Latest news with #AdaColau
The National
3 days ago
- Business
- The National
Barcelona cuts twin-city ties with Tel Aviv over Gaza war
Barcelona's city council voted to cut institutional ties with the Israeli government and suspend its friendship agreement with the city of Tel Aviv over Israel's war on the Gaza Strip. 'The suffering and death in Gaza over the past year and a half, and recent attacks by the Israeli government, make any relationship unviable,' said Mayor Jaume Collboni during Friday's council session. The motion demands the end of all official relations with the Israeli government 'until respect for international law and the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people is restored'. It will also suspend a 1998 friendship agreement with Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and it urged the trade fair organiser Fira de Barcelona not to host Israeli government pavilions or companies involved in the arms trade or profiting from the conflict in Gaza. It is not the first time Barcelona has moved to suspend ties with Israel. In 2023, then-mayor Ada Colau took similar steps, which were later reversed when Mr Collboni won local elections. The move by Spain's second-largest city, a top tourist destination and home to one of the world's best-known football clubs, is merely symbolic. But it adds to a growing list of critics of Israel's war in Gaza. Last year, Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognised a Palestinian state in a co-ordinated decision that angered Israel. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is one of the most outspoken critics in the European Union of Israel's military operations in Gaza. While most European countries continue to affirm Israel's right to self-defence, there is horror at the scale of devastation in Gaza. It is the deadliest conflict between Israel and the Palestinians in decades. The Hamas -led attacks on October 7, 2023, killed some 1,200 people, with about 240 taken hostage. Israel's military response has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, health authorities in Gaza have said.
Local Spain
3 days ago
- Politics
- Local Spain
Barcelona ends 'friendship agreement' with Tel Aviv over Gaza war
The motion, supported by the governing Socialist party along with far-left and leftist pro-independence groups, calls for an end to all official relations with Israel "until respect for international law" and the "basic rights of the Palestinian people" are restored. Barcelona will also suspend a 1998 friendship agreement with Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and it urged the trade fair organiser Fira de Barcelona not to host Israeli government pavilions or companies involved in the arms trade or profiting from the conflict in Gaza. A similar recommendation was made to the Port of Barcelona. "The suffering and death in Gaza over the past year and a half, and recent attacks by the Israeli government, make any relationship unviable," Barcelona's Mayor Jaume Collboni said during the council session. It is not the first time Barcelona has moved to suspend ties with Israel. In 2023, then-mayor Ada Colau took similar steps, which were later reversed when Collboni won local elections. While the move has little practical impact, the decision by Spain's second-largest city -- a top tourist destination and home to one of the world's best-known football clubs -- adds to a growing list of critics of Israel's devastating war in Gaza. Barcelona's move comes a year after Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognised a Palestinian state in a coordinated decision slammed by Israel. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is one of the most outspoken critics in the European Union of Israel's military operations in Gaza.
Days of Palestine
3 days ago
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
Barcelona Freezes Friendship Agreement with Tel Aviv
DaysofPal – The Barcelona City Council voted on Friday to suspend institutional ties with the Israeli government and freeze its 1998 friendship agreement with the city of Tel Aviv, citing violations of international law and the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people. The motion—comprising around twenty clauses—was backed by the ruling Socialist party along with several leftist and pro-independence parties. It calls for halting all official relations with the 'current Israeli government' and formally pauses the long-standing twinning agreement with Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Socialist Mayor Jaume Collboni stated: 'The level of suffering and death witnessed in Gaza over the past year and a half, coupled with the Israeli government's repeated attacks, makes any relationship between our cities unsustainable.' The council also urged the board of Fira de Barcelona (Barcelona Exhibition Centre) not to host Israeli government pavilions or companies linked to the arms trade or sectors 'profiting from genocide, occupation, apartheid, or colonialism against the Palestinian people.' A similar recommendation is under consideration for the Port of Barcelona, calling for a ban on ships transporting weapons to Israel. This is not the first such move by Barcelona. In February 2023, then-mayor and former social activist Ada Colau suspended all ties with the Israeli government, including the sister-city agreement with Tel Aviv. That decision was reversed after Jaume Collboni won the municipal elections later that year. The latest resolution comes just days after Spain officially recognized the State of Palestine on May 28, 2024, alongside Ireland and Norway. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of Benjamin Netanyahu's government within the European Union in recent months. Shortlink for this post:
