The director of Veolia Spain, Daniel Tugues, has raised the possibility that Europe, without abandoning its values, could take a pause in "aspirational" regulation and bet more firmly on integrating companies into decision-making.
He stated this on Tuesday at the 41st Cercle d'Economia Meeting, which is being held from Monday to Wednesday at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, in a round table alongside the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, and the president of KPMG Spain, Juanjo Cano.
Tugues argued that the involvement of the business community is key because it is what will "generate this dynamism and this creation of wealth," and he stressed that more operational and realistic regulations are needed to favor what companies require.
Energy transition and industrial base
When asked whether the energy transition can coexist with a competitive industrial base in Spain, Tugues affirmed that "radically yes" and emphasized that it is not only compatible but also desirable and even essential for the country.
He pointed out that, when talking about energy transition, it is often associated almost exclusively with decarbonization, but he recalled that it encompasses many other areas, such as the efficient management of a hospital's real estate assets: "There is a long way to go and we still have room."
In this regard, he detailed that around 80% of buildings in Spain lack energy efficiency: "At the rate we are making them efficient, it will take us 600 years."
Competitiveness and resilience
Tugues warned that competitiveness cannot be measured solely by price: "We have climate change, we have geopolitical impacts, and competitiveness also incorporates other aspects, such as security and resilience."
As he explained, "providing these layers of resilience, security, and autonomy has a value that gives you competitiveness beyond price," highlighting the need to reinforce these elements as part of the European economic strategy.