Welcome once again to Barcelona.

I am happy that you have once again chosen our city to host your conferences, and I hope that there will be many more.

I would like to start by recalling the prizes you award, which this year include a notable number of women: the Lara Award for Mireia Trepat, Pilar Mateo and Muriel Bourgeois, and the European Construction Award for Ursula Von der Leyen.

As the first Mayoress of Barcelona, I know that if women have not had a greater presence in the economic world, as in politics, it whas been because of prejudice and discrimination.

This discrimination has not disappeared, we have a long road ahead, but these awards show that we are making progress, and that is very good news. Congratulations to all of them.

We are experiencing a time of uncertainty and change, in which we are facing numerous local and global challenges: a convulsive economy, climate change, an ageing population, technological change, uncertainty on the international stage, etc.

And to counter these challenges, the best recipe for failure is not wanting to change anything, just wanting to keep to the recipes from the last century.

This has never been the way Barcelona faces challenges; our city is always characterised by innovation, by being ahead of its time.

This time is no different. The economic dilemma we are facing as a city, as a country, as a society, is whether we continue to stay anchored to the past or advance towards the future.

 

Barcelona leads

I want to begin by stating that, in spite of such a difficult context, Barcelona is leading the economic recovery:

It is leading the reduction in Spanish unemployment (-32.5%). In 2021, Barcelona reduced unemployment twice as fast as Madrid.

A record number of open-ended contracts: 260% more in a year.

And furthermore, Barcelona has made good use of these circumstances to recover economic competitiveness: Barcelona is the European city with the most contracted offices, according to CBRE, the well-known American equity capital company. I repeat: the highest in all of Europe.

 

And I remind you that we have achieved this while caring for the health of our city’s residents. In other words, avoiding deaths. And in an honest way.

We cannot fall victim to complacency. But neither do we need to receive any lessons. We undoubtedly have reasons to be proud.

But we cannot think only of next year, but also about coming generations.

An ex-president of the Cercle d’Economia, Anton Costas, with whom I had the pleasure of sharing a talk recently, once said that all cities that wish to lead the future must be based on the three Rs: resisting, recovering and reinventing themselves.

I have spoken about how we have resisted and how we are recovering well. Now let me speak about the importance of reinventing ourselves.

 

Barcelona is reinventing itself with a successful model

But we have not limited ourselves to managing the situation, we have promoted a city model based on social cohesion, sustainability and innovation.

In social cohesion, today's Barcelona is the leading city for social investment in Spain, and the city that is building the most public housing. Because lower inequality means more prosperity for all.

Last week, the European Commission (EC) awarded Barcelona the title of the 2022 European Capital for Inclusion and Diversity, an award that recognises the efforts Barcelona has made to construct a more equitable society.

In sustainability, the UN highlights our model for the recovery of public space through superblocks as an example for everyone, while the EU does the same for our Plan Against Climate Change.

In this regard, I would like to say that the war has demonstrated the point to which energy dependency in general, and fossil-fuel dependency in particular, makes us weaker, more unstable and more unsafe.

For this reason, it makes no sense to insist on expanding infrastructures that are so dependent on those fuels, such as ports and airports.

Indeed, in this regard, in a meeting with the European Commission's General Director for Energy a few days ago, he underlined this reflection. And furthermore, he specifically mentioned the importance of reducing the cost of public transport in order to help reduce energy dependence. A demand that is still not being heard here by the competent institutions.

In short, staying anchored to the past is not only a bad environmental decision, it is also a bad economic decision. Because being sustainable makes us more competitive.

It is no accident that Barcelona is the city that has received the most Next Generation funds, precisely to improve environmental quality and mobility. Because, unlike other cities that have had to give up on it, we had already done our homework and had our projects prepared. We are completely in step with Europe.

And in regard to the economy and innovation, I understand that you mistrust political speeches. So let's talk about money: Barcelona multiplied its foreign investment fivefold in 2021.

I’m not asking you to believe that, because that would be an act of faith. And this is data, these are facts.

As is the fact that Barcelona is the second European city for attracting the technology sector. And accounts for 70% of the recruitment of technological companies in the whole of Spain.

