Speech by the President of the Government of Spain at the closing ceremony of the event to present the report 'Future Lives: A Day in 2050'

SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN, PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

Thank you very much, dear Salva, dear President of the Generalitat de Catalunya; and, of course, to the minister, the Government Delegate, Mayor Collboni, the regional ministers, and the President of Barcelona Provincial Council. And to the other dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen.

First of all, many thanks to the panellists. I would also like to thank the National Office for Foresight and Strategy, which, together with the National Scientific Advice Office of the Presidency of the Government of Spain, are two of the institutional innovations we have introduced over the years since the pandemic began, particularly in recognising the need for public authorities to draw on science and research to advise us on how best to shape public policies for the present and the future.

I remember that, when we launched Spain 2050, there were some who said, 'Well, they're already thinking about 2050; they need to be thinking about 2021, or 2022…!', when in fact we were already putting this whole framework in place. But, really, to build that Spain of 2050 or that Catalonia of 2050, we need to start working today - which is precisely what has been said by the panellists, as well as by both the president and the Mayor.

There are words that a society does indeed stop using because it can no longer utter them without feeling ashamed. And some have crept into the panellists' remarks. Words that once seemed normal, but which today reveal the extent to which we were capable of turning a prejudice into the norm. One such word that I would like to bring up today is 'illegitimate'. For years in Spain, a child could be born only to find that, even before they had made a single decision in their life, the law had already decided what to call them: a legitimate son, a legitimate daughter, or an illegitimate son or daughter. Consequently, as mentioned earlier, this distinction had enormous legal consequences; it determined rights and, ultimately, served to brand that person for life. Today, fortunately, such a distinction is inconceivable. In 2024, almost half of the children born in our country were born to unmarried mothers. This is an entirely ordinary reality which, not so long ago, our own laws would have treated with discrimination.

This brings me to a point raised earlier: societies change and evolve. Our families, our relationships and the ways we work, care for one another and live together all change and evolve. And we,

as institutions, must be capable of changing along with them - and, whenever possible, anticipating those changes so we can respond to them from the outset.

That is what this 'Future Lives' report , which we are presenting today, is all about. It is not a prophecy, as has been said here. It does not claim that the future is already set in stone; that is impossible. It is an exercise designed to help us look further ahead and to ask ourselves a very simple question, which I would like to put to this forum: if we know that certain things are changing, what can we do today to ensure we are better prepared for that tomorrow? I believe that a responsible government - be it a municipal council, a provincial council, the Catalan Government or the Government of Spain, or indeed the European Union, which is also carrying out its own foresight exercises - does not limit itself to managing the present, however important that undoubtedly is. It has a duty to look ahead, to anticipate the future. It has a duty to adapt legislation to these social transformations and, therefore, to prevent the opposite from happening. In other words, to ensure that laws do not become a snapshot of a world we no longer recognise, nor in which we recognise ourselves.

This exercise, of course, does not merely concern institutions and public administrations. I would like to remind you - those of you who have had the chance to read it, and if not, I encourage you to do so - that in the 'Spain 2050' report, we discussed how public policies promoted by governments undoubtedly have an impact, but so do the decisions taken by businesses; so do the decisions taken by universities. And, of course, civil society organisations and each and every one of us.

'Future Lives', coordinated by this Office, identifies the major transformations that will change our daily lives and shape our future life paths. For decades - as has been said here, when discussing the linear nature of our family relationships, the same path was followed: studying, working, starting a family, watching your sons and daughters grow up - in short, it is a path that remains a very appealing life plan for many people, of course it does; we must respect it and, without a doubt, protect it as far as we are able. But it is not the only one, because there are other life plans that are equally legitimate.

There are people who have children later in life or who decide not to have any, as has been mentioned here. Couples who do not live together. Single-parent households, primarily same-sex couples. People who live alone. People who return to education in mid-life. We are seeing more and more older people returning to university, whether at public universities or in vocational training - just a few days ago I had the chance to speak with vocational training students, and we also had the opportunity to talk to professionals who'd been in the workforce for many years and who have returned to vocational training to retrain. In short, there are others who change their profession, city or life plan several times. In the 1980s, over 80 per cent of those aged between 30 and 34 were living with a partner. Today, that figure barely exceeds 50 per cent. In 1991, barely 16 per cent of young people had completed higher education; today, it is more than half. A few decades ago, almost seven out of ten Spaniards had been living in the same home for at least ten years; today, it is barely four out of ten. And the same applies to the way we form relationships. We have spoken earlier about the technology that allows us, of course, to maintain friendships across great distances, to find communities we would not previously have known about, and to support those who live far away. There will be more diverse forms of cohabitation, and new ways of looking after one another and interacting will emerge. Ultimately, this leads to one of the main lessons from this report that I would like to share with you all. Namely, we will have to design today's public policies with a view to a society made up of individuals and households in which the bonds of coexistence are clearly much more diverse and much more heterogeneous.

