to participate in the European Commission’s high level working group on ‘Smart Cities’.

This recognition is in sharp contrast with Barcelona’s exclusion from the Committee of the Regions, the result of a pact between the PP and the PSOE within the Federación Española de Municipios y Provincias (Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces).

Barcelona needs to focus its European policies on having more influence in the European Union’s programs, through being an active partner in new initiatives created by the EU to develop a new European regional policy. Cities 76

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represent both facets of the EU’s sustainable growth strategy: innovation and inclusion. Our capital has to be well represented in the implementation of the initiatives that go ahead, while simultaneously obtaining resources for the projects which need to be undertaken. In other words, we must ensure a systematic and coordinated use of European programs and projects and that the funding opportunities they offer are exploited to the full.

In order for this to be possible Barcelona should have a representative within Catalonia’s delegation in Brussels, to negotiate with the European institutions. In addition, to grow our influence in Europe, we need to actively participate in the networks of European cities and activate new networks with sectorial objectives, such as infrastructure, tourism and innovation.

Barcelona, the diplomatic capital

Maximising the capital of Catalonia’s potential to attract the headquarters of international organisations requires close cooperation with the Generalitat (the Catalan government), in order to define a joint strategy to attract this type of organisations.

The aim is not to attract all manner of organisations, but only those which work in areas that may be of interest to our city and our country. All of the work done to consolidate the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean and to attract new headquarters related to Mediterranean projects and interests, or the recent successful bid to host the UN Water Working Group are two examples of how to proceed.

The historic grounds of the Hospital de Sant Pau represent an asset as a diplomatic hub of the Mediterranean and the headquarters of the United Nations’ institutions and organisations. It thereby adds to Barcelona’s strengths as a diplomatic capital.

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As part of this objective, it is essential to optimize the city’s use of these institutions (contracts, consultancy, recruitment, the academic world). Ensuring that Barcelona is chosen as home to the headquarters of the ITER council secretariat, currently the biggest civil research project in the world, is a challenge in which our businesses, universities and scientists ought to participate.

It is not only of measurable benefit to us, it also shows our potential to meet expectations.

Being a diplomatic capital involves responding to certain expectations. It is necessary to ensure the correct protocol is followed and meet the logistical needs of diplomatic/consular/international personnel, by defining a program and a system for attending this collective, who in turn become ‘ambassadors’ for the city and the country as a whole.

Finally we need to ensure that Barcelona is not excluded from state visits.

Foreign dignitaries visiting the Spanish State need to learn about Barcelona’s enormous potential and not simply the usual stereotypes.

Barcelona in the world

Barcelona’s role as the Mediterranean capital and its strategic position within the European Union take on its full meaning and potential when it is active on a global scale. The recent trip to China was built upon the view that our city is Asia’s gateway to southern Europe.

Ensuring Barcelona’s global presence means activating a collection of partnership agreements with cities around the world which share our interests, from Asia to the United States.

We also need to ensure our city’s continued presence in strategic locations,

beginning with Brussels, in coordination with Catalan representation as a whole.

It also involves the commitment and involvement of the city’s highest representative, its mayor, through them defining their own agenda of council visits, aside from commitments arising from the membership of networks, bilateral agreements or international organisations. Barcelona and its mayor should have their own agenda which also needs to be applied through innovative methodology that puts more emphasis on monitoring and achieving results.

Finally, the leadership of our city should be built on some of the major debates that define the beginning of the twenty-first century. Significant steps have been taken with regard to ‘Smart Cities’, recognized by European institutions themselves and the project of creating a global partnership to establish international standards as to what constitutes an intelligent city.

The ability to innovate, to be proactive, is the key to attracting major international events such as the Mobile World Congress and becoming the capital of the mobile industry. It is a major challenge for our city to ensure the benefits of these events spread beyond their immediate impact.

The global nature of our city also calls for a decentralized development aid model. The wording of the Cooperation Master Plan is an opportunity to define a new model that allows us to work directly with certain cities, while also supporting our actions in NGOs and in activating new participants, especially in the economic world.

*Joaquim Llimona Barcelona Council’s Director of International Relations and Cooperation.

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A lesson in life and song

by Marina Villacampa*

Victòria dels Àngels (Barcelona, 1923-2005) was one of the greatest sopranos of the twentieth century. With an innate ability to sing, she captivated international audiences with her outstanding vocal range. She was born in the majestic building which houses the Universitat de Barcelona, where her father worked as a concierge, at a time when the city’s cultural and academic activities were in full swing. ‘The University didn’t only provide us with a house, but also a huge cultural and spiritual inspiration’. Dels Àngels always claimed that music was part of her life from a very young age, thanks to her mother in particular, who also had a special gift for singing.

During a vibrant period of Catalonia’s expansionism in which a new generation of musicians emerged (Enric Granados, Pau Casals, Eduard Toldrà and Robert Gerhard), alongside the construction of auditoriums such as the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Palau de la Música Catalana and numerous conservatories, Victòria dels Àngels entered a conservatory where she studied singing, guitar and piano. Her undeniable talent and natural ability to learn, meant that in just three years (half the usual time), she completed her studies with a distinction. The beginning of her professional debut began with a singing competition on Ràdio de Barcelona in 1940, which she won with a performance of Mi chiamano Mimí from Puccini’s La Bohème, a piece which was to accompany her throughout her professional career. Her first concerts shortly after included works by Franz Schubert, Manuel de Falla and Mozart.

At this time she began to collaborate with the Ars Musicae group, whose 80

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repertoire consisted of works from the twelfth to the seventeenth century and which was especially dedicated to the music of the Hispanic, Italian, French, German and English Renaissance.

Dels Àngels was one of the first Catalan artists devoted to performing early music and she did so with an amazing lightness that she explained with these words: ‘you have to have a lot of imagination, but without emphasizing the dogmatism of a particular interpretation’. The soprano added, ‘I learned everything about music from Ars Musicae’.

