Catalunya wants to get involved in solving challenges such as housing, the fight against inequality and climate change, with a "leadership ambition" that goes beyond its territory and expands at a state level, according to the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa. And that is because Catalunya "wants to be in the engine room of Spain", following a model of shared prosperity, according to him: "We all win."
In a conference in Madrid where he presented his economic plan for Catalunya, he called not to fear this role as an engine that it wants to exercise, a request he addressed especially to the Community of Madrid: "Do not be afraid of Catalunya. I assure you that Catalunya is not afraid of Madrid."
Before some 300 representatives of companies, institutions and the social sphere at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, he championed his plan to invest 18,500 million euros in five years for Catalunya to once again lead the Spanish economy. These 18,500 million ---with 13,700 in direct investment from the Generalitat and 4,800 through credits--- will be allocated to 20 actions linked to strategic areas, ranging from infrastructure to productive modernization, including equal opportunities and knowledge and innovation.
In an event with representatives of large companies, Illa celebrated the return of company headquarters to Catalunya, such as Sabadell, Fundació La Caixa, CriteriaCaixa and Cementos Molins, and expressed confidence that in the coming months there will be more returns of companies that moved in the framework of 1-O. He said this before executives of companies such as the president of BBVA, Carlos Torres; the president of Repsol, Antonio Brufau; the president of Enagás, Antoni Llardén, and the president of Aena, Maurici Lucena, at an event with ministers, councilors and the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni.
"Catalunya is a guarantee of institutional loyalty and cooperation; it promotes the constructive and respectful politics that we need to recover, and offers public-private collaboration so that companies and cutting-edge projects find the best environment to develop," defended the president, who highlighted that Catalan GDP has exceeded 300,000 million euros for the first time. And that is because Catalunya "is vibrating again business-wise and socially": "It exhales ambition and energy."
And this ambition and energy are complemented by a commitment to Europe's foundational values, according to Illa. For this reason, Catalonia "will stand by" the EU, also in a complex international context marked by the role of the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump. Thus, its model of shared prosperity is based on "ambition and openness to Spain and Europe," and on a will to transform that Catalonia wants to lead.