Euronews
25-03-2025
- Health
- Euronews
Barcelona has the highest density of cars in the EU. Cutting traffic by 25% could save 200 lives
ADVERTISEMENT Reducing traffic in Barcelona by 25 per cent would prevent 200 premature deaths a year, according to a new study. The Spanish city has the highest density of cars in the EU at almost 6,000 vehicles per square kilometre. Cutting down on combustion engines is no mean feat, but new research from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) shows the life-saving difference it would make. Barcelona 's air quality improved in 2024 for the second year in a row, thanks to a series of polluting-cutting policies, the city's air pollution monitoring network said in January. Some progress is already being made but ISG's research imagines a full implementation of the 2018-2024 Urban Mobility Plan launched under former mayor Ada Colau. 'This study focuses on Barcelona, but it also sets an example for other cities to understand the impact that targeted policies can have on reducing air pollution,' says Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, director of ISGlobal's Climate, Air Pollution, Nature and Urban Health programme. Related EVs set to save Europe 20 million tonnes of CO2 this year but transport remains biggest polluter How would cutting cars save lives in Barcelona? The researchers worked with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), which has developed a technology to model traffic emissions throughout the city and subsequent pollution levels. From a baseline set in 2019, they worked out three hypothetical scenarios, each with different levels of traffic reduction. The first simulation removed the most polluting vehicles from the roads but didn't reduce the overall number of private vehicles in the city. This led to a 5.9 per cent drop in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels - a gas which increases the risk of respiratory illnesses. According to the researchers' model, this would prevent 67 premature deaths a year. Under the second scenario, a 25 per cent reduction in the number of private cars on the road would result in a 17.6 per cent reduction in NO2 levels, preventing 199 deaths per year. Most of the people affected by this change live in the city centre - the area with the highest pollution levels - as well as areas to the north-west. Related Transport for London: How one of the world's most congested cities is keeping cars out Fish door bells, plastic-eating fungi and tree hugging: Positive environmental stories from 2025 What difference would electrifying the port make? Barcelona's busy ports are a significant source of pollution too, with maritime traffic contributing around 7 per cent of NO2-related mortality in the city. The Port of Barcelona is planning to electrify its docks by 2030, and ISG's third scenario looked at the impact of this development alongside a 25 per cent cut in private road traffic. The result was a 19.4 per cent reduction in NO2 levels and 228 fewer preventable deaths per year. Unsurprisingly, this scenario would save most lives in the southern areas of the city, the ones closest to the coast. ADVERTISEMENT 'The study focuses only on the impact of these measures on NO2 levels, but it is hoped that they will also have a positive effect on the climate in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,' says Marc Guevara, leader of the atmospheric emissions modelling team at the BSC. Related Renewables stepped up to meet surge in energy demand from rising temperatures in 2024, IEA says How has Barcelona been reducing road pollution? Last year, the Catalan capital reached record low levels of nitrogen dioxide. The Eixample monitoring station, in the heart of the city's traffic-loaded grid system, reduced its NO₂ levels by nearly 6 per cent. Authorities attributed this improvement to a variety of factors, including measures to increase the use of public transport - which is cheap but notoriously slow and unreliable. Low-emission zones have helped limit pollution too, by restricting access for certain polluting vehicles in large parts of the city. ADVERTISEMENT Also under the Urban Mobility Plan, the creation of 'superblocks' has won the admiration of urban planners around the world. This scheme groups together nine city blocks and closes them to through traffic, designing play areas and green spaces to fill these spaces instead. Barcelona still needs to move faster in clearing up its roads and air, however. 'Although the preventable mortality we estimate is significant, none of the scenarios proposed in our study would be able to comply with the new NO2 limits proposed by the European Union in its new air quality directive, which will come into force in 2030,' says Ana Ramos, ISGlobal researcher and first author of the new study published in the journal Health & Place. 'This suggests that we must do more and do it more effectively in order to improve the air quality in our city.' ADVERTISEMENT