Indeed it was thanks to the group that she was able to continue her musical education, since her family were unable to afford it. 1944 was an important year as it saw her achieving widespread fame with her solo presentation in the auditorium of the modernist Palau de la Música in Barcelona. ‘I saw it as a sign of appreciation to them after so much effort’. She transmitted her extraordinary commitment and understanding of music, and the result was spectacular.

Universal Catalans

Critics acknowledged her ‘universal intuition and strict technical ability’, and her incredible feel for music became increasingly apparent. Geneva, Portugal, Madrid, Paris, Stockholm and London played host to her first European tours, during which she signed an exclusive contract with the British record label EMI, who recorded much of her repertoire. Every time she visited a country for the first time, dels Àngels performed a recital in order to get a feeling for the audience.

She soon moved on to other continents to sing in South Africa, South America and the United States, where her recitals included the 20 songs from her opera repertoire (Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Wagner’s Tannhäuser and so on), and she debuted some others including German lied, and French and Spanish songs. She was fluent in 5 languages and had excellent expressive powers, with no hint of harshness or shrillness, an undeniable ability to interpret Catalan International View

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different moods and incredible stagepresence.

During the 50s, opera houses around the world competed for dels Àngels and she was in great demand.

At this time she recorded most of her operatic repertoire and established a close relationship with the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, where her success was spectacular. In 10 years she gave 140 performances, 13 recitals and performed 13 roles and formed part of the company that toured the United States. Her husband, Enric Magriñà, who she married in 1948, was her agent and accompanied her during the long periods she was away from home.

Her undeniable talent and natural ability to learn meant that in just three years (half the usual time) she completed her studies with a distinction The stage director Wieland Wagner, grandson of composer Richard Wagner, was captivated by Victòria del Àngels’ voice at a concert in New York and asked her to perform the role of Elizabeth in Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival (created by Richard Wagner in the second half of the nineteenth century to display his talents) conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch.

‘With you, I have found the ideal Elizabeth’, Wieland Wagner declared. The fact that a non-German singer should perform at Bayreuth was absolutely unprecedented and unthinkable, and Victòria acknowledged the event was, ‘one of the most exciting moments of my life’.

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also competed for her attentions. In 1955, for example, the soprano sang Puccini’s Madame Butterfly at the Liceu in Barcelona, though when she returned twelve years later, her husband broke off relations with the theatre.

Following an argument surrounding her artistic cache, dels Àngels had to wait 25 years for normal relations to be resumed and to sing there once more.

She became an ambassador to the world. Dels Àngels received awards from all sides. Nevertheless, in spite of her absolute dedication to singing, she strove to maintain a personal space in her life. In the 1960s, as the mother of two children she reduced the number of foreign tours. ‘My children have given me the opportunity to be like everyone else, something which has always been a concern of mine’.

She also liked to spend time cultivating herself, reading and listening to music, among which she especially liked Mahler’s Fifth Symphony as, ‘it is a cry and I associate it with many moments of my life’. Moreover, she was a complete anti-diva and avoided the fakesounding epithets that accompanied the queens of song (the divine Maria Callas, the marvellous Joan Sutherland and so on) claiming that one, ‘must be a person like anyone else, regardless of one’s fame’. Nevertheless, she befriended with many of them, such as Renata Tebaldi, Jessye Normann, Edita Gruberova and Joan Sutherland herself.

The 1970s were to be the final phase of dels Àngels’ operatic career and a tragic season on a personal level, which also affected her voice, due to her separation from Enric Magriñà. She said goodbye to opera with a performance of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in Madrid; an opera which, due to its concert-like structure, was added to a fully booked season of recitals awaiting dels Àngels. Her new manager, Xavier

Universal Catalans

Vivanco, relaunched her international career. Victòria dels Àngels once more toured the world in the eighties, accompanied by the pianists Paul Berl, Gerard Moore and Alicia Larrocha, and their recitals were to make lied into a universal genre. Lied is romantic music, essentially German in origin, inspired by popular German music. Dels Àngels included popular music from many countries in her repertoire, using it to connect with audiences which were unaccustomed to classical music.

‘I urge my students to read, especially poetry, because the world of poetry is critical for the singer (...)

Achieving the inflections and colour necessary for singing helps, among other things, to improve their own vocal technique’. The soprano gave master

classes throughout the 90s in which she never tired of insisting that one must transcend the singing and music and seek out the symbolic aspect.

‘Personally, I have not plans to retire. I guess life wilI retire me’. Victòria dels Àngels died in Barcelona in 2005 and something unique passed away with her. Her ability to instantly captivate an audience and the expressiveness and humanity that she brought to her roles made the impossible appear easy. She was never attracted by playing the part of a queen, preferring to play characters she could identify with, such as Mimí pucciniana (La Bohème).

‘Mimí was one of my favourite roles, she was sensational. Before I die, I shall remember I was always Mimí, a simple girl who suffered’. *Marina Villacampa

Is the chief editor of the new 440 Clàssica magazine, dedicated to traditional and contemporary classical music and opera. She has created and worked on projects in the fields of music and the performing arts, such as the production Bach conversa amb Martí i Pol. She has also worked with Jordi Savall’s Fundació CIMA.

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Science and Technology

The economics of accountability

by Sascha Haselmayer*

‘I don’t know what I would do without Accessible Pedestrian Signals’, declared Janet Dickelman, president of the American Council for the Blind of Minnesota in 2011 when presenting the White Cane Award. She was referring to new speaking traffic lights that offer information when a button is pressed. Sixty-four of them have been installed in her home town of St. Paul at an estimated cost of €600,000 for the coverage of around 20% of the intersections.

At about the same time Boris, a blind resident of Stockholm told 120 international business and government leaders how e-Adept, a small navigation device for the visually impaired using real-time urban data, allowed him to find his way round his city completely freely and thus feel ‘90% less disabled as a result’. At an annual cost of €360,000 e-Adept generates direct economic benefits of €7 million a year for Stockholm by making many paratransit services, physical rehab measures and other social services superfluous. In addition, it represents a key step in enabling visually impaired residents to find jobs and gain independence.

