Consistent with the support that it has always expressed in all the initiatives that help the economic and social development of the country, Ciment Català has signed the adherence to the manifesto Yes to the airport expansion agreement with which more than 200 entities claim the expansion of this infrastructure. The entities and economic agents most representative of the economic activity and the productive fabric of Catalonia require a major institutional pact between local and national public administrations, and with the complicity of the authorities of the European Union, to approve the expansion in some environmentally sound conditions. The staging of this initiative took place on June 2 in a public and protest event at the ESADE business school.
During the event, the need to expand the aerodrome became clear, but since Brussels will have the last word because it affects protected areas of the Llobregat delta, the manifesto calls for an agreement between Aena, the Generalitat, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and the city councils of Barcelona, El Prat, Gavà, Viladecans, Sant Boi and other affected councils “to send the European institutions a clear and forceful message of consensus in relation to the public interest that justifies the expansion, and the environmental compensation measures that must be adopt to facilitate its execution”.
The manifesto makes clear three arguments in favour of enlargement. On the one hand, the fact that the infrastructure is reaching its maximum capacity. In 2019 -before the pandemic- it reached 53 million passengers, when its maximum capacity is 55 million. A second key argument is its contribution to the economy, because the airport contributes 7% to the wealth of Catalonia and with the enlargement it would reach a contribution of 9% to GDP. The third key argument is that, with the historical infrastructure deficit that Catalan civil society has repeatedly denounced, an investment of about 1,700 million euros cannot now be waived.
Among those adhered to the manifesto are the employers’ associations Fomento del Trabajo and Pimec, the Círculo de Economía, the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, the RACC, Barcelona Tech City, Barcelona Global, the Mobile World Capital and all kinds of Catalan business and social organizations.