The president of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Salvador Illa, has underlined that "horizontal coordination" between territories is an underdeveloped area in Spain, and has defended the need to intensify cooperation between autonomous communities.
He stated this on Tuesday at the session "Spain, Territory and Leadership: The Vision of the Autonomous Presidents," held at the 41st Cercle d'Economia Meeting at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, in Barcelona, where he shared the stage with the president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, and the lehendakari Imanol Pradales.
Illa proposed that the autonomous communities with common interests, "whether due to geographical proximity, economic model, or being part of historical communities," should intensify their joint work in a more transversal way than before.
Catalonia as an "accelerator" of the autonomous model
"Catalonia will be involved in this, at least, as long as I have the responsibility to lead it. It will be an accelerator of this model, a protector" against those who, as he pointed out, intend to regress and dismantle the current system of autonomous communities.
In this regard, he reiterated his commitment to protect and deepen the autonomous model, and to promote that "the diversity and plurality of Spain express all its richness through a model" that, in his opinion, has yielded good results over the last 50 years.
He added that, looking ahead to the next 20 years, he envisions a Spanish autonomous system integrated into a federal Europe "with sufficient resources to develop" its competencies, and with more intense "vertical coordination" with the central government through the conferences of presidents.
"Catalonia will not ask for permission to lead, it will make its respectful proposals thinking of the common good," he remarked, before concluding that it is possible to reconcile the objective of leaving no one behind with the need not to slow down development.