What lessons, if any, do these stories contain? Firstly, the sad fact that very few communities make such active efforts to help the world’s one billion disabled citizens, of which 162 million are severely visually impaired.

It also conveys a sad truth about how the world’s local government spending is allocated and how innovations that can improve the lives of more than 50% of the global population do not spread.

St. Paul simply had no idea that instead of buying traffic lights they could have invested in e-Adept, a solution that is more cost-effective and transformative 84

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of the quality of life of the visually impaired.

No accountability = no market

CEOs and other executives of global technology, infrastructure and service providers talk privately about local government being the most opaque of all markets. By this they mean that decision-making is often irrational and unpredictable, when not heavily influenced by local political and business interests.

Nevertheless, it is local government that is nearest to its citizens and delivers, regulates and participates in most of the services that make all the difference to their quality of life, especially for the most vulnerable. A euro spent ineffectively not only delivers poorer quality services but it fails to free up resources to make smart investments elsewhere. In times of economic austerity in many economies, this becomes a fundamental factor for many millions of citizens.

However, most people take this unpredictability for granted. Few professionals working with local government would expect it to be reasonable to even consider the possibility of things working differently, arguing

Science and Technology

instead that cities have for generations been governed by political intrigue, the vested interests of local business communities, and public servants resisting change. ‘Whilst innovation’, according to the expert group on European competitiveness, ‘forms part of the standard repertoire of any political or government discourse, we do not see evidence of action in the form of a re-allocation of resources’.

Progress is disruptive, even in cities

In traditional thinking, technology rationalises and often makes traditional labour-intensive services redundant, which in times of high unemployment may not be palatable. However, in the long term technology makes for a more productive and competitive economy, whilst also maintaining high levels of critical service provision, which is especially critical for the most vulnerable members of our societies.

E-Adept is an example of a solution employing less than a handful of people in maintaining a system that can transform the lives of tens of thousands of citizens in Stockholm or any other city – yet it also makes labour-intensive social services such as transport and

rehabilitation for the blind redundant.

This is the disruptive or even destructive power of innovation – or its enabling potential, depending on which perspective you take.

Yet, when looking into the decision-making processes of hundreds of global cities, there is a surprising absence of any coherent method on how to strike such a balance. In most cases, governments decide quite informally (and without carrying out research) as to which solution is the most suitable for their community.

Catalan International View

E-Adept is a unique cooperative project in the areas of personal navigation, travel planning and safety

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‘What if…?’ Could things be different?

Like most social innovations, the first exchanges with cities and businesses about the idea of changing the way the market for city innovations works were received with scepticism and even ridicule. A few had the courage to embrace the idea, among them the cities of Barcelona and Sant Cugat (and later Terrassa) in Catalonia and globally Stockholm, Taipei, Eindhoven, Cape Town and San Francisco, which shared our concern for how slowly innovations spread across cities.

A euro spent ineffectively not only delivers poorer quality services, but it fails to free up resources to make smart investments elsewhere The result is a common process managed by Living Labs Global and Citymart.com, by which cities articulate their challenges and needs, discover what solutions are already globally available, and then engage all stakeholders through real-life pilots in their communities before taking investment decisions. It is exactly how any marketplace should work, especially one that can transform the quality of life of billions of people.

A handful of committed cities, together with a growing community of innovative businesses that dared to think boldly in recent years attracted 45 others, covering more than 200 million citizens, and more than 1,000 businesses including large corporations such as Oracle, Agbar, Saba and Philips to share the vision. In Barcelona, Sant Cugat and shortly in Terrassa you can see these global ideas in action, delivering better transport, urban services and touristic experiences even in times of austerity.

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Accountability is economics

An important part of the learning process has been for cities to identify themselves as part of what Josep M. Piqué of 22@ Barcelona calls the ‘Cities Industry’. Increasingly we see that openness in talking about needs and challenges coincides with cities understanding that it is no longer sufficient to say ‘You need to understand, things are different here’ – a line that for many years served to justify protected local markets – at an incredibly high cost to public spending and an underlying expectation that each community should re-invent the wheel.

A new marketplace is therefore in the making, one that provides intelligence to both innovators and those seeking solutions. With cities increasingly putting their citizens back at the centre of decision-making, and a new openness in defining emerging needs and challenges, we find that accountability is moving towards those that matter most: the citizens.

This is good for business, and the economy. Citizens are the most predictable partners for innovations that can improve their lives and have highly rational views on their priorities when it comes to budget allocations for services that matter to them. They are also well placed to decide what should be done with any savings resulting from rationalisations.

What starts with the accountability of public leaders may soon become the outright participation of citizens in investment decisions that shape their lives.

Growth and social innovation

At a time where protectionism is creeping back onto the political agenda around the world, it is those cities that remain open for business and innovation that send the strongest signal yet to investors, visitors and residents alike.

Science and Technology

And, with a growing alliance of global cities agreeing on the terms of accountable public investment and regulation, they begin to structure a high-growth market for innovative start-ups, organisations and businesses in their community.

Mega-trends and challenges like climate change and ageing are today recognized as major growth opportunities for re-engineering societies. What today is known as the ‘green economy’ took 40 years of activism, disasters and entrepreneurial business and political

leadership to become a market reality.

With the urgency of pressing economic issues, the side-effects of globalisation, the rapid trend towards urbanisation and the opportunity provided by innovative technologies and new ideas we cannot afford to be satisfied with such 40-year cycles. When it comes to services in our cities, citizens should be empowered to take a more active role to ensure that their needs come first. It is good to see that some cities and companies are beginning to do just that.

The Copenhagen wheel is a new emblem for sustainable urban mobility that improves the cycling experience and gets more people on bikes

*Sascha Haselmayer Born in Hamburg, Germany. Trained as an Architect & Urbanist in London. Ashoka Fellow. 15 years professional experience in complex city development and strategy projects in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Co-founded Interlace-Invent, an international strategy consultancy; Living Labs Global, a non-profit association to promote service innovation in cities; and Citymart.com, a technology and online market place for service innovations in cities. Co-author of ‘Connected Cities: Your 256 Billion Euro Dividend’ and ‘Navigate Change: how new trends in public procurement create new markets’.

