“Where there is a connected mobile device, there is hope, there is opportunity, there is help.” The King has summarized with that phrase the importance of technology and communications not only in economic development and companies, but also in offering opportunities in people’s lives to face crises such as the pandemic or the war in Ukraine.
The Mobile Word Congress (MWC), which opens this Monday, had a previous dinner this Sunday with the assistance of the King, the President of the Government, the President of the Generalitat, the Mayor of Barcelona and other authorities. After the restrictions due to the pandemic, normality has returned to the Mobile Word Congress (MWC) and, after the crisis of “procés” also to the institutional dinner prior to the inauguration of the hall.
After years in which the political tension between the central and regional governments ended up dotting the presence of the King, this Sunday, although both the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonés, and the mayoress of Barcelona, ??Ada Colau, have persisted in their attitude of not greeting the arrival of the Head of State, all of them have coincided in underlining with their presence the importance of an event that focuses on Barcelona, ??Catalonia and Spain as standard bearers of new technologies
The King has closed the turn of words with a speech delivered in English, except for a first sentence in Spanish and another in Catalan, Felipe VI has recalled his commitment to the MWC which, he said, identifies so well with Barcelona and that situates it at the forefront of innovation. “Mobile is also a vital creator of broader economic prospects and opportunities that benefit our country”
Sánchez, the only one who has delivered most of his speech in Spanish and the one who has made the least reference to the MWC, began his words along the same lines as the King, highlighting the importance of mobile connectivity for the thousands of refugees who They arrived in Spain after the outbreak of the war and the emotion produced by seeing them establish contact with the relatives they had left far away.
The president has reviewed all the aid programs that the Government of Spain has launched to alleviate the economic and energy crisis; as well as measures to increase job opportunities; scholarships for students, as well as advances in digital transformation. Sánchez also referred to public and private collaboration in sectors such as digital transformation.
Ada Colau has opened the turn of speakers, also in English, highlighting the hospitable character of Barcelona and its firm commitment to technology and the MWC. In Catalan, Colau has vindicated the value of cooperation between the institutions, not only in the event that opens this Monday, but in other initiatives that involve the complicity of the central and regional governments and, already in Spanish, has asked the President of the Government that measures be established for social cohesion and to avoid the flight of talents. At one point, Colau, who has recognized that it was not the right place, has launched a request to President Sánchez that the Government regulate rental prices.
The Aragonese president, who except for a first sentence in Catalan, also used English, has described a Catalonia that goes from its historical roots, of which the works exhibited at the MNAC are proof, to a nation that is committed to technology and connectivity with the future. “With the MWC, Barcelona and Catalonia are the capitals of the world”, said Aragonés, who offered the congressmen the hospitality of a Catalonia, proud of its legacy
The King has arrived at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) preceded by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, who, together with the Vice President Nadia Calviño, the Government delegate, María Eugenia Gay, the President of Telefonica, José María Álvarez-Pallete, and the director of Fira de Barcelona, ??Pau Relat, have received the King at the gates of the MNAC. Aragonés and Colau were already inside, who greeted Felipe VI along with other attendees, most of whom were representatives of the technology companies present at Mobile, at the pre-dinner cocktail.
At the presidential table, occupied by eighteen people, the King sat between the President of the Government and Mats Granryd, General Director of the GSMA, and opposite, President Pere Aragonés, between Vice President Calviño and the Chairman of the GSMA Board of Directors and Telefónica, which had the mayoress of Barcelona on the other side. Everyone, along with the rest of the guests, have tasted a menu made up of range salad and scallops with avocado; orange duck confit and caramel and apple mousse. On the tables white tablecloths and glass jugs with red tulips, the only note of color in a night marked by the majority male presence and few women, among whom was Begoña Gómez, wife of the President of the Government, who has occupied a table discreet and that, apparently, she has attended the dinner and intends to visit the salon on a private visit.
This dinner prior to the congress, organized by the world association of the mobile industry GSMA -the promoter of the MWC-, was established in the 2012 edition when Barcelona became Mobile World Capital, and for three years it was held at the Palacete Albéniz, residence official of the royal family on their visits to Barcelona.
In 2015, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the MWC in Barcelona and to increase the number of guests, the dinner was moved to the Palau de Pedralbes; in 2016 it took place at the Liceu and in 2017 and 2018, it was held at the Palau de la Música, until, for the 2019 edition, it was moved to the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC) where it has taken place in the last years. Felipe de Borbón was present as Prince of Asturias until the 2014 edition, and from 2015 to date he has presided over the evening as King,
In the years in which he presided over the dinner as Prince of Asturias, the current King coincided with the then president of the Generalitat Artur Más, without any kind of disagreement taking place. In 2016 it was the first time, after his proclamation, that Felipe VI shared a table with President Carles Puigdemont, whom he knew from his days when he attended the events organized by the Fundació Princesa de Girona as mayor of Girona. . Puigdemont, the then president of Parliament, Carme Forcadell and the already mayoress of Barcelona, ??Ada Colau, received the King at the gates of the Liceu. The Liceu was also the scene of the dinner in February 2017, repeating the reception scene, with Puigdemont and Colau, on the same sidewalk outside the Liceu, with the exception of Carme Forcadell who did not attend the evening.
At the 2018 Mobile inauguration dinner, four months after the events of October, which ended with the application of article 155 and the intervention of the Government in Catalonia, there was no regional presence and the mayoress Ada Colau, for the first time, he walked directly into the compound without standing in the line of salute to the King. Since then, both the successive presidents of the Generalitat, Quim Torra, in the 2019 edition, and Pere Aragonés, in the Barcelona City Council, avoid receiving the King, although you share, like this Sunday, the presidential table. During the government of Mariano Rajoy, it was Vice President Soraya Saéz de Santamaria who accompanied the King on his visit to Barcelona, ??until, as of the 2019 edition, except in 2020 when the MWC was cancelled, Felipe VI has been accompanied by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
