Pedro Sánchez insisted this Saturday on the need to reactivate tourism . As summer approaches, with the vaccination rate skyrocketing in recent weeks, the Government has great hopes for the season. The opening messages are multiplying.

On Friday, the Chief Executive announced the new criteria for travelers to reach Spain . This Saturday, during an event in Moncloa on the rural world and the demographic challenge, he addressed the “tourists” directly: “We invite you to enjoy our wide range, but especially the wide rural offer. It is one of the jewels in our crown ”.

As of June 7, as Sánchez announced the day before in Fitur, travelers who have received the complete vaccination schedule, from any country in the world, will be able to visit Spain. And from next Monday, May 24, there will be no type of health control for visitors coming from the ten non-EU countries considered safe : United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea, Japan , China and Rwanda.

“In no time, a month, summer begins. We have a solid network of accommodation for those who travel. Since Monday, Spain continues to open its economy and will be delighted to welcome all tourists who come to our country, ”said Sánchez during the event, accompanied by the fourth vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, and various mayors and entrepreneurs from rural Spain.

The president recalled that 10,000 million (10% of the money from the EU Recovery Plan) will be allocated over the next few years to “enhance” the field. This is where the so-called Plan of 130 measures against the Demographic Challenge takes place, which has, Sánchez said, two fundamental objectives : to guarantee equal rights in the provision of services and to reduce social gaps as much as possible, and to create opportunities.

An anomaly in Europe
The situation of the rural world in Spain is an anomaly within the European environment. The country has a much smaller percentage of its populated area than France and Germany. 42% of municipalities are at risk of depopulation, compared to 10% of the EU average. “It is a harsh and sad reality,” Sánchez has admitted.

In 2020, Spain’s CO2 emissions fell by 18% year-on-year . The cause of this fall was, obviously, covid-19 and the multiple restrictions on economic, social and mobility activity that were implemented to appease the pandemic. The reduction of greenhouse gases was one of the few positive notes left last year and meant that Spain returned to records prior to 1990 in terms of pollution.

Are we facing a temporary event or is it a trend that will continue? It is quite evident that the collapse in emissions would not have occurred without the outbreak of the coronavirus . However, it does seem that the pandemic has had a certain effect in raising awareness about the importance of caring for the environment.

Citizens, large corporations, Administration, SMEs and the self-employed… They all play an important role in the fight against climate change. And to encourage and recognize the work in this area carried out by the last two mentioned actors, BBVA and the Fundació Antigues Caixes Catalanes launched in 2019 the BBVA Award for Environmental Innovation for SMEs and the Self-Employed , of which the Awards ceremony for the second edition at the Sant Pau Modernist Campus in collaboration with EL PERIÓDICO .

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“We understand sustainability as a matter of urgency. The next 10 years will be vital to carry out the profound transformation that the planet needs ”, said Toni Ballabriga , global business director responsible for BBVA .

“As a financial entity,” continued Ballabriga, “we have the duty to accompany companies and society as a whole to achieve the transition towards sustainability, both by providing financial solutions and advice, and by getting involved in collective challenges.”

For his part, Jaume Ribera , president of the Fundació Antigues Caixes Catalanes , highlighted that this award is about “encouraging companies to bet on innovation and sustainability”. “We must become aware of the importance of taking action now in all the activities we carry out in our day to day,” Ribera said.

The Administration was also represented at the event, in this case through the acting ‘Minister’ of Territori and Sustainability, Damià Calvet . “To combat the climate emergency, we must develop mainly in three aspects: the circular economy, sustainable mobility and the energy transition. We all have to be determined to achieve them and from the Administration we must create the conditions so that it is possible ”.

The ‘minister’ also pointed out that to overcome this challenge “an alliance between the private sector and the institutions” is necessary and stressed that the BBVA Award for Environmental Innovation for SMEs and Self-Employed is “a good example of this alliance.”

