The Government has managed to agree on a new National Agreement for Industry (PNI) two years after the end of the previous agreement. The PNI – which has been signed by unions and employers – has an allocation of more than 3,200 million euros for 150 specific measures. The Minister of Business, Roger Torrent, explained yesterday from the Barcelona Free Trade Zone that they have been working since the new government was formed and that the talks with the unions and employers have lasted for a year.
One of the objectives of the program is to ensure that the weight of the industry grows from the current 20.3% to 25% by 2030. It is an objective that the Generalitat has already set in the 2017 Pact and that has been unable to comply. “Industry growth is becoming more difficult and complicated,” reflected Torrent, while recalling that last year its weight in the Catalan economy increased to 20.3%.
Along similar lines, the PNI contemplates productivity growing by 3% per year and increasing the degree of electrification to 42.4%. The general director of Industry, Natàlia Mas, explained that most of the projects foreseen in the previous PNI were achieved, although there are some that were not, such as the deployment of fiber optics.
The pact lists the main threats to the industry, among which relocations stand out. Regarding the escape from company headquarters from 2017, Natàlia Mas considered that it has not caused exits from production centers and that it is not currently a threat.
Of the total of 3,270.5 million until 2025, it is expected that at least 942.46 million will be executed this year. Of the global budget there are 453 million that depend on whether the obtaining of European funds that have not yet been confirmed materializes. The document is structured in five thematic areas: sustainability, energy and circular economy; digitization, industry 4.0, innovation and internationalization; quality employment, working conditions and training; infrastructure and industrial land; and financing and industrial dimension.
The pact was signed in the Dfactory building in the Free Zone by – in addition to councilor Torrent – ??the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès; the president of the Foment employers’ association, Josep Sánchez Llibre; that of Pimec, Antoni Cañete; the general secretary of CC.OO. Catalonia, Javier Pacheco; and that of UGT Catalunya, Camil Ros.
Aragonès pointed out the importance of industrial policy to transform the economy and establish the welfare state, and assured that “Catalonia will be industrial or it will not be”. The head of UGT stressed that this pact is an “oasis” in the midst of the lack of agreements in Catalonia.
