Sánchez presents 'Spain 2050', a collective project to decide "what country we want to be in 30 years"

Reina Sofia Art Center Museum, Madrid

At an event held at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Sánchez unveiled the first step in this project: the study 'Fundamentos y propuestas para una Estrategia Nacional de Largo Plazo' (Foundations and proposals for a long-term national strategy), which has been drawn up by a hundred renowned researchers from various academic disciplines, coordinated by the National Foresight and Strategy Office and supported by bodies such as AIReF, the Bank of Spain and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre.

A study which, according to the chief executive, "puts all its knowledge at the service of Spanish society to help it broaden its horizons and design a better strategy in the long term". To this end, it provides us with "a rigorous and holistic diagnosis of the challenges that Spain will face, not only today, but also in the medium and long term, analysing the possible risks and also the opportunities that could be generated by mega trends, such as climate change, demographic ageing or digital transformation" and, on the other hand, "it shows us our potential as a country".

In this sense, Pedro Sánchez explained that scientists believe that we can be a more efficient, more digital, greener and fairer Spain. "A Spain that would advance from the European average achieved in the last 30 years to become one of the most advanced countries in the Union". "This Spain is really possible," he said.

50 goals and 9 major challenges for the country between now and 2050

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig de la BellacasaThe study proposes 50 objectives that our country should achieve between now and 2050, if it wants to consolidate itself as one of the most advanced countries in Europe, which are grouped - as Sánchez explained - around nine major national challenges: to be more productive in order to grow better; to be at the forefront of education; to improve the training and retraining of our population; to become a carbon neutral society that is sustainable and resilient to climate change; to prepare our welfare state for a society that lives longer; to promote balanced, fair and sustainable regional development; to resolve the deficiencies of our labour market and adapt it to the new social, economic and technological realities; to reduce poverty and inequality, and boost social advancement, and to broaden the foundations of our future welfare.

The President pointed out that, with this foresight exercise, "Spain intends to tell the world, and to tell ourselves, that we want to be at the forefront of this transformation. We know the challenges that the future will bring, and we declare ourselves able and willing to address and overcome them, making the coming decades a new success story for our country."

In his opinion, we can achieve this because "we have natural resources, solid institutions, good companies, a privileged geostrategic position, and a mature civil society". Moreover, we are starting, firstly, from "a favourable expansionary situation, best reflected in the 140 billion euros that Spain will receive over the next six years from the European recovery funds" and, secondly, from "the success of the vaccination campaign", since "the best economic policy is to gradually return to normality". In fact, "there are 88 days to go to achieve that longed-awaited group immunity," he recalled.

Great National Dialogue on the Future

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Fernando CalvoDuring his speech, Sánchez announced that Spain will initiate "a great National Dialogue on its future" in the coming weeks, which will work to expand and strengthen the proposals of the researchers. "It will be a bottom-up process that will last several months and will be open to all institutions - public and private - and to all citizens of our country," he explained.

The chief executive has announced that this great National Dialogue is "a project by the Spanish State that the whole country must take part in" and the objective is "to broaden the time horizons of public debate, enriching the strategic thinking of our institutions, of political action, of companies, and to generate a Long-Term National Strategy that allows us to set priorities, coordinate efforts, and strengthen the design of the second phase of the NextGenerationEU plan, with a view to the period 2023- 2026".

This Dialogue will take place in the 19 autonomous communities and cities, as the autonomous and municipal governments will play a fundamental role, with bilateral meetings and round tables that will be articulated through a hundred public administrations, companies, employers, trade unions, universities, think tanks, foundations, NGOs, associations and political parties, with which the Government is already working.

In short, in the opinion of Pedro Sánchez, it is a question of "reaching that shared vision of a new Spain that we all want to walk towards, together. A vision that excites us, brings us together, and allows us to think about the future in a different way from the way we talk about the present: with greater ambition, with greater optimism." "Thinking of a better Spain for the future, so that this aspiration will also make us better in the present".

Intervention by the Vice-President of the European Commission for Institutional Relations and Foresight

Foto: Pool Moncloa/Fernando Calvo

The event was also addressed by the Vice-President of the European Commission for Institutional Relations and Foresight, Maroš Šefčovič of Slovakia, who stressed that the plan consolidates a "bright future outlook" for Spain. The President of the Government and Spain, said Šefčovič, are leading the way as pioneers in this field, together with other European countries such as Finland and France. In this sense, Spain 2050 is - said Šefčovič - a very positive document that "leads this trend" and "we have to show the world that we are capable of controlling our destiny as Europeans".

The Commission Vice-President linked the Spain 2050 plan to the EU's strategic objectives for the next decade, in particular the digital and ecological transformations, as well as the need to fill the gap in the global supply chains that feed the EU. In the same vein, he emphasised Spain 2050's vision of education and the future labour market, pointing out that many of today's jobs did not exist in the past, and that ambitious plans to invest in training are needed to improve the skills and expertise of young people so that they can access the jobs of the future in areas such as clean energy.

Also taking the floor were the director of the National Office of Foresight and Strategy, Diego Rubio; the professor and co-author of the study, María Loureiro; and two representatives of civil society, Marta Borrell, a high school student, and María José Jiménez, a pensioner who works as a volunteer in various social projects.

The presentation ceremony was attended by the President of Congress, Meritxell Batet; the President of the Upper House of Parliament, Pilar Llop; the four Vice-Presidents of the Government, Carmen Calvo, Nadia Calviño, Yolanda Díaz and Teresa Ribera; many of the researchers who have participated in the project, as well as the leaders of the country's main companies, universities, think tanks, foundations, NGOs and associations.

Non official translation