That Catalonia is the country of controversies is beyond all doubt. And this is healthy and appropriate in a mature society that likes to make its own decisions: from political to economic, including questions on infrastructures and the country's very model. The last of these has to do with the expansion of the Barcelona airport at El Prat, which the Catalan government and the Barcelona city council look upon with great skepticism due to its ecological impact while the entire corporate establishment, business schools and a wide range of bodies have come out clearly in favour of it.
The president of the Spanish airport operator AENA, Maurici Lucena, summed it up on Monday with statements that were provocative. "In Madrid there is not a single obstacle to expanding the Barajas airport, so we better not complain about it afterwards." Currently, Barcelona is the fifth most-used European airport behind Heathrow, Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Madrid Barajas, a position that should not be lost and even, if possible, improved. And this can be done while also improving the airports of Girona, Reus and Lleida, within the existing territorialized model of Catalonia.
Controversy is thus assured and, in the middle of it, the need to preserve the ecological balance and environment of the Llobregat Delta. It is obvious that things cannot be done as they used to be and that environmental preservation is more important today than ever. But it is the duty of those who govern to reach agreements if what is at stake is important for the economic future of the country. This point of view, the environmental one, is a legitimate posture of opposition; on the other hand, a very different stand is made by those who reject the move in order to promote a different airport model. According to the Barcelona chamber of commerce, whose management is currently in pro-independence hands, the airport is an economic motor that could contribute up to 9% of the GDP if expanded.
Catalonia has repeatedly demanded the transfer of ownership and management of the airport from the Spanish government, always without any positive results. And the government of the Generalitat has accepted that with displeasure but has not questioned it head-on since the drafting of the last Statute of Autonomy. Anyone who wants to do more than just make statements should incorporate it as a sine qua non condition within the negotiating table. Until that time arrives and while ownership still depends on Madrid, there are only two options: negotiate an expansion that takes into account environmental demands, which, as well, must be in line with the policies of the European Commission, or oppose the plan without any alternative and miss the opportunity.
I prefer the first option even at the expense of the end result not being a ten-nil victory. This I think should be the attitude of the new Catalan government recently formed and led by Pere Aragonès; awkward, certainly, but geared toward finding a solution. It will be more difficult to win over the city council as it has taken up a negative posture towards almost everything, even at the expense of the degradation of Barcelona. Thus, it has rejected the Hermitage Museum and is happy with having done so. The fact that more than 200 Catalan bodies of varied ideological backgrounds have signed a manifesto in favour of the expansion of the airport, which would involve an investment of 1.7 billion euros and would strengthen its role as an intercontinental hub - one of the objectives that the Catalan political and business class has pursued for longest - is reason enough to at least open a negotiation.