- The business association proposes a major agreement to overcome the deep economic and social crisis and prevent its chronicity: “Only together will we overcome the crisis. Unilateral and populist measures will not achieve it.” (Full speech).
- Sánchez Llibre announces Foment’s support for the recently re-launched dialogue table by the State and Generalitat governments to achieve the necessary political and economic stability to successfully face the current crisis situation.
- Foment has regretted that the State Government demands sacrifices from the self-employed, companies, and citizens, in general, and does not demand at the same time any sacrifice or effort from the public administrations to move towards better public spending efficiency and savings increase.
- The Board of Directors also appoints, at the president’s proposal, the new Executive Committee.
The General Assembly of Foment has ratified the election of Josep Sánchez Llibre as president of the institution, once he has been proclaimed by the Electoral Board. The candidacy of Sánchez Llibre was the only one presented in the electoral process that concluded today with the also ratification of the new members of the Board of Directors. As only one candidacy for the Presidency of Foment and 76 candidacies for the directorships of the Board of Directors were presented, it was not necessary to submit the candidates to the vote of the Assembly’s electors.
During the intervention of Sánchez Llibre as president-elect in the plenary of the Foment Assembly, he referred to the current crisis situation of the country, and has asked the President of the Government of Spain to “adopt a change of attitude, abandon populist positions and assume the flag of constructive dialogue with all sectors”. (Full speech).
“From Foment, I humbly make a call to the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, to open his doors to dialogue, to achieve a pact of solidarity and responsibility, which many define as a pact of incomes, among all social and economic agents and also all public administrations. That is, among workers, employers, civil servants, and pensioners.”
In short, the business association proposes a major agreement to overcome the deep economic and social crisis and prevent its chronicity: “Only together will we overcome the crisis. With unilateral and populist measures, we will not achieve it”.
In this sense, it has expressed its great concern and disappointment at the conclusions of the recent debate on the State of the Nation and some of the positions of the coalition government and its president, Pedro Sánchez.
“We regret the lack of sufficient measures aimed at reinforcing the productive economy and the adoption of other counterproductive ones”, said the president of the business association. “In general, the Spanish business fabric has to be the engine of economic recovery,” -he added-: “Without support for the productive economy, it will be difficult to solve the crisis we suffer.”
Foment also regretted that the State Government demands sacrifices from self-employed workers, companies, and citizens in general, and at the same time does not demand any sacrifice or effort from public administrations to move towards better efficiency in public spending and increased savings.
Sánchez Llibre has encouraged politicians to weave political, economic, and social complicities to confront the serious crisis situation and the structural reforms that our country requires. For example, “to align the energy transition with the real possibilities of our industrial sector”. And it should not be done as it is being done, “creating scenarios of great ideological and social confrontation”, as we have seen recently, stated the president of the business association: “From this crisis, we will only emerge stronger by reinforcing companies, entrepreneurship, and family businesses, and not by increasing tax pressure and raising taxes”, he reiterated.
The Assembly also featured speeches by the president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi; the president of Cepyme, Gerardo Cuerva; the president of ATA, Lorenzo Amor; and the president of Fepime, Mª Helena de Felipe.
For a more dynamic and representative Foment, leader in the economic response of Catalonia
Sánchez Llibre has summarized his action plan proposal (embodied in his 10-point electoral program), which will be discussed and validated by the Board of Directors, and which he summarized in pillars such as:
- The return of companies. For this reason, “we will also support the dialogue table recently re-launched by the governments of the State and the Generalitat of Catalonia to achieve the necessary political and economic stability to successfully face the current economic crisis situation.
- Competitive taxation. “We reiterate, once again the need to abolish the wealth tax and to seriously tackle the fight against tax fraud that conceals the underground economy of our country”, which could reveal up to 35 billion euros in tax revenue.
- Reindustrialization of Catalonia. Achieving, by 2030, 25% industrial weight within Catalonia’s GDP. “At the same time, we support and collaborate with the Government of the Generalitat in the search for a major chip manufacturing company to set up in Catalonia. In this way, we could become the major European chip manufacturing hub in Southern Europe.”
- Infrastructure. “We will continue working, with the various public administrations, to ensure that the level of investment and execution of budgeted amounts is fully met”. Specifically, it has been proposed, with a bill to the parliamentary groups of the Congress of Deputies, the creation of an Independent Agency that oversees the execution of State infrastructure investments in Catalonia, with the participation of the State Administration, the Generalitat of Catalonia, local administrations of Catalonia, and the country’s civil society. Also, that the budgeted amounts not executed do not get lost and are automatically made available to the Government of the Generalitat for execution in subsequent years.
- Expansion of the Barcelona-El Prat Airport.“We will continue working proactively with the Government of the Generalitat de Cataluña and the Government of Spain to achieve maximum complicity so that the expansion becomes a reality in the coming years and that Barcelona becomes a true international airport hub”. In this regard, a major international event in Barcelona, planned and organized by IESE and Foment, has been announced for November 21, which will claim this objective.
- Claim, reinforce, and defend the role of the entrepreneur and the family business as engines of wealth generation and job creation. Moreover, we are crucial elements to strengthen and guarantee social cohesion and to fight against social inequalities.
- SMEs will be the true protagonists of this new mandate through the incorporation of Fepime and the creation of the SME Council, confirmed by all territories affiliated with Foment.
- Reinforcement of the commitment to equality. Women with vice presidencies of Foment and presidencies of sectoral commissions will maintain a strong presence and contribute to the feminization of the organization.
- Incorporation of young entrepreneurs and the new economy into two relevant vice presidencies, held by the president of AIJEC, Ruben Sans and the president of Tech Barcelona, Miguel Vicente.
- Incorporation of traditional sectors such as metal and tourism into the vice presidency of Foment with Jaume Roura and Santiago García Nieto, respectively. Once this proposal to amend the Statutes is approved by the new Board of Directors -which met after the Assembly- it will be presented for definitive approval in a General Assembly that will take place in the coming months.
Through these 10 proposals, the new Board of Foment intends “to lead Catalonia’s economic response to the geopolitical situation, making Foment an effective lobby to defend the competitiveness of companies in Catalonia; in Spain, through the CEOE; and also in the European Union”, Sánchez Llibre assured.
Vice Presidencies
The Board of Directors, convened immediately after the Assembly, has chosen, at the president’s proposal, as vice presidencies of the entity -in addition to the statutory vice presidents such as the president of Fepime and the presidents of the main territorial organizations- (in alphabetical order): Mar Alarcón, Elisabet Cañigueral, Virgínia Guinda, Lluís Moreno (president of the Cambra de Contractistes d’Obres de Catalunya), Cinta Pascual (president of ACRA), Joan Roget (president of Fedequim), Baldiri Ros (president of l’Institut Agrícola Català de Sant Isidre), Ruben Sans (president of AIJEC) and Miguel Vicente (president of Tech Barcelona).
The Electoral Process
With the General Assembly, the electoral process that began with the call for elections by the Board on June 14 concludes. As established by the Electoral Regime of the Statutes of Foment, the Board of Directors appointed the Electoral Board and approved the Electoral Plan for this new call for Elections. The Electoral Board was chaired by Carme Mur, founder of Mur&Partners and Business Impulsion, and included as members Mari Carmen Bruach, from l’Institut Agrícola Oficial Català de Sant Isidre, and Silvia Alsina, president of Roman.
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