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Green Debate

Forest fires, an everyday occurrence

by Pere Torres*

At the close of August, it was calculated that more than 700,000 hectares of forest had so far been destroyed by fire this year in the Mediterranean region. It is a considerable figure: equivalent to the amount of deforestation suffered by the Amazon rainforest last year. Forest fires, so characteristic of Mediterranean ecosystems, are unfortunately far from unique. They take place worldwide. At the start of July, eleven fires ravaged 400,000 hectares of forest in the western United States, especially in Colorado. This coincided with the arrival in America of atmospheric particles released by fires that occurred in June in Siberia and Central Russia. One could go on naming continents and repeating a description of tragic and often dantesque scenes: the world’s forests are on fire. It is not enough to mrely state it: we should be aware of what it means.

We should begin by considering the pernicious effects of forest fires. First, climate change. Forest biomass is formed by capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide through photosynthesis.

When the forest burns, all the carbon dioxide is simultaneously released into the atmosphere. In a longer timeframe, if the forest recovers, we can consider the carbon dioxide balance to be neutral: new plants capture the same amount of CO2 that was originally released. However, there are two important points to be noted. Firstly, many forests which have been burnt do not recover, they are not allowed to regrow. Thus there is a net emission of carbon dioxide, like that arising from the combustion of oil. Secondly, in the event that the forest does regrow, it can 88

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take many years. Although the eventual CO2 balance is zero, there will be periods when the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is higher and, therefore, active in global warming.

Moreover, forest fires are responsible for certain chemical reactions that release greenhouse gases, such as methane and nitrous oxide. In addition numerous other substances are released which, while not affecting the climate, pollute the air, sometimes over great distances. The fires which occurred in the Indonesian provinces of Kalimantan and Sumatra in 1997 and 1998, for example, spread a haze over much of Southeast Asia and at least 20 million people were forced to breathe potentially harmful air for an extended period. The then director of the Unit-

Green Debate

to occur, which appropriate most of the oxygen in the water and thus harm other aquatic organisms. Freshwater life also suffers as a result of the higher temperatures resulting from the fire.

The combined effects of these elements

ed Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Dr Klaus Toepfer, called it ‘a global disaster’ (Asiaweek, 18th March 1998).

Forest fires also have significant effects on the vicinity of the affected area. For example, accumulated ash and smoke particles can enter bodies of water (lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and so on). According to a study conducted at Glacier National Park (USA) by a team led by Craig N. Spencer, published in issue 178 of Forest Ecology and Management (2003), shortly after a fire some water samples were found to contain concentrations of phosphate, nitrate and ammonium which were sixty times their normal levels. The situation took several weeks to return to normal, sufficient time for algal blooms

take a heavy toll on aquatic plant and animal species. Species which live on land do not always have the opportunity to escape in time and even when they do manage to save themselves, they may die through lack of food.

People usually imagine the impact of a forest fire to be the burnt area and the damage to persons or property. However, there is also an impact on biodiversity, especially if there are endemic or endangered species. Therefore, policies aimed at allowing forests to regenerate at their own pace must be complemented with specific actions on certain more vulnerable species. In Catalonia in 1986, a large fire in Albera, a mountain range near the Pyrenees, endangered the population of Mediterranean tortoises. As a result a Catalan International View

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captive breeding centre was established to reintroduce them to the forest.

However, as mentioned earlier, forest fires do not always occur for the same reasons. Thus, in Western countries, they are caused by natural phenomena (principally due to lightning) and negligence (uncontrolled burning of agricultural waste, a discarded cigarette, hot vehicles in contact with very dry vegetation, sparks from agricultural work or the maintenance of facilities and so on). Meanwhile, professional teams of fire-fighters exist to combat these problems.

Approximately half of the world’s vegetation fires occur in Africa, many in the tropical region In the 7th July 2012 issue of New Scientist, Wally Covington (of the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff ) acknowledged that, ‘Since the beginning of the 20th century, we have had this propensity to fight small natural forest fires that otherwise kill off dense, young growth’. This is one of the tragedies of developed countries: the abandonment of primary activities has led to forests laden with biomass which burns very easily if the atmosphere is dry and the temperature high, two conditions which coincide with increasing frequency. On the other hand, society idealizes the forest and not only opposes its destruction, but encourages reforestation without strict criteria. A wildfire, therefore, is a tragedy that ought to be avoided. However, experts believe that the best way to preserve the forests in good condition is by precisely the opposite strategy: by allowing and even provoking, small, controlled fires in the undergrowth every 20 to 30 years in order to preserve the condition of the larger 90

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trees and eliminate the excess fuel that feeds unbridled large fires.

This policy of tolerating small fires that curb the spread of the undergrowth challenges the dominant idea in Western societies: the forest is good, the forest is living nature, the more forests the better. It deliberately ignores the fact that one of the characteristics of forests, especially in the Mediterranean region, is periodical fires. Indeed, there are certain plant species, pyrophiles, that base their survival strategy on the existence of occasional fires.

We are therefore in a part of the world where the prevailing practice goes against the effective management of forests through an instinctive rejection of fire. All efforts to attack and extinguish forest fires as quickly as possible and thereby minimize the area burned are counterproductive: it prepares the forest for a larger and even more devastating fire.

Obviously this is not the situation in other parts of the world, especially in regions where tropical and subtropical rainforests are common. In such cases fires have a clearly economic function.

Let us examine a few specific instances by way of illustration.

Earlier I referred to the large forest fires in Indonesia. In fact, they are a problem throughout Southeast Asia.

Fires are started intentionally in order to obtain land for cultivation, to dispose of agricultural waste, or to combat vegetation which has spread to urban areas.

