Catalan businessmen are going to ask GSMA, the international association of the mobile industry, which is promoting the Mobile World Congress (MWC), to compensate the cancellation this year of the event with an extension of the contract.
In statements to the Economist, Josep Sánchez Llibre, president of the Catalan employers' association Foment del Treball and vice president of the CEOE, wanted to make it clear that businessmen “deeply regret the cancellation of Mobile because it represents very important losses for the economy of Barcelona, of Catalonia and Spain, of around 500 million euros, but it is true that this is due to causes of force majeure due to this panic virus, this virus has caused an avalanche of cancellations and there is no other remedy “.
That said, Sánchez Libre has stated that the losses that the cancellation will cause could be compensated by agreeing with GSMA the possibility of extending the presence of this event in Barcelona. ”
In July 2015, the GSMA reached an agreement with the partners to extend the contract for five years to keep the Catalan capital as the headquarters of the Mobile until 2023. The partners are the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism; the Generalitat de Catalunya, the City Council of Barcelona, Tourism of Barcelona, Fira de Barcelona and the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation, which would now see a very prolonged event. “We are going to sit down to negotiate, but we cannot talk yet about how long it could last, we want it to be beneficial for all parties,” said Sánchez Llibre.
This morning, the CEO of the GSMA, John Hoffman, has admitted that “it is a very black and disappointing day, but we know that someday I will shine again and we have to think about the future and we are looking forward to welcoming in 2021 “, remembering that there is a commitment until 2023, but avoiding ruling for now on a possible extension of the contract.
In a statement, the GSMA said Wednesday night that “for a safe and healthy environment in Barcelona and the host country, the GSMA has canceled the MWC Barcelona 2020 because the global concern regarding the outbreak of coronavirus, travel and other circumstances make it impossible to celebrate the event. ”
The president of Foment del Treball has indicated, on the other hand, that “we are going to sit down to negotiate with the maximum intensity with the insurance companies that had risks assumed with our companies and with the Mobile so that the losses are the minimum”. Sánchez Llibre says that “it is too early to see how much compensation can be raised” and also insists on the need to “turn the page and look to the future”.
