The King warned this afternoon in Barcelona that “the European project is going through a transcendental moment” after the Brexit, covid or the war in Ukraine crises. He said so after presenting the Cercle d’Economia “European Construction Award 2023” to the mayor of Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski.
Felipe VI has highlighted that “the management carried out” in the face of the latest challenges “has resulted in a strengthening of the European institutions”. And in parallel it has generated an increase in “the confidence of European citizens”.
In his speech, the monarch made reference to the Opinion Note of the Cercle in which the relative impoverishment of Spain and Catalonia with respect to Europe in terms of GDP per capita was denounced. “We live, in effect, in these times of transition, of periodic, overlapping, or multifaceted crises, and for this reason it is necessary to look up and try to have a long-term vision,” he pointed out. In his opinion, there are opportunities before these challenges that “only through collaboration will we be able to take advantage of them.”
The King has recognized that Warsaw “in the last year and three months has played a key role, of great generosity, in welcoming refugees from Ukraine and in the logistical management of aid from many countries, channeled into that country that is a victim of brutal aggression and destruction at the hands of Russia.” The monarch recalled that “this is, without a doubt, one of the biggest humanitarian crises that Europe has suffered in recent years and Polish cities, led by Warsaw, have performed and still do an exemplary job when it comes to give shelter to millions of Ukrainians fleeing the horror of war”.
Before these words, the former president of the Cercle and current president of the CES, Anton Costas, has made a gloss of the three former presidents of the entity who have died in recent months: Josep Piqué, Vicenç Oller and Enric Corominas.
After collecting the award, the Mayor of Warsaw thanked the award and recalled that what is happening in Ukraine is more than a war. A resilience test is being carried out on the whole of the European Union, he reflected. “We need more Europe, not less”, he claimed after receiving the award.