Sometimes these fires get out of hand, often helped by the fact that many soils are made of peat, which burns easily, and there are very dry periods due to the climatic phenomenon known as El Niño. The consequences can be very serious. The major fires which occurred in Indonesia in 1997-98 caused the loss of nearly 9,000 million dollars, including the effects on health and losses from agriculture and tourism, according to the estimate by BAPPENAS, Indone-

Green Debate

sia’s National Development Planning Agency.

In this region, a great paradox exists.

The fight against climate change calls for the replacement of fossil fuels with other energy sources, such as biofuels.

One source of these is palm oil. To serve this lucrative market, large tracts of forest have been burned in order to grow palms and in so doing, have emitted huge amounts of gases that cause climate change. Some economic decisions make very little common sense.

Approximately half of the world’s vegetation fires occur in Africa, many in the tropical region. In fact, among the experts, it is known as the Fire Continent. Certainly the savannah experiences a dry period in which it can easily be lit by lightning. However, this phenomenon, which can be understood as part of the ecology of these habitats, has been displaced by fires of human origin, which acquire a frequency and intensity which is capable of altering the natural cycles and opening the door to desertification.

The deforestation of the Amazon has also occurred for economic reasons: the creation of pasture for livestock, the construction of transport infrastructure, the procurement of certain minerals and so on. However, in recent years it has also suffered from a drought that has allowed the fires to spread more actively.

In short, in every part of the world we can see that forest fires are a territorial, environmental and economic problem of great importance. And every study indicates that the situation will worsen for the foreseeable future. In the tropics, for example, a

vicious cycle is taking place. When a forest burns, the rains pass by more often: it has been observed that the air masses passing over a forest leave twice as much precipitation than if the land is covered by the low vegetation that emerges following a fire. Consequently, the region becomes more arid and more conducive to new fires. As Dr. Dominick Sparacklen of the School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds (Science Daily, 5th September 2012) explains, this phenomenon enlarges the geographical area affected by fire, since the rain moves to the periphery, thousands of kilometres away, to highly populated areas. The two planetary regions where there is more of a threat are the Amazon and the Congo basins.

The estimates for the former are of a 20% decrease in rainfall by 2050.

In summary: Forests are burning everywhere, in some cases because it is part of their natural cycle, while in the majority of cases it is stimulated by human action, whether deliberate or through negligence. The deforestation of many parts of the world, the countries in the tropics, emerging and developing countries, is starting to be a drag on their economic dynamism.

At the other extreme, we find the developed countries, where an idealistic passion for forests sees their growth as positive and obliges the rapid extinction of any outbreak of fire. The result is that combustible material builds up and prepares the conditions for the emergence of large-scale fires.

Our species emerged from the forest thousands of years ago. Nevertheless, it seems as if we have forgotten how to live with it. *Pere Torres

Biologist and environmental consultant. After some time spent on research (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), he joined the Government of Catalonia in 1991. He was in turn secretary of the Catalan Inter-university Council (1991-1993), head of the Environment Minister’s staff (1993-1995), general director of Environmental Planning (1995-2000) and secretary for Regional Planning (2000-2003). Since 2004 he has carried out consultancy work in public management, sustainability and land use planning and has been a regular contributor to the International Institute for Governability and the Institut Cerdà.

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A Short Story from History

A million corks a day The history of wine corks is closely linked to the discovery of a new type of glass in early eighteenth century England. This new, much stronger glass allowed for wine to be transported with a greater degree of security. Subsequently, Dom Perignon, a French Benedictine monk who was the first to standardise the production of champagne, adopted the new form of glass as the best container for transporting his product when tightly sealed with a cork. From that moment on, the Western world needed corks. Millions of corks.

Female workers at Suber C. de P. cork factory (circa 1930)

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The first corks to be produced were French, though soon production moved to Catalonia in search of raw materials, eventually leading to the manufacture of the corks themselves.

The industry became more widespread from the mid-eighteenth century, becoming consolidated during the nineteenth century, when it brought about major changes in the social fabric of the north-eastern region of Catalonia.

The first Catalan company to specialize in the cork business was founded in 1785. The cork industry was crucial to the development of transport networks in the counties of north-eastern Catalonia. In the nineteenth century, horse-drawn carts owned by Josep Corredor and Artigas were responsible for transporting cork from Palafrugell to Sant Feliu de Guíxols.

The transport of cork by sea was mainly carried out by coastal shipping.

With the ports of Sant Feliu, Palamós and Roses being essential to the export trade. The brisk trade opened up important business contacts with the French Mediterranean ports. The creation of railways to and from the ports was spurred on by limitations in road transportation due to the poor state of the highways and the limited carrying capacity of carts. Another factor was the increasing demands of a growing market. Thus the Palamòs to Flaçà railway was inaugurated, in 1887, becoming the first narrow-gauge railway in the northern counties of Catalonia.

In 1900, Joan Miquel Avellí and Enric Vincke founded the Miquel i Vincke society dedicated to the cork

industry. They were joined shortly after

by Pau Meyer. The fact that two of the partners were German nationals meant they were able to obtain financial backing from banks in Hamburg.

The Palafrugell cork factories became the symbol of the power of the Catalan cork industry. At Can Mario, for example, the number of workers doubled in a few short years (from 500 in 1905 to a thousand in 1907). It was a modern enterprise which produced all manner of objects made from cork. Besides making wine corks (over a million a day) it produced significant quantities of fibreboard, paper, wool, buoys, floats, shoe soles and pith helmets.

The Catalan cork industry extended its production to Spain and France,

and eventually opened sales offices in England and the United States. On the 1st January 1930 the Armstrong Cork Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, took over the majority of the Catalan cork industry. It goes by the name of Armstrong to this day.

A late 18th century illustration showing the cork manufacturing process

The Catalan cork industry extended its production into Spain and France, and eventually opened sales offices in England and the United States

Source: The Palafrugell Cork Museum, publications of the Museum of Science and Technology of Catalonia.

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The Artist

Vilató’s creatures

by Glòria Bosch*

The enormous scientific breakthroughs achieved in the second half of the 20th century in the fields of genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry led to the spectacular development of biotechnology and, along with it, the growth of a global sector that is capable of providing innovative solutions to the great challenges facing humanity in the areas of health, food, environmental sustainability and energy production.

