The entity Barcelona Comerç presented this Thursday the project for the European Capital of Proximity Commerce and Barcelona's candidacy to become the first city to host it in 2023. A proposal that has been officially submitted to the European Parliament through Vitrines d'Europe, the European Association of Proximity Retailers.
The initiative proposes that annually a different city host a program of informative, outreach, and training actions and activities aimed at citizens and merchants with the objective of highlighting the value of proximity commerce. It also argues that it will contribute to the collective awareness of the importance of local commerce in the economic and social sphere of cities.
Chaired by Salva Vendrell, Barcelona Comerç argues that the Catalan capital has the attributes and the strength to be the first major capital to host this capital status next year and that the idea must be carried out as a city, country, and state project, a true common European cause.
The representatives of the 23 commercial axes grouped in Barcelona Comerç consider that the city deserves to be the pioneer of the initiative because it has a commerce that contributes to the identity of the city. They argue that commerce becomes a space for relationship for citizens, that it facilitates social cohesion among the residents of the territory and that it preserves the economic richness and diversity of the city's neighborhoods.
In this sense, the designation of the capital status aims to be a tool for cities and for the sector to preserve European identity, in terms of the way of life, the way of buying, consuming, and being of our cities.
Barcelona Comerç argues that the city deserves to be the pioneer of the initiative because it has a commerce that contributes to the identity of the cityAmong its arguments are also references to the current context: "in the economic and social recovery required at this time, an impulse to the proximity economy is necessary, closely linked to neighborhoods and municipalities and to the values of social cohesion that local commerce supports."
"We want to move away from commercial desertification, weaken the negative impacts of e-commerce from large platforms and also defend consumer rights, with more and better information," explained the president of Barcelona Comerç, Salva Vendrell, when he announced the idea this Thursday to institutional representatives, civil society and entities. The initiative is supported by the Generalitat, the Spanish Government, the Barcelona City Council and all political groups in the European Parliament.
Among the priority lines of action for each city that annually assumes the Capital of Proximity Commerce: guarantee and preserve the identity of European cities; consolidate local commerce as the basis of European commerce; achieve recognition for European proximity commerce as a facilitator of open strategic autonomy; implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); digitize constructively and not destructively; strengthen the commitment to the Consumer Rights of Europeans; and extend the reference of proximity commerce to the whole of Europe and beyond the EU.
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