Catalonia demands a “no strings attached” bailout

Catalonia has asked Madrid for a bailout of just over 5 billion euros to help pay the bills until the end of the year.

A spokesman for the generalitat, run by the fiercely pro-independent regional government of Artur Mas, said that Catalonia will not accept any political orders along with the money, “as this is our money which is simply being managed by the Spanish state, and we want it back to run our own businesses”.