Because we don’t reject any economic sector, but rather promote our own, diversified model with high added value.

In short, an evident, growing economic success that coexists and is nurtured by the construction of a city which has more opportunities for everyone while being more responsible with the environment.

 

Barcelona, an example of good governance.

And how things are done are just as important as what is done. A way of doing things that is characterised by public-private partnership, agreement and stability, and coherence with Europe.

• With public-private partnership. Therefore, we present:

  • The Strategic Metropolitan Plan

  • The Metropolitan housing operator

  • Reinvigorating the 22@

  • Conversion of the former Mercedes factory

  • The Caixa Research Institute

 

• With agreements and stability: as is shown by that fact that during this term of office we have approved our budgets promptly every year and with wide ranging agreement. Few institutions can say the same.

 

And from Barcelona, facilitating and promoting to ensure that this agreement and stability also occurs at other official levels, such as the Governments of Catalonia and Spain.

In the City Council, as in Spain, the dominating feature has been dialogue and agreement among parties and social stakeholders: from employment reform to raising the minimum official wage (SMI). And all with clearly demonstrated positive results.

The only ones who have stood apart from this climate of dialogue and consensus has been the right wing, who have opted for an agreement with the extreme right wing, whom they have decided to normalise, unlike what is occurring in France and Germany.

Similarly, in regard to public policies, calling for lower taxes that would only serve to exacerbate inflation and the crisis.

That's not my opinion, it is what the IMF and the European Commission have stated, showing their disagreement with these proposals.

And in coherence with Europe, to which you are dedicating this year's meeting.

 

The new EU is amending what it did during the last crisis. Where before it imposed cuts, it is now prioritising public investment; where before it was rigid, today it has made deficit and debt targets flexible, as well as energy regulation, in accordance with reality (in Germany or Spain and Portugal).

A change that some people were calling for during the last crisis. This change is welcome. And changes that are completely in tune with the policies promoted by the Barcelona and Spanish governments.

That is why Barcelona was the first city to receive Next Generation funds and Spain was the first country to receive recovery funds, precisely because of their good actions. 

That is why the minimum official wage was raised and an employment reform was approved with the association of employers. And what was the result? Unemployment is falling, 50% of new contracts are open-ended and there are record levels of employment. And all of this in a context of war, inflation and economic uncertainty.

I believe that everyone who, for one reason or another, voted against this, should reflect on it.

In short, if we make judgements based on results and not on prejudice, then the reality is that the current governments can show good results and good management, as well as adhering to the principles that you call for in your editorial: a veto on the extreme right wing, economic stability and progress, European construction and coherence with it.

 

Conclusion

And this is being recognised at an international level. For this reason, a few days ago, we celebrated Barcelona being chosen as the venue for the America’s Cup.

This is not an isolated case. Three more top-class international events have chosen Barcelona in the last eighteen months, despite the difficult context we have experienced: Integrated Systems Europe, the most important audiovisual-industry congress in the world; the World Capital of Architecture and the Manifesta 2024 art biennial. And all that in addition to the Mobile World Congress. Barcelona is more attractive than it has been for a long time.

In short, a leading city that knows how to choose. A city that has its own project, and a mature project. So it doesn't say “yes” to everything, because that is a mistake. It makes choices according to whether the projects fit in with its model, if they help to build the city we want.

For this reason the choice is not between “yes” and “no” cities, as is often claimed in a partisan way.

The choice is between cities living in the past or cities looking to the future. Cities of the past based on speculation, speculative property deals, fossil fuels, privatisations and lowering taxes for those that have most; or cities of the future: that have leading, diversified economies with high added value, in a cohesive, sustainable city, designed for the people who live there.

And neither is the choice between growth and degrowth, but rather between different development models. Between cities that want an unsustainable or sustainable growth, one which only thinks of the present and one that ensures present-day well-being and progress as well as that of future generations.

Others prefer to stay anchored to the 20th century. I want to lead the 21st century.

I want to stress this: we have to judge projects according to results, not prejudice. And Project Barcelona is working. And what is good for Barcelona, is good for the Cercle d’Economia, and is good for everyone.