The Catalan Institute of Statistics and Census (IDESCAT) has published a study projecting a growth of half a million inhabitants in the Catalan population over the next nine years (8.5 million in 2034). Of course, this entire increase would be attributable to immigration, since according to the same study, the number of deaths will exceed births during this period. Except for those who view economics as a sport, in which the important thing is to increase GDP to the limit without considering the consequences, this prediction is disturbing. Immigration is not an evil. per seBut it can be a problem if it's the consequence of an economic model based on tourism and its low wages. We must be able to talk about it without falling into the Manichaeanism or clichés so beloved by the far right.
Catalonia is in a difficult social and economic situation, and this is not only the result of its own mistakes and the catastrophic commitment to mass tourism to the detriment of other high-value-added sectors, but also of its limitations in the political sphere and the chronic plundering of its public resources. The Catalan political class has attempted to correct its course in recent decades, first with intervention in Spanish politics (through CiU and PSC), and then with the independence process. Both attempts have failed, and Catalonia's political dependence remains the main obstacle to building a plausible economic and welfare model.
The plummeting birth rate, combined with the massive influx of immigrants to meet the demand for employment in sectors such as caregiving and tourism, has impeded harmonious growth, social cohesion, and environmental protection. We have encouraged people from all over the world to arrive to perform thankless jobs without being able to offer them, in return, the social security they need and deserve. Our welfare state is under strain, the educational model is an unmitigated failure, and the Catalan language, the main identifying factor of our country, has experienced a decline as dramatic as it is inevitable (I won't say irreversible because I don't want to be accused of being fatalistic).
We have made Barcelona a showcase city, the city of the America's Cup and the Mobile, ideal for expats Wealthy and for seasonal rentals, but unaffordable for Barcelona residents, who are deserting en masse due to the greed of rentiers and the impunity with which investment funds are hijacking the real estate market. This exodus might make sense if the noucentista dream of a Catalonian city, a territory interconnected by an infrastructure network worthy of a European country, were kept alive. But Renfe's commuter service reminds us every day—every day!—that instead of structuring Catalonia, we have been forced to pay for the connectivity of Greater Madrid and the pharaonic conception of a high-speed radial Spain. All this has happened in the face of the impotence, not to say the indifference, of the Catalan elites, the same ones who applauded the repression of the sovereignty movement.
There are no adjectives to define the magnitude of the transformation that Catalonia needs to be a viable country, one that cares for its citizens – old and new –, that allows them to aspire to a decent salary and decent housing, that preserves its cultural and environmental heritage, that encourages entrepreneurs and creators, that maintains its identity, etc. Continue "growing", when growth is down, It's collective suicide. And renouncing politics with a capital P—that is, sovereignty, in whatever capacity—is a mistake for which we will pay dearly.
