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The new president: “I want to tell you, with the utmost vehemence, that the future begins today, the future to achieve the great objectives to which we have committed ourselves: Rejuvenate, Renew, Modernise, Feminise and Enthuse our organisation”.
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The new Board of Directors, meeting immediately after the Assembly, appoints, at the proposal of the President, the new Vice Presidents, who are: Virginia Guinda, Joaquim Llansó, Elisabeth Cañigueral, Juan Roget, Baldiri Ros and María Helena de Felipe.
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The Board of Directors also appoints, on the proposal of the President, the new Executive Committee, composed of 31 members of the Board of Directors.
The Electoral 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. Sánchez Llibre’s candidacy, with 219 supporters -the Statutes require a minimum of 40-, was the only one presented in the electoral process that has culminated today with the ratification of the new members of the Board of Directors. As there was only one candidacy for the Presidency of Foment and 76 candidatures for each of the members of the Board of Directors, it was not necessary to submit the candidates to the vote of the voters of the Assembly.
Sánchez Llibre addressed the plenary session of Foment’s Assembly as president-elect: “I want to tell you, with the utmost vehemence, that the future begins today, the future to achieve the great objectives to which we have committed ourselves: Rejuvenate, Renew, Modernise, Feminise and Enthuse our organisation“.
Josep Sánchez Llibre with the vice-presidents: Virgínia Guinda, Joaquim Llansó, Elisabeth Cañigueral, Joan Roget, Baldiri Ros and Maria Helena de Felipe. © Lluís Pecoustán
Vice-Presidencies and new Executive Committee
The Board of Directors, meeting immediately after the Electoral Assembly, has chosen, at the proposal of the President, the new Vice-Presidencies of the entity, which will be occupied by Virgínia Guinda, Joaquim Llansó, Elisabeth Cañigueral, Joan Roget, Baldiri Ros and Maria Helena de Felipe.
On the other hand, the Board has elected, also at the proposal of the President, the new Executive Committee, which will be formed, in addition to the President, Josep Sánchez Llibre, and the Vice-Presidents and the Secretary General, by the following members of the Board:
- Ramon Adell (Society of Economic Studies)
- Mar Alarcón (BCN Tech City)
- Ramon Asensio (UPM)
- Josep A. Belmonte (CEPTA)
- Isabel Buesa (ENDESA)
- Josep Collado (FECIC)
- Joan Díaz (UEI. Cercle d’Empresaris)
- Miquel Donnay (Consell de Gremis)
- Santiago García-Nieto ( Confederació Empresarial d’Hostaleria i Restauració de Catalunya)
- Josep M. Gardeñes (COELL)
- Joan Gaspart (Enllaç Turisme CEOE)
- Josep Martínez Vila (Saba Infraestructuras)
- Bernat Morales (Mercadona)
- Cinta Pascual (ACRA)
- Ernest Plana (FOEG)
- Alfons Porro (Gremi d’Àrids de Catalunya)
- Ernest Quingles (EPSON)
- Enric Reyna (Associació de Promotors i Constructors d’Edificis de Catalunya
- Josep M. Rodríguez (CEDAC)
- Carlos Romaní (SEAT)
- Ciril Rozman (SG Aguas de Barcelona)
- Francina Valls (Criteria)
- Miguel Vicente (BCN Tech City)
- Alfonso Vilá Recolons (CEB)
Likewise, the President has the statutory power to directly appoint 10 members of the Board of Directors, who in this case were: Jordi Alberich (M&A Mergers and Acquisitions), Isabel Buesa (Endesa), Elisabeth Cañigueral (Grup Cañigueral), Francesc X. Cima (Observatori 2050), Vicente Codes (Cotem), Albert Colomer (CAT Formació), Jaume Roura (Lesseps Motor), Jordi García Tabernero (Naturgy), Francina Valls (Criteria), Miguel Vicente (BCN Tech City).
