Mataró is preparing to host the first meeting of the Mataró-Europe Values Forum, a joint initiative of the Valors Cultural Association and TecnoCampus, with the support of Pous Grup and Aliança Mataró. This event, which will take place next Monday, May 13 at seven in the afternoon, will bring together prominent speakers to discuss the current and future challenges of the European Union.
“Valors is an association and paper publication based in Mataró, and we believe that from the margins we must be able to generate thoughts and ideas about our immediate reality, the metropolitan and Catalan one, but also at the Spanish and European level,” explains Joan Salicrú, Director of Securities. “We believe that from the periphery of Barcelona, we can generate thought on the powerful issues of the moment. And the agenda of the moment is marked by Europe,” he adds. From this reflection arises the organization of this forum, whose main objective is to establish a permanent space for reflection on the major issues that affect Europe from the perspective of cities.
Regarding the alliance with TecnoCampus to carry out the initiative, Salicrú points out: “As we are from Mataró and we want to project ourselves abroad, when looking for a space for the forum we thought, what do we have in Mataró that does the same? “The TecnoCampus.”
For his part, the general director of TecnoCampus, Josep Lluís Checa, points out that "in a university and business environment like ours, promoting forums for debate and reflection on future trends is interesting for our entire community of companies, students and teachers. In Regarding the alliance with Valors, Checa highlights that “it is a collaboration that goes back a long way, and that fits perfectly with this desire to promote debate and reflection.”
The Mataró Europa Values forum wants, therefore, to reflect on the values that connect the city with Europe. It will consist of a round table moderated by journalist Carles Prats, and will feature the participation of three prominent experts.
On the one hand, the journalist Cristina Gallach, who has extensive international experience. She has held important positions in the European Union, the UN and NATO, such as Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations for Communication and Public Information and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in the Spanish government; The former mayor of Mataró and former Minister of Industry and Energy Joan Majó, an industrial engineer by training and founder of a pioneering company in the manufacture of computers in Spain, will also participate. Majó has had an outstanding participation in politics and technology at the European level.
Finally, Eduardo Javier Ruiz Vieytez, vice-rector of University Strategy at the University of Deusto, will speak. An expert in human rights and minorities, he has participated in missions of the Council of Europe and the OSCE in several European countries.
During the debate, topics will be addressed such as the validity of the founding values of the European Union, the crisis of the rule of law, the rise of the extreme right, among others.
In addition, the event will serve as a presentation of the latest issue of Valors magazine, entitled “On you going, Europe?”, which includes interviews with European philosophers and thinkers, as well as analysis by prominent personalities on the future challenges of the European Union.
