Editor's Note
This editor’s note highlights the key facts and market implications behind “Ceramics as a Symbol”, with emphasis on sourcing, product fit, fabrication, logistics, or buyer impact.
The crisis currently facing the ceramics industry in Castellón is the symbol, or the result, of erratic and profoundly misguided European policy. Europe is losing competitiveness against the United States and China due to low productivity. The Draghi report, requested by the European Commission on the future of European competitiveness, is clear: there is a productivity gap. The industrial structure is weak. Energy costs are high and decisively affect industry. The market is fragmented and there are key external dependencies (energy, technology, and defense).
Draghi concludes that a new industrial policy is urgently needed and affirms that industry is not just another sector; it is the central vector of competitiveness that can be the engine of productivity, technological innovation, and the defense of strategic sovereignty. He finishes by saying that without industry, there will be no viable energy transition, no geopolitical autonomy, and no sustained growth.
The report by Enrico Letta reaches the same conclusions and urges the creation of a true single market. He asserts, like Mario Draghi, that Europe can only remain relevant if it rebuilds its industrial base.
Both reports seem to have fallen on deaf ears, and no substantial change is foreseen in the European Union regarding a single market and a genuine commitment to industry as the vector for the Union's future.
Ceramics is the perfect example of how to generate prosperity for years, how to build an entire social and economic ecosystem around it, and how to create quality employment, reaching its highest peak in a province with full employment. The ceramics industry in Castellón is that growth vector that Europe needs. It is the success story that Europe could look to. And it is, without a doubt, an example of the future.
However, we are facing a situation where it seems the ceramics industry is a nuisance (we pollute and 'weigh' too much) and, more seriously, that it doesn't matter if its future viability is in danger or not. I reach this conclusion after observing the passivity of the European Union in addressing the problem of ceramics and, in general, of all gas-intensive industries.
A green energy transition is being imposed while ignoring reality, which is none other than that it is based on unfeasible deadlines and the existence of technologies that are nothing more than an aspiration detached from reality. A fragmented European market, energetically dependent on third parties, in the hands of a 'caviar bureaucracy,' is imposing conditions on an industry that risks disappearing. And it won't disappear from the earth; it will disappear from Europe, it will be relocated, and we will lose it.
More than ever, we need a European Union that supports us, that bets on the single market and on industry, supporting it where it exists and developing it where it is weak. Either Europe is industry, or it will be nothing.
We can say the same in Castellón; either industry or poverty. That is what is at stake. Let's be clear, there are no half measures; either we protect our industry or we will miss the train to the future, remaining anchored in a province that is small in economic terms, depopulated, and subsidized as an alternative.
We, in Castellón, are facing the greatest challenge of our recent history. Let's not just settle for a circumstantial demand (war in Iran); the commitment to our industry is structural and transcends adverse circumstances. We must demand a single market that protects us, a viable and manageable energy transition, and a clear commitment to industry. And this is not fixed with one-off aid to get by (necessary, without a doubt). We must be ambitious; let's show Europe how Castellón has been a case of economic and social success using industry as a growth vector.
And, yes, Castellón and its ceramics must be the symbol of the new Europe.
Source: Read the original article | Published: April 18, 2026