Green and Digital Europe Forum Frans Timmermans: "We will carefully analyze Spain's recovery plan"
Since the concept of 'sustainability' was forged more than 30 years ago in the
United Nations
Brundtland Report
, its incorporation and application today is much more than the central axis of the European Union's economic recovery strategy: it is the basis of the economic policy of the future. But what exactly does 'sustainability' mean? Oxford Languages defines it as "the characteristics of development that ensure the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations." And
Frans Timmermans
, Vice President of the European Commission,
agrees on that
, taking advantage of the
Green and Digital Europe Forum
organized yesterday by EL MUNDO to highlight Europe's inescapable commitment to achieve the climate goals for 2030: "It is our moral duty to the young generations."
The event was attended by different representatives from the economic field.
All of them agreed that the recovery of the economy after the impact of the coronavirus crisis must go through two axes: sustainability and digitization.
Iñigo Fernández de Mesa
, vice president of the CEOE, does not believe that this matter is only a matter of ethics and social conscience, but that "markets are increasingly taking into account sustainability issues, because sustainable companies are increasingly competitive ".
And Spain wants to be there. It wants to be the "hub of European electromobility", according to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Trade,
Reyes Maroto
. For Fernández de Mesa, Spain must bet on fiscal competitiveness that attracts talent, as well as "avoid big ups and downs and be predictable." In addition, in his opinion, sustainable financing (green bonds) and a good regulatory framework are crucial to achieve the objectives in these aspects.
While
digitization
has been a source of inspiration for filmmakers and novelists, today it is more than a philosophical discussion between dystopian screenwriters' coffees and cigars; It is the current objective of the highest political, administrative and business spheres worldwide and, in addition, it is one of the key tools to achieve a sustainable economy. However, in the opinion of
Javier Faus
, president of the
Cercle D'Economia
, "one cannot speak of productivity, digitization or sustainability by investing what we currently invest in R&D".
Faus points out that digitization and sustainability should be oriented towards the generation of jobs, and considers it "incongruous" to bring up these issues when there are several "structural flaws" in the operation of the country that must be corrected first. "With a government or with another, Spain is always the one that comes out the worst in crises for decades, "he said. The reasons were blamed on a very low productivity rooted in school failure; as well as problems of structuring where "the distribution of the benefits of this productivity end up causing yellow vests, Brexit or Trump". In addition, for Faus there is also an inefficiency of public administrations: "There is a governance problem, it is the first economic agent and we have not yet explained how we are going to digitize it",he snapped.
For his part,
Eduardo Prieto,
general director of
Visa
in Spain, found that the recovery funds from
Next Generation EU
illustrate a unique moment to promote the digitization that was already in process and that was accelerated by the pandemic. In this transition, in his opinion, digital payments must play a fundamental role to maximize this investment. "We are working on mobility and transport, on the digitization of SMEs, sustainable tourism and artificial intelligence," he said.
José Vicente de los Mozos,
president of the Spanish Association of Automobile and Truck Manufacturers (ANFAC), claimed to have a vision "aligned with that of the Government" in terms of mobility transition, but nevertheless called not to touch on the labor reform because the current regulation "works well". In addition, he alluded to the different regional regulations. "We have to have uniformity in the different regions," he assured and stressed the importance of the funds serving to promote the competitiveness of the entire value chain.
Each one from their field of competence agreed that digitization and sustainability
will from now on be the nucleus from which the seed of a new meaning of the word progress will sprout
. A progress that, according to those attending the forum, will define a future in which some of the key investment sectors will be mobility, tourism and health sciences -biotechnology and the pharmaceutical industry-.
The speakers took advantage of their turn to speak to emphasize the desire to establish a fluid and fruitful dialogue between the public and private sectors to ensure the success of a transition that guarantees the maximum use of these funds.
This importance was illustrated by Francisco Rosell, director of this newspaper with these words: "In politics you can make mistakes and mistakes, but they all have an amendment, what is never recovered, are lost opportunities."
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