If both birds and dogs are a pictorial constant, then likewise the scenes that condense an important part of ‘his’ inner menagerie accompany us in the exhibition. The situations produced in the workshop made the space a home to surprises where existence mingled with chance: from the ants that felt captivated by the tubes of yellow paint, to the bee ‘yellow eater’ that came through the window and which he recognized because its legs were covered in the yellow from the picture he was painting. Over the years, his way of looking becomes more internal and the formal fabric reverses the exploration of life, multiplying the alternatives, though the most important factor is integrative coexistence where reality is merged with the artist’s imagination.

One of his great qualities is to anticipate this need to incorporate different aspects of the look, drinking naturally from other sources in order to understand this common core, which determines the possibilities and builds in accordance with each beginning.

Within the transformation and the potential of the expressive registers of promiscuity, from chiaroscuro to emocional states, the artist stretches the mystery with which he will construct the universe of his own associations, his flexibility and ability to absorb in a privileged context regardless of techniques or styles, without impositions that limit or reduce, always open to visible experience and to everything that has held his gaze.

While people always speak of his relationship with his painter uncle, Picasso, who 94

taught him to ‘look at the world’, Vilató’s father and grandfather also had a strong influence on him. His neuro-psychiatrist family marked his childhood with its scientific journals and various findings. La natura aracnòide (Arachnid Nature), featuring very fine spiders with elongated legs which he described as ‘writers’ (thanks to their appearance), mixed with the irony of a skull on a plate where these creatures are potential diners. In another of his works, Vanitas, can be found the hoopoe, one of the emblematic birds from his menagerie, resting on the shell of a skull, this familiar element which he lived with from his childhood, reflecting on the essence of being human. In fact, what stands out through this unique universe is the way in which a poetic and pictorial view of everyday life blends with the internal dissection of his own mental and emotional world.

Far from what is established as a language, far from the labels and meanings that join things a certain way, Vilató’s eyes observe the world looking for a movement that can never be completed because catching an image is also to free it, as his friend the poet Jacques Prévert would have liked. It is the artist’s latter gesture that manages to give meaning to the work, not only to advance towards us but to continue weaving (spider-like) fine lines, full of connections in the unity of the whole.

If a painting can wait five years or more to be completed, it can also be viewed by a different path every time.

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The Artist

Cover Art:

“Huppe avec crâne” (1988) Crest with Skull

“Crâne aux araignées” (1978) Skull with Spiders

Espai Volart Carrer Ausiàs Marc, 22 08010 Barcelona Tel. 93 481 79 85 Fax. 93 481 79 84 espaivolart@fundaciovilacasas.com Catalan International View

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A Poem Curated by Enric Bou Chair in Hispanic Studies, Brown University (Providence)

The Site of Rilke’s Tomb

La tomba de Rilke

(Rarogne, Valais)

(Rarogne, Valais)

You lie in the ultimate Resting place, aloft the dark rocks, With the hilltop ivy that doesn’t fear February’s frost. Your cross is rather coarse, The burial vault of shepherds and peasants, And you are walled in by porous stone Like a worm-eaten bride’s chest. Snowflakes and sun-beat Have turned the cross grey, the shade of mist.

Yet at your grave site there is a touch of pride: A chiselled coat of arms, something come from a fable Of the Austrian past, crowning the fortified village, Solitary and final, where your word now dwells.

Reposes en l’extrem cementiri, damunt la roca fosca, amb l’heura muntanyana, que no tem el gebre del febrer. Tens una creu ben tosca, de fossar de pastors i camperols, i cenyeix el teu clos una pedra corcada com les arques de núvia. Neus i sols han fet grisa la creu, amb color de boirada.

Però en la teva tomba hi ha una mica d’urc: un escut cisellat, una mica de faula de l’Àustria antiga, coronant el burg solitari i extrem de la teva paraula.

Here lies the brow that often bowed To silence and darkness; And when the wind from the Alps sweeps the snow Across the withered blades of grass, the peasants, arriving From vineyards where they tend grape stocks shaped like lyres, Are unaware that hidden beneath the cross is the bluish tint, The fear in your artless eyes and the ivy sighs Above the heart that never met with peace.

Ací reposa el front que s’inclinà sovint al silenci i a l’ombra; i quan el vent dels Alps la neu escombra damunt l’herbeta morta, els camperols, venint de les vinyes, on tenen els ceps forma de lira, no saben que s’amaga sota la creu el blau i la por dels teus ulls d’infant, i que sospira l’heura sobre el teu cor que ignorava la pau.

Translated by D. Sam Abrams Marià Manent (Barcelona, 1898-1988) was the author of exquisite poems and diaries, along with judicious literary criticism and translations from English poetry. His war time diary, El vel de Maia expressed a sense of time lost, which can be applied to his entire work: ‘I wrote things down for me, obsessed by the voracity of time which erases everything’. As a poet, his work is characterized by an extraordinary concentration of expression following a well-established post-symbolist tradition. He published very few volumes: L’ombra i altres poemes (1931), La ciutat del temps (1961), and Obra poètica (Poesia completa 1916-1986), which includes a new book, El cant amagadís. His diaries include A flor d’oblit (1968), El vel de Maia (1975), and L’aroma d’arç (1982). In 1985 he was awarded the Premi d’Honor de les Lletres Catalanes. He excelled as a translator with versions of Rupert Brooke, Shelley, Dylan Thomas, William Blake, Emily Dickinson, Archibald MacLeish and Coleridge, collected in Versions de l’anglès (1938), Poesia anglesa i nord-americana (1955) and El gran vent i les heures (1983). He is also the author of variations on Chinese poetry, L’aire daurat (1928) and Com un núvol lleuger (1967).

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Editorial Board Martí Anglada Former foreign news editor at TV3 (Catalonia television). He has been foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Italy and Great Britain (1977-1984) for the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia and United States correspondent for TV3 (1987-1990). He has also been an international political commentator. His latest book is Afers no tan estrangers (Not So Foreign Affairs) published by Editorial Mina (part of Grup 62).

