By chance, in the September 23 edition of this newspaper, two advertisements about cruises were inserted just before and after the chronicles by Joaquín Vera and Sílvia Fernández about the “migratory drama,” as the former correctly described it. They mentioned arrivals in boats of people who, in search of a better future, face the risk of a marine environment in which the rest of us seek pleasure.
I want to make it clear that I do not disparage this type of tourism and business practice. It only leads me to comment on the socioeconomic complexity of our world and that, in my opinion, civil society also has to keep in mind in its activities. Particularly, the chambers of commerce are private entities under public law, supervised by the Administration, with the main purpose of promoting economic activity. The set of activities that we develop is aimed at facilitating and promoting its correct development, essential when considering that to distribute wealth, it must first be generated; business activity is the main source. Thus, we act in many socioeconomic areas, together with other chambers, and also in collaboration with administrations and other entities with which we try – but we would have to do even more – to avoid duplications that our country cannot afford.
These days the new plenary sessions of the thirteen Catalan chambers are being constituted after completing the electoral process, which in most cases has not been necessary, as only one candidate was presented. The plenary is the highest governing body and elects the executive committee and the presidency from among its members. It will be later when the group of chambers will choose the government of the General Council of Cambres de Catalunya and its presidency. Without losing the direction that marks our characteristic, we have to act in the complex socioeconomic scenario and always providing solutions for the general and sustainable well-being of our society. We are aware that actions have to have a long-term perspective in many cases, overcoming the expiration of mandates, a circumstance that in our case is not, or does not have to be, an impediment.
Linking to the migration mentioned at the beginning, it must be made clear that several circumstances, the population pyramid among them, are causing a lack of labor in various sectors, mainly in specialists, putting the continuity of many companies at risk; Linking this situation with the recurring migratory flows with which we have to be sensitive, requires time and planned actions, periodically reviewed and linked to country actions such as the National Pact for Industry, to which the Chambers made many contributions.
But the perfection of these and other actions requires that our activity be protected by a legal framework, imperative for a few years, with the financing corresponding to the public actions that we already develop, among them those of advisory bodies and collaboration with the Administration on issues that directly affect the interests of commerce, industry, services or navigation.
The thirteen chambers have agreed on a text that foresees and adapts the different relative weights. I hope that, despite the logical review and evaluation, it will again be basically agreed upon by the new plenary sessions and thus it will be possible to move forward to request parliamentary processing.