Making the most of the talent and experience of the current Foment
The new President has assured his will to “combine and take advantage of the talent and experience of the current Foment” to take a leap forward and maintain the economic independence, the capacity of influence and the relevance of the Foment. These values will be put to work “intensely to facilitate the return of companies that have left Catalonia“.
In this sense, Sánchez Llibre has called for “unity and audacity” to make a modern and influential Foment: “Unity around our team, of the people who have taken a step forward and are part of the management of the new stage of the Foment del Treball; Unity to face the defence of our quota of representation with the dispute we have with Pimec; Unity also with regard to the situation of Cecot; Unity to face the generational replacement in our; Unity to face the feminisation of the Foment del Treball.
Also audacity:
“To be daring to be more dynamic, to give more services and opportunities to the country’s companies, to attract young businessmen and businesswomen, and to recognise women’s very important role in the Foment. We also want to be bold enough to make proposals and provide solutions, promoting debate in the Foment del Treball committees”.
“We aspire to influence more and better the Parliamentary Groups of the Catalan Parliament, the Government of the Generalitat, as well as the Spanish Parliament and the State Government, the Barcelona City Council and the European Parliament: all institutions, with the aim of defending the activity and progress of our companies. Foment must be the great local employers’ association, sensitive to all the concerns of the Catalan business world. For this reason we are going to create, as has been done in the CEOE, a department for relations with the Public Administrations”.
“We must be bold in demonstrating without complexes the pride of being entrepreneurs”.
Sánchez Llibre also summarised his proposed action plan (set out in his 30-point electoral programme), which must be debated and validated by the Board of Directors, and which he summarised in the following pillars:
- Modernise and create the Agenda 2030 Commission
- Promote an economic and business think tank, to debate, analyse and propose alternatives in the face of constant economic and social developments
- Create a commission for business financing and business rescue, with a focus on increasing non-bank financing.
- To continue working hard to make Fomento a useful and effective instrument for the internationalisation of our companies
- To propose a reduction in the energy costs of our productive fabric
More committees and greater representation of the territory in the governing bodies for a more dynamic and representative Foment
The new president of the Foment, Josep Sánchez Llibre, in his speech to the Assembly, argued that the management and executive team of the employers’ association “must adapt to the new times”. In this sense, Sánchez Llibre has announced the presentation in a short period of time to the Board of Directors “a change of Statutes: a change that will give Lleida, Tarragona and Girona a vice-presidency, because being rooted in the territory is fundamental to consolidate our presence. I want the territories to be present in the hard core of the leadership. We will also extend them to other areas of the organisation, including FEPIME, in order to adapt our organisation to the new times, to the new economic and social challenges in order to configure a more agile management when it comes to making decisions”.
Likewise, the president remarked that the change in the Statutes will visualise “the profound changes we want to achieve: changes in our Working Commissions. There will be more of them in order to reach all parts, all issues and all problems, to seek solutions and alternatives to the conflicts that our companies and business sectors may have. In the next few days I will inform you of the new composition of the Commissions and our desire to make tactical changes in the management of Foment to improve our strategy as an entity“.
The Electoral Process
The Electoral Assembly marks the end of the electoral process that began with the Board’s call for elections on 1 October. As established in the Electoral Regime of Foment’s Statutes, the Board of Directors appointed the Electoral Board and approved the Electoral Plan for this new call for elections. The Electoral Board was formed by Joan Castells (Unió Catalana d’Entitats Asseguradores i Reasseguradores [UCEAC]), Juan Torras (TG Asesores), and Manuel Rosillo (Comissió de Formació Foment del Treball).
As there was no more than one candidate for the presidency, once the established deadlines had passed, the Bureau proclaimed, and the Assembly approved, Josep Sánchez Llibre as the new president of Foment. In the case of the Board of Directors, once the deadline for the presentation of candidacies had passed, as there were 76 candidacies for each of the members of the Board of Directors, it was not necessary to vote. The seats on the Board of Directors are distributed as follows: Sectoral Organisations (38); Territorial Organisations (23); Individual Members (15); and Free designation of the President (10).
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