The day Jean Monnet was at the Palau de la Generalitat (without the United States)

BarcelonaCatalonia's commitment to the European project has been a constant feature of all the Catalan governments, regardless of their political affiliation. And this Friday, May 9th, Europe Day, the PSC government has reenacted it. President Salvador Illa did so by recalling an anecdote that illustrates the country's drive to assert itself on the continent (and the world) as far back as the Commonwealth of Independent States: the stay of a young Jean Monnet in 1921 at the Palau, which hosted the International Conference on Communications and Traffic. Monnet's makeshift office, then Assistant Secretary of State for the United Nations and later the father of the European Union, was the Salón de Sant Jordi, which this Friday hosted the government's Europe Day event. The United States was not present at that conference, immersed in an isolationist vortex that, all things considered, suggests Donald Trump's MAGA. "Seen in retrospect, perhaps it was prescient," Salvador Illa emphasized at the event.

With the interventions by Isla and the Minister of European Union and Foreign Affairs, Jaume Duch, the Government sought to send a message that echoes the maxim formulated by former President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors: that Europe is a bicycle, and therefore, either those on top pedal or everything falls apart. Faced with the threat of tariffs and the threat of war on the continent, Isla said, the European Union cannot do as if nothing is happening, at the risk of becoming a vassal of the world's great powers. "From Catalonia, we join the call for urgency and political leadership. We demonstrate the Government's willingness to contribute to Europe taking a step forward and abandoning strategic naivety," he said. All this in a context where populism and inequality threaten to undermine the project that began with the Schumman Declaration on May 9, 1950, which celebrates its 75th anniversary today.

"It's the end of an era"

The call for "urgency and political leadership" is a plea the president borrowed from former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, the event's guest of honor. Letta recalled that Europe was born "from the rejection of barbarism and exclusionary nationalism" after the trauma of World War II. The result was a "community of law and values" that, today, is undergoing a stress test. "The dream of a Europe without strategic risks is over. This is not just another crisis, it is the end of one era and the beginning of another," he warned. However, Letta invited Europeans to look in the mirror and understand that defending human dignity is also incompatible with erecting "physical and legal" walls against those fleeing hunger and war.

The big event of the week, the election of the new pope, was also heard in the auditorium. Letta hailed the message of peace sent by Leo XIV, after more than three years of war in Ukraine. "The defense of Ukraine is not only the defense of a country under attack, but no state has the right to invade another," he warned. Isla took up Leo XIV's challenge and asserted that, in a world where peace and justice are at risk, "Catalonia wants to continue acting as a bridge." And it wants to do so in a Europe that, according to the president, draws on three major contributions: Greek philosophy, Roman law, and Christian humanism, although these have crystallized in secular states. In a gesture recognizing the contribution of municipalities to the European project, an event with mayors was also held in Plaça Sant Jaume for Europe Day.