The origin of the Cercle was established at the Club Comodín in 1951. Within a typical university environment, a chess club encouraged the meeting of a group of young Barcelona businessmen. In the early 1950’s, the Club became an open and unique debate space in the closed Spain of those years.
Juan Sardà Dexeus, Juan Mas Cantí y Fabián Estapé
I Reunión Costa Brava. Año 1961
Jordi Pujol, Pedro Fontana y Felipe González
Rodrigo Rato y Pedro Fontana
Mario Monti, Luis Ángel Rojo, Carlos Tusquets, Richard G. Garner y Guillermo de la Dehesa
Pedro Solbes y Juan Molins
De izquierda a derecha. Juergen Donges, Luis C. Croissier, Fabián Estapé, Ignasi Camí y Miguel Boyer
Carlos Tusquets, Macià Alavedra y Carlos Solchaga
Cesare Romiti y Rudiger Dornbusch
Carlos Solchaga, Vicente Oller y Pasqual Maragall
Carlos Solchaga y Enrique Corominas. Realiza la pregunta Carlos Güell de Sentmenat
Carlo de Benedeti, Willy de Clercq, Carlos Tusquets, Mariano Rubio y Thomas O. Enders
Jordi Pujol, Felipe González y Enrique Corominas
Salvador Gabarró, Santiago Fisas, Pedro Solbes, Joan Majó, Carlos Alfredo Gasòliba y Peter Sutherland
De izquierda a derecha. Juan Antonio Delgado, Carlos Ferrer Salat, Carlos Cuatrecasas, Ernest Lluch, Juan Mas Cantí, Miguel Boyer, Carlos Güell de Sentmenat, Vicente Oller y Arturo Suqué
Jordi Pujol y Juan Antonio Delgado
Jordi Solé Tura, José Enrique García-Romeu Fleta, Miquel Roca, Carlos Solchaga y Eduard Punset
De izquierda a derecha. Carlos Ferrer Salat, Vicente Oller, Juan Antonio Delgado y Carlos Bustelo
Vicente Oller y Marcelino Camacho
Fernando Espiau, Narcís Serra y Carlos Cuatrecasas
Jordi Solé Tura en VI la Reunión Costa Brava
Juan Mas Cantí y Enrique Fuentes Quintana
De izquierda a derecha. Carlos Güell de Sentmenat, Francisco Pérez Cerda, Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, José Lladó y Fernando Gimeno Muntadas
De izquierda a derecha. Eduardo García de Enterría, Carlos Cuatrecasas, Albert Serratosa y José M. Navarro.
Asistentes a una de las mesas redondas de la III Reunión Costa Brava
Mesa redonda presidida por Carlos Ferrer Salat en la III Reunión Costa Brava
I Reunión Hostalrich
De izquierda a derecha. Ernest Lluch, Carlos Ferrer Salat, Juan Echevarría y Enrique Fuentes Quintana
Joseph Stiglitz y Salvador Gabarró
Amartya Sen y Pedro Fontana
Jean Jacques Servan Schreiber, Carlos Güell de Sentmenat y Carlos Ferrer Salat
Josep Piqué y Pedro Fontana
José Borrell Centelles
Mariano Rajoy
Javier Solana y José Manuel Lara
Helmut Schmidt, José Manuel Lara y Jordi Alberich
Antonio Brufau, Pasqual Maragall y Joan Clos
De izquierda a derecha. Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, Pedro Fontana, Jordi Pujol, Carlos Solchaga y Fabián Estapé
José María Aznar, Antonio Brufau y José Borrell Fontellés
Anna Birulés. Antón Costas y Joan Clos
Rudiger Dornbusch y Jordi Mercader Miró
Javier Solana y Salvador Gabarró
The intellectual influence that Professor Jaume Vicens Vives exerted on a group of those young entrepreneurs at the Club Comodín was decisive in the founding of the Cercle. In addition, Vicens Vives introduced them to young university professors such as Fabián Estapé, and with state senior management, some of whom were residing in Madrid. Renewing the autocratic and protectionist economic political thought of that time, they contributed to what would be the stabilisation, economic liberalisation and commercial opening plan of 1959.
Therefore, since the beginning, this combination of people from the world of business, academia and administration who longed for an open economy in the framework of a democratic society made the Cercle a unique place of dialogue and freedom.
One of the manifestations of that spirit of dialogue was the Costa Brava Meetings, now called Cercle d'Economia Meetings, which are held annually in Sitges. Initiated in 1961, they became a unique meeting space in Spain, bringing together people from these three areas of the Cercle. With the arrival of democracy, many people were invited to these meetings, and also Cercle members, who, from different political positions assumed very important political responsibilities. It is precisely this diversity of ideological and political sensitivities existing at the core of the Cercle that still defines the institution today, and the attribute that best ensures its partisan independence.
From that very active role in the process of stabilisation and liberalisation of 1959, the Cercle has continued to promote and support initiatives and proposals that have contributed to the modernisation of the economy and society, and to the consolidation of democracy. The spirit of dialogue and social innovation allowed the Cercle to gain credibility in Spain since the 1960s. These values have been deeply rooted in the organisation’s personality and life.
The trajectory of the Cercle since it’s foundation is widely found in the books “Circulo de Economia 1958-1983. A trajectory of modernisation and coexistence”, edited to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the organisation, and “The long road to Europe. 50 years of the Cercle d’Economia” that captures the life of the organisation until 2008.
