The centralist drainage

In the final days of the year, a headline in Tac12 caught my attention: "Aid to industry is being overlooked." This is no small matter: the public resources needed to promote and boost industrial activity belong to everyone, including those in our region. What does it mean that this year they've been overlooked?

The website of the Department of Business and Labor allows us to examine the details of this call for subsidies for productive investment projects in Catalonia 2025 and previous calls. Indeed, of the €49,061,221 awarded in 2025, only €2,859,065 went to companies in the province of Tarragona, a mere 5.8%, compared to a demographic weight of 10.8% and an economic weight of 10.4%.

The first question that comes to mind is: who can provide explanations? Initially, the information is provided by the Minister of Business and Labor. The information is on the website, but it's not accompanied by any assessment. To gauge whether it was an unusual, particularly bad year, I looked at the two previous calls for proposals: the total amount of subsidies to Tarragona companies over the last three years represents 7%, that is, more than 30% less than what would be expected demographically or economically. It's a real economic drain, because the resources have also come from the 10% of GDP generated in Tarragona.

Shouldn't the political representatives of the region say anything? Are they aware of this ongoing situation? The problem, at its core, is that in our centralized country, information is also centralized. There's no one at the regional level who can provide a regular and objective snapshot of our reality. Perhaps the saying "what the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't grieve" is getting old... but how long can we put up with it?