Manel Balcells (Ripoll, 1958). Doctor specialising in Orthopaedics, Traumatology and Sports Medicine. Holds a degree in Health Management from EADA, as well as a degree in PADE from IESE. He is a member of a number of scientific societies. In his long, distinguished career in the health sector he has been Medical Director of Granollers General Hospital (Barcelona); both director and secretary of Coordination and Strategy for the Department of Health of the Generalitat of Catalonia; councillor for the Department of Universities, Research and Information Society; consultant for the Catalan Hospitals Consortium. From the 27th of December 2006 to February 2011 he was president of the board of directors of the Private BioRegion Foundation of Catalonia. At present he is the Director of the Area of Knowledge at Consorci Sanitari de Terrassa (Catalonia), as well as Consultant on Strategic Planning.

Enric Canela (Barcelona, 1949). Holds a Chemistry degree from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB, 1972) and a PhD in Chemistry with Biochemistry as his specialisation (UB, 1976). Lecturer at the UB since 1974, he is Full Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the department of the same name in the Biology Faculty of the UB. He collaborates in research on intracellular communication and biochemical theory. He regularly publishes books and contributes to scientific journals of international renown. Between September 2007 and April 2009 he was president of the Society for Knowledge. Between June 2007 and June 2011 he was patron of the National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation (ANECA) for the Spanish state.

Àngel Font (Lleida, 1965). Holds a degree in Chemical Sciences from the Universitat de Barcelona and a diploma in Business Management from EADA Business School. Began his career in an environmental engineering company and subsequently joined Intermón Oxfam where he held the post of coordinator on projects in Latin America, fund-raising and public relations and assistant to the director general. Since 2000 he has been director of the Un Sol Món (One World) Foundation financed by the Caixa de Catalunya (savings bank) where he runs projects for social housing and employment for disadvantaged groups as well as the development of microfinance in Spain, Latin America and Africa. Àngel Font is a member of the Cooperation Council of the Generalitat de Catalunya and was the first vice-president of the European Microfinance Network. He carries out teaching duties related to the management of non-profit organisations at a number of business schools.

Anna Grau Journalist and writer. From 1991 to 2005 she worked as a political journalist in Barcelona and Madrid, where she was the correspondent for the Avui newspaper and numerous programmes for TV3, Catalunya Ràdio, Ràdio4 and COM ràdio. In 2005 she left for New York, where she currently works. Author of El dia que va morir el president (the Day the President Died), Dones contra dones (Women Against Women), Endarrere aquesta gent (Reject These People) and the essay Per què parir (Why have a baby?).

August Gil-Matamala Has been a practising lawyer since 1960, specialising in the fields of criminal and labour law. He has taken part in numerous cases in defence of people on trial for their demands in favour of people’s rights, as well as hearings before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Gil-Matamala fought the first successful case against the Spanish state for the violation of basic rights. He is a founder member of the Commission for the Defence of Individual Rights of the Col·legi d’Advocats de Barcelona (the Barcelona Bar Association) and the Catalan Association for the Defence of Human Rights, which he presided over from its foundation in 1985 to 2001. Gil-Matamala has also been president of both the Fundació Catalunya and the European Democratic Lawyers organisation. In 2007, coinciding with his retirement, he received the Creu de Sant Jordi (St. George’s Cross, the highest honour awarded by the Catalan government).

Montserrat Guibernau Professor of Politics at Queen Mary College, University of London. Holds a PhD and an MA in Social and Political Theory from the University of Cambridge and a degree in Philosophy from the Universitat de Barcelona. She has taught at the universities of Warwick, Cambridge, Barcelona, the London School of Economics and the Open University. Guibernau has held visiting professorhips at the universities of Edinburgh, Tampere, Pompeu Fabra, the UQAM (Quebec) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Currently she holds a visiting fellowship at the Centre for the Study of Global Governance, London School of Economics. Montserrat Guibernau is the author of numerous books and articles on nationalism, the nation-state, national identity, and national and ethnic minorities in the West from the perspective of global governance.

Guillem López-Casasnovas (Minorca, 1955). Holds a degree in Economics (distinction, 1978) and Law (1979) from the Universitat de Barcelona (UB). He obtained his PhD in Public Economics from the University of York (UK, 1984). He has been a lecturer at the UB, visiting scholar at the Institute of Social and Economic Research (UK), University of Sussex and at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Stanford (USA). Since June 1992 has been full professor of economics at Barcelona’s Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), where he has been vice-rector of Economics and International Relations and dean of the School of Economics and Business Science. In 1998 he created the Economics and Health Research Centre (CRES- UPF), which he directed until recently. Co-director of the Master’s in Public Management (UPF-UAB-EAPC). In 2000 he received the Catalan Economics Society Award and in 2001 the Joan Sardà Dexeus Award. He is also a member of the Minorcan Institute of Studies, The Catalan Royal Academy of Medicine and a distinguished member of the Economists’ Society of Catalonia. President of the International Health Economics Association and since 2005 one of the Spanish Central Bank’s six independent Council members.

Manuel Manonelles Political commentator specialising in international relations, human rights and democratisation processes. Currently director of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Barcelona. He has been special advisor to the Co-chair of the UN High Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations, as well as advisor to the coordinator of the Secretariat of the World Forum of Civil Society Networks (Ubuntu Forum), which is a member of the International Council of the World Social Forum. He has been an international electoral observer and supervisor for the OSCE and the EU on many occasions, and has participated in several international intergovernmental and non-governmental processes.

