Jaume Guardiola, new president of the Cercle d'Economia after the elections last July, highlights his concern about the political situation in Catalonia. "Catalonia is still very entangled in the national axis and opportunities are being lost," he underlines. CEO of Banc Sabadell (2007-2020) and previously senior manager of BBVA, Guardiola considers a dialogue table between the Catalan parties "essential" and offers the Cercle to help.
How do you see the Catalan political moment?
In the Cercle we have not had the opportunity to make a collective assessment, but I think we share the same concern. Catalonia is still very entangled with what we call the national axis, which ends up conditioning all political decisions. And meanwhile, life goes on and opportunities are lost. And I give an example, which are renewables. We've been ten years without doing a single project. We have gone from being a pioneering community in this aspect to being the last in the State. There is talk of whether there is decline, decadence, and with the numbers of the total GDP and in relation to Spain it is not seen, only a little in the Madrid-Catalunya battle. But the risk is that all this inaction in recent years ends up translating in the medium term into a loss of competitiveness. And I think that such a clear line between constitutionalist and pro-sovereignty Catalans is actually much more blurred. On the constitutionalist side, many are aware that Catalonia needs to change its status quo, that the financing model is not adequate, that there is an infrastructure deficit and that the distribution of power is not correct. And on the sovereignist side, many think that we have to get to work and not be all day focused on the national axis.
The feeling is that the Cercle was very comfortable with the converging governments. Now it would seem that he has no political representation. Do you agree?
Yes, it does, we are in permanent interaction with political representatives. Yes, there was a moment, the most stressful of the procés, in which the dialogue was lost. I experienced it as a representative of Banc Sabadell. Since we have entered this phase of normalization, if it can be said in this way, the Cercle has held productive meetings with many people from the Government. We were comfortable with the Government of Pujol, Maragall, Montilla and we are now. I am much more concerned about the feeling of being stuck in a loop from which we do not know how to get out.
Do you think that the procés can be considered finished?
A transversal movement was achieved between two parties that defended a position and now it has been shown that it is chemically impossible for them to govern together. Therefore, the procés as it had been conceived is over. In any case, it has reached another phase.
What would be the proposal of the Cercle to overcome this inaction that it denounces?
The day I was elected president, I quoted Vicens Vives when he said that there are moments of recomposition in the country. And this is one. I do not deny that a negotiating table between the Government and the Government is necessary. But a negotiation table between the Catalan parties seems to me much more essential, and the Cercle will do everything possible with this vocation. We can not lose more time.
Reviewing the historical leitmotifs of the Cercle, economic liberalization, European integration and inclusive economic development...
And democracy! In the 21st century we have to defend the model of liberal democracy because it is once again in danger and very close to us: we see Sweden, we see Italy, the United States...
Would you add any other leitmotif linked to the Catalan reality?
Catalonia and the territorial model have been very present in the life of the Cercle. Now we find ourselves with paradoxes, such as the concept of turning the page and not seeming autonomous has meant that we no longer claim the imbalances in financing and infrastructure. Or they are claimed by civil society from time to time, but there is no collective action, although the problem remains exactly the same as when the procés began. The Cercle believes that the financing model as it is designed does not work, that the situation is already affecting the well-being of Catalans, and we want to demand a different State model. It will cost a lot. The tradition of enlightened Catalonia that tried to move Spain is today just a fiction with very little chance of success because Spain is already very well done. It is a democratic country, which works well and competes, which has highly educated, international people.
Has Catalonia lost its ability to influence Spanish politics?
Yes, and that has to be recovered. Civil society and its institutions have to find a way to do it. And the Cercle has to make an effort to explain in Madrid.
What are the strengths of the Catalan business fabric today?
It is very resistant, despite all these structural difficulties and the little support from the governments, regional, central and also municipal. There is the appearance of the new economy, linked to the digital, but also to health sciences, the fact of having here a university ecosystem that competes internationally, research centers, technology parks, the supercomputer, the ALBA synchrotron... a whole accumulation of assets that leave us very well positioned. We have the attraction of Barcelona, which makes many people settle here. And then the geopolitical crisis leads us towards a European reindustrialization in which Catalonia is ahead of Spain as a whole.
And the weaknesses?
One of the dramas is the administrative bureaucracy, we are in the last places in the ranking for the days it takes to obtain permits of all kinds. In this aspect we had always been more agile than the whole of Spain, but today everything is going slower than ever. The Cecot denounced a few days ago what it costs to install photovoltaic panels on industrial roofs, for example. And secondly, the lack of strategy. Or rather that many strategic plans are made, but you look at them three years later and they haven't been made, because once again the national key has dominated the agenda.
Will it be possible to expand the airport?
I think so. The issue is whether we will be able to have the airport that the country needs and that necessarily involves generating intercontinental flights. And if we don't, we will lose the opportunity to have a country based on the knowledge economy and that aspires to have well-paid jobs. There are no 100% closed positions. There was no debate last year, in a somewhat accelerated process at the end. But let the experts draw us the way to do it.
In tax policy, the Government has finally solved the competition between communities by equalizing at the top. What do you think?
That of taxes has become a farce. It begins with Madrid, which has a privileged position and takes advantage of it to lower taxes. Andalusia points but being the community that receives more than the others. And on top of that he makes a direct appeal to the Catalans! What a different mental framework one must have in order not to see that this has a point of offense. Then the Galicians, Revilla, Valencia... And the Government finishes it off with a general tax. A farce. And with a central issue in the construction of a State such as taxes. On the other hand, I am against the wealth tax, because it entails a double burden and punishes the saver.
