The Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, has advocated for accelerating the construction of a pan-European policy with greater community weight and has stressed that Spain is willing to transfer part of its sovereignty to the European sphere to achieve it.
The minister spoke this 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 president of KPMG Spain, Juanjo Cano, and the director of Veolia Spain, Daniel Tugues.
Hereu explained that he has already conveyed this vision to the Vice-President of the European Commission, Stéphane Séjourné, "several times," and has indicated that he would like to evolve from national PERTEs to large European PERTEs, considering that this is what the European Union needs.
To move forward in this direction, he has argued that it is essential to open a "great European debate" that allows defining the future model of the EU, in which, in his opinion, all 'Europes' must be activated: that of energy, that of capital, that of talent, and that of innovation. "It is not just an economic debate, it is a political debate about what Europe we want to build," he said.
Likewise, he has focused on the importance of having more and better instruments at the European level to fully develop the internal market and avoid "a Europe of many speeds," along with a more ambitious community budget, of at least 2% of GDP, which will allow promoting the necessary policies.
STRATEGIC AUTONOMY
In relation to possible European strategic autonomy, Hereu has indicated that the continent must preserve its productive capacities and that companies must be competitive, warning that they cannot be maintained indefinitely through artificial subsidies.
He has defended, however, that this strategic autonomy must be defined in an open and cooperative manner, and has emphasized that, although it is essential to strengthen productive capacity in Europe, it is not viable for all value chains to be located entirely on the continent.
INDUSTRIAL LAW
Hereu has also called for "collective intelligence," including the political sphere, to move forward with the Industrial Law that, he assured, 21st-century Spain needs, and which incorporates notions such as the culture of agreement, open strategic autonomy, competitiveness, productivity, talent, strategic reserves, or industrial strategy.
He insisted that this norm, currently blocked in Congress awaiting the completion of its processing, should not be conceived as a law of the Government, but as "the law of an entire country, so that it lasts for many mandates".