Josep Sánchez Llibre and Antonio Garamendi will stage today the new climate of understanding between two business leaders who until November last year staged an intense duel within the employers’ association. It will be during the general assembly of the CEOE, which must definitively approve the change of statutes that will mean ending the term limitation of the president of the employer. A modification that will give Garamendi free rein if he decides to run for office for the third time.
“Foment approves giving support to the modification of the statutes that will be discussed at the CEOE general assembly on July 19,” the Catalan employers’ association wrote on its Twitter account on Tuesday. A confirmation of the position that he maintained in the executive committee in June, in which he highlighted the intervention of Josep Sánchez Llibre to reiterate his loyalty to the president of the CEOE and to give his support to the change of statutes, and which was followed by a hug between Sanchez Llibre and Garamendi.
In short, after the November elections, in which Garamendi overwhelmingly beat the Foment candidate, Virginia Guinda, the Catalan employers changed their tactics.
On the one hand, once the scrutiny was over, it was about seeking to rebuild relations with who was going to preside over the CEOE in the coming years, and in this field, the pressure of the Catalan business establishment was also noticeable, alarmed by the possibility that a climate of confrontation. In December, in the composition of the new CEOE team, pragmatism prevailed and there was an entente between the two parties. In addition, Foment also wanted to stop playing the role of opponent in chief after verifying how Garamendi’s supposed critics, at the moment of truth, never took the expected step forward and remained in a discreet position, leaving the Catalans in front of the manifestation.
In this context, when Garamendi took the initiative to modify the statutes, Foment, after an internal debate, decided to give its support. In this way, in the executive committee, the current president has already won the game. His proposal went ahead with only one vote against and one abstention, which today guarantees him a peaceful day.
The CEOE established this limit of two terms in April 2014, with Juan Rosell in the presidency of the organization. Rosell, who began to lead the employers’ association in 2010, complied with the limit established then in the statutes and left the presidency in 2018, after two terms, being replaced by Garamendi. In the previous period, there was no limitation, which allowed José María Cuevas, for example, to lead this business organization for no less than 23 years.
