Durão Barroso visits UAB

Antoni Castells, Minister for Economy and Finance of the Catalan Government, and José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, spoke at the EEA-ESEM economic conference on 25 August. The conference was organised by the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (GSE) and took place at the SAF facilities located at UAB, where Barroso and Castells were welcomed by Joan Gómez Pallarès, Vice-Rector for Research.

26/08/2009

The 24th Annual Conference of the European Economics Association and the 64th Econometric Society European Meeting (EEA-ESEM) are two jointly organised events which this year were organised by GSE, an institution of scientific cooperation formed by four academic institutions: UAB, UPF, the Institute for Economic Analysis (IAE-CSIC), and the Centre for Research in International Economics (CREI). The Bellaterra Campus (UAB) and Ciutadella Campus (UPF) hosted the meeting which took place from 23 to 27 August. The conference was attended by almost 1800 experts worldwide and the edition focused closely on analysing today's global economic crisis.

Andreu Mas-Colell, Chairman of GSE, attended the event and expressed his gratitude for the presence of the Catalan Minister of Economics and the President of the EC. Minister Castells began his speech by talking about the economic crisis and stating that "it cannot be solved without the help of the governments" although they are not "the only solution".

One of Europe's leading regions

Minister Castells pointed out that the European Union "is built on strong foundations and looks to the future with confidence", but he also acknowledged that "it does not have sufficient political instruments " and that "strengthening its institutions politically is more important than ever". Finally the Minister affirmed that Catalonia has "everything needed to be one of Europe's leading regions" and stated that the conference was "an opportunity" to "reaffirm these characteristics".

Nicholas Stern, President of the European Economics Association, presented Durão Barroso and highlighted his academic and political trajectory and praised the "clarity of his analysis". The President of the EC said that it was an honour to be in Barcelona and focused his speech on the global economic crisis and the role that academic training plays in overcoming it.

According to Barroso, macroeconomists "are dealing with a very creative 'sport'". He directly appealed to the nearly 2000 analysts present at the conference when stating that "those of us with political-economic responsibilities will continue to need your advice".

New green economies

Barroso placed special emphasis on the fact that the challenges of today represent "an opportunity to create a sustainable growth model for the future". He was referring specifically to a "new green economy".

Barroso complimented Mas-Colell and the research activities carried out by GSE. He went on to affirm that by "managing this crisis, we are designing a new more sustainable economic paradigm" and that "a better coordination of our economic policies is needed for the future". Following his speech, the President of the EC held a question and answer session with the audience.