The persistent reality of foreign investment in Catalonia

In recent years, news items about the annual increase in foreign investment in Catalonia have been a common occurrence, despite the negative predictions of the Spanish government, which maintains that the independence process is a hurdle on the path to recovery. What we were missing, however, were the figures for a longer period of time to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff and discount other potential factors. According to the information presented yesterday by the Director General of Industry, Núria Betriu, Catalonia received 14.532 million Euros between January 2011 and 2016, representing 31% of the Spanish total. To get an idea of the scale of this investment, you only need to compare it with the 23% received during the previous five-year period from 2006 to 2010.

This means that, in the worst years of the recession and at the heights of enthusiasm for the independence process, Catalonia has gone from attracting a quarter of the total foreign investment arriving in Spain to attracting almost a third. The explanations for this phenomenon are many and varied, but all coincide in a stark reality: Catalonia is a focal point for business projects, and its leadership within Spain has become ever more evident, even as the economic situation is at its worst. International investors value the reliability offered by a country with the industrial tradition, the entrepreneurial spirit and the open economy of Catalonia. It needs to be highlighted that this investment comes from very diverse sources. The country sending the most capital is Germany, probably thanks to Seat, but the country that creates the most jobs is France, and the country behind the most projects is the United States. Does anyone believe that if Catalonia were about to stumble into the abyss there would be so many foreign companies ready to invest here?

The data disproves the apocalyptic narrative of the Spanish government about the supposed ill effects of the independence process and strengthens the conviction that the international community has no doubt that, however the struggle with Madrid turns out, Catalonia will remain within the European Economic Area and the Eurozone. There are far too many economic interests at stake for the refusal of a member of the EU to hold a referendum to jeopardize them.