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Fèlix Martí Former president of the International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (Pax Romana), from 1975 to 1984; director of Catalonia magazine (1987-2002), a publication printed in four different languages, aimed at disseminating Catalan culture; director of the UNESCO centre of Catalonia (1984 to 2002) and later its honorary president (from 2003). From 1994 to 2002 he was editor of the Catalan editions of the yearly reports of the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, L’Estat del món (The State of the World) and Signes vitals (Vital Signs). He promotes the Declaration on Contributions by Religions to a Culture of Peace, signed by leaders of the great religious traditions in 1994. President of the Linguapax International Institute from 2001 to 2004 and honorary president thereafter. Wrote his memoirs Diplomàtic sense estat (Diplomat Without a State), published by Edicions Proa in 2006. Was awarded the UNESCO Human Rights Medal in 1995 and the Generalitat de Catalunya’s Creu de Sant Jordi (St. George’s Cross) in 2002.

Arcadi Oliveres (Barcelona, 1945). PhD in Economic Science, lecturer in the Department of Applied Economics at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and president of the organisation Justícia i Pau ( Justice and Peace). He is also president of the Catalan Council for the Promotion of Peace, the International Peace University Foundation of Sant Cugat del Vallès, the Federation of Internationally Recognised Catalan Organisations (FOCIR) and the Easy to Read Association. He is an expert on North-South relations, international trade, external debt and defence economics and also lectures on aid and development for a number of master’s and PhD programmes.

Eva Piquer (Barcelona, 1969).Writer and cultural journalist. Works for several newspapers and magazines. Has been a lecturer at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and a New York news correspondent. Won the 2002 Josep Pla prize for her novel Una victòria diferent (A Different Victory). Also author of several books, including La noia del temps (The Weather Girl), Alícia al país de la televisió (Alice in Television Land) and No sóc obsessiva, no sóc obsessiva, no sóc obsessiva (I’m Not Obsessive, I’m Not Obsessive, I’m Not Obsessive). Her latest book is called La feina o la vida (Life or work).

Ricard Planas (Girona, 1976). Journalist, art critic and cultural promoter. Studied Philology and the History of Art at the Universitat de Girona. In 1999 he founded the magazine Bonart, dedicated to the contemporary art scene in the Catalan Countries. More recently he created and directed the Catalan art fair INART in 2005 and 2006. Has worked as the curator for exhibitions by important artists such as Arranz-Bravo, Lamazares, Formiguera, Cuixart, Ansesa and Grau-Garriga. Ricard has collaborated with Ona Catalana, Catalunya Ràdio, iCatfm and Onda Rambla radio stations. Has also worked for the Diari de Girona, El Punt and El Mundo newspapers, among others.

Vicent Sanchis (Valencia, 1961). Holds a degree in Information Sciences from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In his career as a journalist it is worth highlighting that he has worked and collaborated on many publications and with numerous publishers; he has been editor and director of El Temps magazine, director of Setze magazine, the Catalan supplement of Cambio 16, and director of the newspapers El Observador and Avui. He has also excelled as a scriptwriter and director on different TV programmes. At present he is president of the editorial board of Avui, and vicepresident of Òmnium Cultural. Vicent is also a lecturer in the Faculty of Communication Sciences at Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona.

Pere Torres Biologist and environmental consultant. After some time spent on research (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), he joined the Government of Catalonia in 1991. He was in turn secretary of the Catalan Inter-university Council (1991-1993), Head of the Environment Minister’s staff (1993-1995), general director of Environmental Planning (1995-2000) and secretary for Regional Planning (2000-2003). Since 2004 he has done consultancy work in public management, sustainability and land use planning and has been a regular contributor to the International Institute for Governability and the Institut Cerdà.

Carles Vilarrubí (Barcelona, 1954). Businessman. He is currently Executive Vice-President of Rothschild Spain Investment Bank, specialising in key mergers and takeovers in the financial sector on an international scale. President of CVC Grupo Consejero, an equity and investment advisory firm, with a portfolio of shares in consulting and service companies from the world of communications, the media, marketing, technology and telecommunications. President of Doxa Consulting Group, independent consultants on technology, media and telecommunications, leaders in the sector and with a presence in Spain and Portugal. He is a member of the advisory board of the Catalan confederation Foment del Treball Nacional (National Employment Promotion) and patron of the Fundació Orfeó Català - Palau de la Música. He has also been a member of the governing council of ADENA WWF (World Wild Fund for Nature), and sat on the boards of the Fundación Arte y Tecnología, Fundesco and Fundación Entorno. He is also member of the F.C Barcelona.

Vicenç Villatoro (Terrassa, 1957). Writer and journalist. Holds a degree in Information Sciences. Former president of the Ramon Trias Fargas Foundation.

As a journalist he has worked for numerous organisations. He was the editor of the Avui newspaper from 1993 to 1996 and head of the culture section of TV3. Between 2002 and 2004 was director general of the Catalan Radio and Television Corporation. He has contributed to a range of media companies, such as Avui, El Periódico, El País, El Temps, Catalunya Ràdio and COM ràdio. As a writer he has written a dozen novels. Currently he is the president of the Institut Ramon Llull.

Francesc de Dalmases (Director) (Barcelona, 1970). Journalist and consultant in humanitarian aid and cooperation and development. Has been president (1999-2006) of the Association of Periodicals in Catalan (APPEC); coordinator for the delegation to the Spanish state of European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (1995-1999); coordinator for the third conference of the CONSEU (Conference of European Stateless Nations) (1999); and coordinator for the publication Europa de les Nacions (1993-1999). Has acted as a foreign expert in aid projects in such diverse locations as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mexico, Guatemala and Morocco.

He is a member of the Cooperation Council of the Catalan government. He recently (2011) joined Barcelona’s Council’s Aid Commitee and is a board member of the Federation of Internationally Recognized Catalan Organisations.

Víctor Terradellas (Editor) (Reus, 1962). Entrepreneur and political and cultural activist. President and founder of Fundació CATmón. Editor of Catalan International View and ONGC, a magazine dedicated to political thought, solidarity, aid and international relations. Víctor has always been involved in political and social activism, both nationally and internationally. The driving force behind the Plataforma per la Sobirania (The Platform for Self-Determination) as well as being responsible for significant Catalan aid operations and international relations in such diverse locations as Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Afghanistan, Mongolia, Pakistan and Kurdistan. Currently he is General Secretary of International Relations for the Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya party.

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Catalan International View