A lie repeated a thousand times can become a truth. In the world of politics, and probably in other areas as well, it ends up being more important what one thinks is happening than what is actually happening. It is characteristic of the opposition to repeat time and time again that everything is going wrong and that the solution can only come from the hand of a change that will finally end all our problems. And if this already happens regularly, we see it even more when we are two weeks away from an election.
The campaign for the elections to the Parliament of Catalonia, set for May 12, began last night. Now, as in the famous detergent ad, everyone will tell us that their product washes whiter and is much better than the competition. While President Pere Aragonès, head of the ERC list, will try to defend his achievements at the head of the Generalitat, we will have Salvador Illa, the socialist candidate, who will present us with a scenario in which everything is going wrong and will try to convince us that it is time to turn the page and start a new stage, although he does not clarify very well what he will do new or different. And Carles Puigdemont will promise us that, yes, now things are in earnest and the time has come to finish, thanks to his leadership, what he left unfinished in 2017.
It's politics, it's an election campaign and it's understandable that everyone simplifies the message to reach as many people as possible in a short time. But, with the data in hand, it can be seen that perception goes on one side and reality on the other. In view of the macroeconomic figures, if we were to leave the analysis of reality to a skeptical and dispassionate observer, he could hardly conclude that things have gone badly in Catalonia in recent years. And perhaps I could say the same in the case of Spain if compared to the euro zone as a whole. Let's see some data.
The Catalan legislature that is ending began three years ago in the midst of the pandemic, still managing the last waves of the virus and trying to shore up many sectors that had been devastated by the effect of months of confinement. This deficit was overcome and, since then, the Catalan economy has grown more than the Spanish one, and much more than the European one. The latest data available from the Department of the Economy indicate that the GDP of Catalonia had a year-on-year increase of 2.8%, that of Spain by 2% and that of the euro zone by only 0.1% at the end of 2023. And according to these figures, it is explained, for example, that unemployment in Catalonia has fallen to historic lows, reaching 8.97% in the last quarter of the year, three points below the average Spanish, which was 11.8%, and almost a point less than the imagined Madrid miracle embodied by President Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
It's the same with exports. In 2023, Catalonia added up to 26.2% of sales outside of the entire State, while Madrid remained in half, with 13.4%. Catalonia is also ahead in foreign investment, according to Economia. In the last four recorded years (2018-2022), 20,312 million have been invested here and 14,101 in Madrid, with some recent examples that shine in particular. The investment by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to install its research center in Barcelona, which will employ more than 2,500 people, or the arrival of the multinational Chery, which will occupy the factory that Nissan closed at the end of 2021 and which will save a large part of the workforce and maintain industrial activity, are two remarkable management successes that do not happen by chance, but because of the constant and discreet work carried out.
Catalonia is not the land of wonders. There are also problems and challenges that require urgent attention. The Catalonia of eight million is the reflection of booming economic activity; on the other hand, it must make enormous efforts to respond to immediate needs such as guaranteeing the quality of public services, improving education, security or housing. It can only do well with fair funding.
We live in a time when the idea of the middle class is in shambles. It is no longer so clear, in Europe as a whole, that the younger generations can live better than their parents or grandparents, and this generates great latent concern and restlessness. Perhaps this is why, despite having favorable economic indicators, when we think about the future we see more shadows than lights. The fear of what may come makes feelings count more than evidence.
