Salvador Illa assumes leadership of the Four Engines promoted by Pujol

MilanIn 1988, Jordi Pujol signed the agreement to establish the Four Engines for Europe, the first international cooperation network in which Catalonia participated, along with the French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Baden-Württemberg (Germany), and Lombardy (Italy). The alliance has prevailed over the years, and all the presidents of the Generalitat (Catalan government) have reserved a role for it in the international framework, which it has subsequently shared and complemented with other networks such as the Euroregion and the Committee of the Regions. Salvador Illa will assume his presidency this Friday at an event in the Italian city of Varese, and will do so at a particularly turbulent global time, marked by the tariff war initiated by Donald Trump.

Upon his arrival in Milan, the president explained that this will be one of the issues to be discussed over the next two days. The four territories are negotiating a "joint declaration." "We are doing this at a particularly important time for Europe and the world due to a trade war that has been unleashed unjustifiably and without any economic logic, to which we must respond with prudence and serenity, strengthening our European values," Illa said in a press conference. The president also expressed his distrust of Donald Trump's truce and assured that the government is maintaining the aid plan announced this Monday to address the tariff war.

Pujol's beginnings

Beyond the message that Quatre Motors may convey regarding the trade war, how has this alliance evolved from the Pujol era to the present? At the end of the 1980s, the agreement signed by the former president of the Generalitat (Catalan Government) to establish Quatre Motors—a network that sought to unite four pioneering regions in their respective countries—focused on collaboration in economic, research, artistic, and cultural issues. In this sense, the first alliances involved collaboration between companies and research centers. As the years went by, more areas were added. There are currently six active working groups on the economy, the environment, labor mobility and vocational training, research and higher education, sustainable food systems, and electromobility and hydrogen. However, the program proposed by Salvador Illa includes even more: housing, an issue at the top of the list of concerns for Catalan citizens, as well as other areas such as innovation in healthcare, sustainable transport and tourism, and cybersecurity.

In the early 1990s, with Pujol as president, the four regions launched projects such as "telepresence," which was applied, for example, in the Catalan hospital network. They also cooperated in the fields of the environment, approving a joint charter, and tourism, organizing several weeks of training. Collaboration also extended to the educational field, with a joint master's degree that allowed for student rotation, among other initiatives.

Pujol's lead was followed by subsequent presidents of the Generalitat (Catalan government). Pasqual Maragall also placed special emphasis on and personally participated in various meetings held by representatives of the four regions. In 2006, the former Socialist president led the meeting held by the Quatre Motors in Morocco—the first such meeting outside Europe—with the aim of opening up to the southern Mediterranean and forging ties with Rabat. Since then, the business, technological, and cultural synergies have been replicated over the years and under the mandate of all the presidents of the Generalitat.

Salvador Illa's plan

Salvador Illa will present his program for the next 12 months of his presidency this Friday, which he hopes will be aligned with the European Commission's roadmap, the Competitiveness Compass, aimed at boosting the economy of European companies. He wants to increase the presence of the Four Motors in the European institutions and have them influence decisions such as the debate on the next multiannual financial framework. In parallel, Isla has devised four pillars to work on during his presidency: "Leading" innovation in advanced technologies, "decarbonization," "gaining strategic autonomy," and moving toward an "inclusive economy."

The president begins a two-day trip to Italy this Thursday—accompanied by the Minister for the European Union and External Action, Jaume Duch—which will conclude with the transfer of the presidency of the Four Motors in an event with the President of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana. The President of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fabrice Pannekoucke, and the Secretary of State of Baden-Württemberg, Florian Hassler.

Previously, Isla took advantage of the trip to meet with the think tank Italian Institute for International Policy Studies (ISPI) and representatives of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Italy. Representatives from Almirante and CaixaBank attended this last meeting, which lasted approximately one hour, and the president provided them with information about the aid plan to combat Trump's tariffs. Isla also visited the facilities of one of the three factories that the Catalan paint company Areco-Briolf Group has in Italy. The head of the Catalan government will also meet on Friday with Catalan designers and businesspeople participating in Milan Design Week and will visit the exhibition. Inspired by Barcelona: Luce.