The Círculo Ecuestre organized a breakfast colloquium this Wednesday alongside the Georgetown Club of Spain to debate the role of the city of Barcelona in the era of globalization. The event featured the presence of the Deputy Mayor of Barcelona City Council, María Eugènia Gay, and Nina Khalatyan, president of World in Progress (WIP) –the global thought community promoted by PRISA–. The session was presented by Martín Navaz, member of the board of Círculo Ecuestre, and the president of Georgetown Club of Spain, the alumni club of the American university, Rubén López.
During the conversation, Gay and Khalatyan primarily addressed how the City Council aims and works for Barcelona to be “a benchmark for international progress.” Furthermore, Gay highlighted on various occasions that the world will not advance if not through dialogue among all actors, especially between cities. In turn, the Deputy Mayor pointed to access to housing, the fight against climate change, digital transformation, and the pursuit of peace as the keys to the city's progress.
Regarding housing, Gay lamented the poor public stock currently available, although she recalled that the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, has made it one of the priorities of the current mandate, with a total investment of 240 million euros. She also underlined that another measure to increase supply in the city is the revocation of licenses for tourist apartments, which will bring 10,000 more units to the market.
As for climate change, the councilor explained that the city council plans to invest 1.800 billion euros to turn the city into a reference for sustainability through policies such as the expansion of bike lanes, pedestrianizations, or the use of rainwater, as outlined in the Climate Plan. At the same time, she added that thanks to the collection of the tourist tax, more than 100 million euros have been invested to provide air conditioning for the city's schools.
One of the highlights of the dialogue was the defense of human rights and especially the achievement of world peace. Likewise, Gay defended that cities “must set ourselves up as defenders of human rights and be able to say enough.”
Therefore, the councilor insisted on rediscovering the path of dialogue and the culture of peace, recalling that in many stages of recent history, different political leaders have been able to reach great agreements, such as the Spanish Constitution or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this line, she frontally rejected investments in weaponry and advocated for “investing in peace, coexistence, and social cohesion to fight against inequalities.” In addition, she highlighted that the City Council has promoted the Barcelona International Peace Prize, endowed with 300,000 euros, which has become “the second most endowed in the world after the Nobel Prize.”