The future is not an inevitable fate. Indeed, it will be shaped by the decisions taken today. We are set to witness how structural transformations - such as increased life expectancy, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and the climate crisis - will turn our daily lives on their head. So the question today is not whether these changes will come, because it is clear that they have already arrived. The question is whether they will benefit us all or just a select few and, consequently, whether or not the main challenge facing every society - including European society and, in particular, Spanish and Catalan society - namely inequality, will be exacerbated. Whether they will make us a more cohesive country, with more opportunities, or a more divided, more unequal and, consequently, more polarised one.

And that is why I believe it is so important to govern for ordinary people. To govern in such a way that, for example, digitalisation does not widen the gaps between workers and employers - or, in this case, the tech oligarchs - but rather helps to bridge them. It is worth noting that, according to historical data, there has never been such a concentration of economic power as there is right now, and never in the history of humankind has there been such inequality as currently exists between these techno-oligarchs and the rest of the population. The fact that in the United States a single person, just one person, holds 20 per cent of the wealth of the entire American society tells you exactly the extent of the inequality unfolding right now, as well as the social backlash brewing within American society against this techno-oligarchy.

Therefore, governing in such a way as to ensure that, in an increasingly ageing society, the care we will need is available to everyone, is not in short supply, does not benefit only a select few, and, above all, is provided locally, will naturally also be a challenge for which all levels of government are already beginning to lay the foundations.

Regulating the housing market - as the Mayor of Barcelona previously stated, so that demographic trends do not prevent everyone, particularly young people, from realising their life plans - is undoubtedly one of the challenges we face both now and in the future.

We must take action in the housing sector, without a doubt, and we must, once and for all, focus on accessibility and prioritise the residential use of housing over its use for tourism - one of the levers provided for by the Housing Act - and I call on all the regional governments, as is being done here, Mr President, to make use of it; to increase the supply of affordable housing, adapted to new social realities, but also, naturally, to what this report identifies as the realities of tomorrow.

Ultimately, this is the real challenge - or rather, the challenges - we face. It is not just a matter of identifying and responding to the changes we are already seeing in our society, but also of anticipating those yet to come.

And I believe that for those of us who love public service and who also love politics, this is a time of extraordinary interest. I believe there is no more inspiring moment of transformation for politicians - and, naturally, for those of us who believe in public service - than the present one. Laying the foundations for the future by responding to the needs of the present and, therefore, reconciling the urgency with the far-reaching significance of the changes we need to ensure the prosperity of our societies.

Ultimately, every right that seems self-evident to us today was once met with the argument that it was too soon - and we have seen plenty of examples of this over the years of our democracy - or that we were going too far.

There are always the same few, who are late to embrace progress. The good thing is that they can then, albeit grudgingly, come to accept these changes - as was the case, for example, with the law on same-sex marriage, where there was fierce opposition to the very idea of calling a union between same-sex partners a "marriage". Today nobody disputes it, just as I trust no one will dispute the law on the right to a dignified death, which was passed during our time at the helm of the Government of Spain.

In the end, everyone benefits, because we're talking about rights, and what was once a struggle ends up becoming part of our children's everyday lives.

And so, I believe that is the wonderful meaning of the word 'progress' - that it opens doors even for those who tried to keep them shut; that it broadens freedom for everyone; and that when it truly moves forward - and when it does, it really does move forward - no one wants to go back.

Ultimately, that is also what Future Lives is about: opening up possibilities, anticipating them, staying one step ahead and, of course, believing in progress.

One point I have frequently discussed with members of the Foresight Office - often in the context of reports released by scientific panels - is that while we must obviously state things exactly as they are, we can also inject a dose of optimism and hope. By rallying collective will - and avoiding a collapse of that resolve - we achieve far better outcomes for societies at the local, national, European and global levels.

Because, ultimately, that is what progress is all about: having more and more ways to build a life of dignity. And that, ultimately, is the country we want to leave to those who come after us. A country in which the future does not limit our choices in life, but rather does the exact opposite: it broadens them.

And I believe that this report, together with many others produced by the National Office for Foresight and Strategy, helps to shed light on this issue.

That is all. Many thanks to those who have drawn up this report. And many thanks to you all for taking part in this important event.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)