Four finalists and two winners

After the parliaments, the awards ceremony proceeded. In total, 36 projects were presented by SMEs and freelancers based in Catalonia that have developed a sustainable project or process from which two winners were chosen. Shotl , a start-up that has developed a solution for transport operators and municipalities to make better use of their bus fleets by implementing an on-demand service, and Oimo , an eco-design firm that develops new types of biodegradable packaging sustainable, were the two finalists who failed to win the award.

The second prize was awarded to the Cargobici company , which will receive an endowment of 5,000 euros, for being a company that offers logistics solutions to face the last mile in a more ecological way. The firm is the exclusive distributor and technical service for XYZ CARGO cargo bikes in Spain and Portugal and is also involved in urban distribution projects for composting goods that allow waste to be converted into a resource.

In this case, the jury valued its status as a “sustainable and replicable initiative, which offers logistics solutions and encourages local trade and sustainable mobility of goods in small and large cities, reducing emissions and adding value to current times”.

Finally, the winner of the first prize, endowed with 10,000, was announced. The winner was The Predective Company (TPC), of which the jury highlighted “its especially innovative project, with clear environmental benefits that allow reducing C02 and supplying energy and economic savings for users, replicable in all types of commercial buildings and born of university research “.

Alonzo Romero, CEO of TPC, was commissioned to go on stage to receive the award from Toni Ballabriga and deliver a brief speech. “The economic part is always very important for a start-up, but what we appreciate the most is the symbolic value it has. It helps us not to feel alone and to know that there are people who support us ”, proclaimed the entrepreneur.

Spain and France have again asked this Friday in the framework of the Eurogroup meeting for “agility” in the approval of recovery plans and that the disbursement of the first funds take place before the end of July .

Both the economic vice president of the Government, Nadia Calviño , and her French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire , consider that this is the main short-term priority for the euro zone: to approve the national plans and that the Twenty-seven ratify the own resources decision that it will allow the European Commission to borrow on the markets.

“This has to be our priority and what we all have to do is row in that direction,” Calviño reminded the rest of his colleagues, who has also downplayed the letter sent by the European Commission to Spain asking for technical clarifications on the Spanish plan because “it is probably the one that needs the least additional clarification for its completion”.

This is the first physical meeting held by the EU finance and economy ministers since the informal meeting held in Berlin in September last year.

A sign “of change” , according to the minister, which confirms the entry into a new phase of recovery in which Spain will be one of the countries with the most intense growth forecast and “one of the growth engines of the euro zone starting this year ”.

His balance is that “the correct measures” have been taken to protect the productive fabric, guarantee financial stability and employment and that thanks to the battery of coordinated measures adopted at the European level, Spain can recover the levels of pre-pandemic growth “in less than three years ”compared to the more than 10 it took to get out of the financial crisis.

Support measures
Despite this positive message, the Eurogroup has once again sent a signal of caution on the withdrawal of measures to support the economy. “The recovery is taking hold but the challenges remain great and the risk of damage from the pandemic in our societies remains very real, so much remains to be done,” summarized its president, Paschal Donohoe .

“We have to be very careful not to withdraw support from our workers and companies too quickly. It will be essential to carefully allocate the transition towards more selective support measures ”, added the Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Paolo Gentiloni , who will present a proposal on the fiscal guidelines for 2022 on June 2.

The meeting in Lisbon was also attended by the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde , who has warned that measures to support the economy will continue to be necessary in the coming months due to the many uncertainties that still surround a recovery that is taking place. he sees “uncertain” and that it will be “uneven” between countries and sectors.

In this sense, it has considered it “premature and unnecessary” to start discussing the possibility of reducing the emergency purchasing program (PEPP) launched by the pandemic and which will continue until March 2022.

“We believe that, given the uncertainty we face and the divergences that we will see, coordinated policies will continue to be necessary in the coming months to ensure that the recovery is on track,” he explained. Lagarde also pointed out that the increase in the Inflation that is occurring in 2021 is temporary in nature and that in 2022 the level will fall again to lower levels.