From June 1 to 3, Barcelona will host the annual Cercle d’Economia forum, which this year will focus on the issue of Europe’s strategic autonomy. Organizers announced that the main theme will be the risks and challenges linked to the EU’s dependence on external players in the areas of defense, technology, energy, and healthcare. The event will be held at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya and will bring together leading figures from business and politics.
The central question will be whether the EU can reduce its dependence on the US, China, and Russia, or if strategic autonomy will remain an unattainable goal. According to the president of Cercle d’Economia, Teresa Garcia-Milà, it is companies that invest in and develop innovation that can play a key role in this process, not only national governments and institutions in Brussels.
Key participants and topics
Invited to the forum are Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Catalonia’s leader Salvador Illa, opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, as well as the heads of the Basque Country and Galicia — Imanol Pradales and Alfonso Rueda. International guests include professor at Peking University and member of the Chinese Communist Party’s advisory body Jia Qingguo, former Indian ambassador to France and Bahrain Mohan Kumar Motwani, and U.S. representatives: former ambassador to Spain Julissa Reynoso and journalist Christopher Caldwell. They will discuss geopolitical challenges and the impact of external conflicts on the European economy.
A special focus of the program will be the discussion of the reform of the autonomous communities’ financing model, which Cercle d’Economia insists must be revised. This issue remains a pressing one for Spain’s regions and has a direct impact on the allocation of budgetary funds. Attention to the topic is growing in the wake of recent elections in Andalusia, the outcome of which may affect the country’s political balance.
Business and innovation
Among the invited guests are top executives from leading companies: Juvencio Maeztu (IKEA), Tomás Muniesa (CaixaBank), Markus Haupt (SEAT and Cupra), Marc Murtra (Telefónica), Antoni Brufau (Repsol), Laura Colón (AstraZeneca), as well as representatives of tech startups such as Audrey Herblin-Stoop from Mistral AI and Antoine Bordes (Helsing). The organizers emphasize that it is business that can accelerate Europe’s move towards greater independence in strategic sectors.
In recent years, the issue of EU autonomy has become especially relevant against the backdrop of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and escalating conflicts in the Middle East. As forum participants note, these events have exposed the vulnerability of European supply chains and the need to rethink economic strategies. Analysis from russpain.com indicates that issues of energy security and compensation for investments in renewable energy have already led to high-profile legal disputes, such as the seizure of the Instituto Cervantes building in the Netherlands (details on the conflict surrounding Spanish property).
Award and final highlights
As part of the forum, Cercle d’Economia will present an award for contributions to European integration. This year’s laureate is the chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, Martin Wolf. The award ceremony will be conducted by King Felipe VI, underscoring the event’s significance for Spain’s business and political elite.
