Center Delàs, a reference of Catalan anti-war

The formalization of the purchase of fifteen million rounds of ammunition from Israel by Fernando Grande-Marlaska's Interior Ministry was just the tip of the iceberg in the revelation of a broader commercial activity that the Moncloa had repeatedly denied. Two days later, on April 25, the Delàs Center for Peace Studies published a report that amplified the commotion: Spain has awarded 46 contracts to Israeli companies during the war in Gaza, worth more than one billion euros.

Pedro Sánchez had stated just two weeks earlier in Congress that since October 7, 2023, when the Hamas attack occurred, “Spain has not carried out any arms sales operations with Israel, none.”

The entity estimates that the Catalan military industry represents only 1% of state production.

The Delàs Centre report, which will be published in full on May 7, is one of many produced by this independent organization dedicated to researching and promoting peace and disarmament. The revelation was widely reported in the press, especially at a time when the Prime Minister is increasing military spending, and in a context of general rearmament in Europe due to the loss of confidence in the US and a supposed Russian threat.

The organization was founded in 1999. It emerged within the framework of Justícia i Pau, an organization founded in 1968 that promotes and defends human rights, and which civil society quickly identified with the economist Arcadi Oliveres, who chaired it.

The Delàs Centre takes its name from Josep Manuel Delàs i Ugarte, a career soldier and founder of the Democratic Military Union who, after leaving the army, dedicated his life to promoting peace and non-violence.

The organization has published some 70 reports critical of militarization and arms spending, as well as arms exports. All this is based on data often provided by the governments themselves. Those 46 contracts, for example, were uncovered by the Delàs Center by searching public information on the State Procurement Platform.

Over time, its work has been characterized as rigorous and respected. Its headquarters are in Barcelona, ​​but it has branches in Valencia, San Sebastián, and Granada, in addition to sharing offices in Brussels and maintaining links with the International Peace Bureau, a Berlin-based organization that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 and is currently campaigning for reduced global military spending. The Delàs Centre is involved.

Read also

Through its activities, the organization has become a sort of personification and representative of the anti-militarist and anti-war culture characteristic of Catalan society in recent decades, and has also become an international benchmark.

Examples of this spirit include the opposition in Catalonia to Spain's continued membership in NATO in the 1986 referendum (53% of Catalans opposed it), or the massive demonstrations at the beginning of the 21st century against the war in Iraq, which had a great international impact. Another example is the "11th District," that long-standing cultural and humanitarian cooperation project between Olympic-bound Barcelona and the city of Sarajevo, besieged by a bloody war.

In this context, it's important to note that there is little presence of the arms industry in Catalonia. It has barely taken root, and as Pere Ortega, a member of the Delàs Centre, points out, there are around twenty companies established. "Furthermore, these are companies like Indra, which are not exclusively dedicated to defense or military production," he adds.

In 2020, the Delàs Centre prepared a report on this industrial limitation. It estimated that Catalonia contributed only 2% of Spanish military production and 0.56% of its GDP to the defense sector. Production in Madrid, for example, is around 65%; that of Andalusia, 13%. Ortega asserts that in the current pre-war context, production may have tripled, but with the growth also experienced in other regions, "Catalan production is around 1%."

An organization that relies on grants

The Delàs Centre, chaired by Tica Font, boasts transparency on its website, where it has published its annual accounts since 2018. The most recent are those for 2023. They emphasize that their income comes mainly from subsidies. Their annual report highlights income of €290,000, including subsidies (approximately €270,000), membership fees (€13,626), donations (€1,732), and services (€4,884). Regarding institutional support, the Barcelona City Council stands out, accounting for 28% of the total, the Valencian Government (Generalitat Valenciana) at 24%, and the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, an agency of the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Agency), accounting for 15%. The report includes expenses worth 291,000 euros, 200,000 of which were for salaries.