The Circle of Economy calls for state pacts to “safeguard the social peace“In a context of exhaustion after the 2008 crisis and the pandemic Y social discontent who pay the “populisms and political polarization”. On the eve of its annual meeting from May 4 to 6 in Barcelona, the entity in an opinion note entitled “A united and better Europe to reinforce democracy” and in a scenario with a war in the old continent “as in the worst moments of the 20th century”; calls for “unity in defense of europe“.
“Unity of institutions, parties and social agents”, demands the Cercle as a way to defend liberal democracy. “In Catalonia and throughout Spain”, as well as in Europe, adds the note. “Our society is exhausted by everything it has experienced up to now. Social peace hangs by a thread and ailments are numerous and complex. For this reason, the unit must be exemplary and a boost of confidence that gives us back the ability to believe in ourselves by unwaveringly defending what we want to continue to be: european democratss”, states the note presented by the entity’s president, Javier Faus; and the member of the board of directors, José María Lassalle, who has warned that “Europe is in danger” as a result of the war started by Russia in Ukraine.
annual appointment
The entity, which next week will receive the President of the Government at its annual meeting, Pedro Sanchezas well as a large representation of the central Executive, the new leader of the PP, Alberto Nunez Feijoo; and the ‘president’ and the ‘conseller’ of Economy, Pere Aragones Y James Giroamong others, stresses that “the invasion of Ukraine is the most difficult test we have had to face since the Second World War. Without a doubt, but it is also a decisive opportunity to definitively deepen the materialization of the pro-European project”.
The Cercle demands that European unity not crack in the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that the sanctions on the regime of Vladimir Putiny highlights as positive the US “historic commitment” to freedom in the old continent. That, he adds, “must not only strengthen the transatlantic link, but also resume the strategic understanding with the United Kingdom and promote political, economic and military collaboration with the rest of the liberal democracies in the
world”.
The entity chaired by Javier Faus values European unity during the pandemic, with vaccines and ‘Next Generation’ funds. Europe, states the opinion note, “has risen to the occasion and has shown that it could fight the virus and its social and economic consequences with civic responsibility, solidarity and cooperation at all levels.”
In turn, he advocates cooperation and solidarity with Ukraine. The Cercle “supports without objection the European Union in its support for a sister country and a sister democracy such as Ukraine.” In this sense, he defends penalizing Russia and adopting initiatives that give “internal stability” to Spain. For this it is necessary to generalize “a series of State pacts that affect the energy, income, fiscal and labor policy and the welfare state, as well as security and defense“.
PSOE and PP rapprochement
Faus has recognized that reformism and the Estadp pacts have disappeared in Spain in recent years and has expressed hope that the situation will improve with a rapprochement between the PSOE and the PP.
They recall that Spanish society “is seriously stressed by currents of discomfort and tension that explain the advance of populism and political polarization. Something that must be directly related to the erosion of its well-being and security due not only to the pandemic, but also because of the numerous crises that Catalan and Spanish society has endured since 2008”.
Provide security
The entity calls for efforts to “give security to a Europe that is in danger.” And it advocates “the consensus that underlies the values that the European project embodies and that define a general interest that must inspire each and every one of the responses that will contain, the reforms, the pacts and State agreements that we need to be victorious and strengthened as a country after this geopolitical crisis”.
They applaud “the victory of the pro-European Emmanuel Macron before the specter of the nationalist retreat”. And they affirm that it is a hope “linked to the principle of subsidiarity defended in his day by President Pasqual Maragall, since, as he maintained: what is good for Catalonia is good for Spain, and what is good for Spain is good for Europe”.
Spain, they add, thanks to its geographical position and its pro-European adherence, can and should be a relevant actor in the future evolution of the pro-European paradigm. And it must claim not only an Atlantic and Mediterranean anchorage within the realignment that geopolitical pressure in eastern and central Europe poses for the future, but also take advantage of its projection in Africa, Latin America and the Arab world. “It will not be easy, but an effort of imagination and reinvention of Spain’s geopolitical capacities is necessary because our future as a country and as a society is at stake,” the note highlights.
Moncloa Pacts
The Cercle recalls that politicians and social agents demonstrated during the Transitionwith the Moncloa Pacts “that we know how to do what the situation demands”. This is for the Cercle, they affirm, “the deepest and most authentic commitment, which it harbors in its founding heart as an entity of civil society. European commitment that is born from its original values and that we are aware that they must be updated so that they remain valid”. In the organization’s opinion, we must continue promoting a decarbonized economy and fight against the geopolitical crisis caused by the global rise of authoritarianism. The funds ‘Next Generation’, they point out, “must continue to be aimed at reducing the global carbon footprint”.
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“It is essential to combat the fear of war and appeal to the hope of peace. Whether the second wins will depend on us. Among other things, because, as the classics taught us, our destiny lies in the character of the human being. Today, when Putin’s invasion shows the cruelest face of a war that tries to subjugate all Europeans, at the Cercle d’Economia we are convinced that trust in the undying force of freedom remains the best guarantee that we will continue to find in her our destiny”, he concludes.
The entity will hold elections in July and, for the first time in its more than 60 years of history, there will be two candidates. One headed `by the former CEO of Banc Sabadell, James Guardiola; and another for the president of the Tanja Foundation and Trea Capital, Rosa Canadas.