The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has extended his hand to the large businessmen and investors present at the World Economic Forum in Davos to “enhance synergies and establish new formulas for public-private collaboration” and has asked them not to violate “postulates neoliberals and to combat the “reactionary wave that sweeps the world.” “The Government of Spain is your ally,” Sánchez proclaimed, demanding that economic actors “act accordingly” and “responsibly,” and not allow themselves to be dragged “by those radical media and political parties that are obsessed with projecting us as systemic rivals. Actors, he has said, “who profit by selling polarization, do not fall into their trap.”
“Let’s collaborate” is the message that the Chief Executive wanted to convey in his speech. Sánchez has asked business and financial leaders to help “raise the purchasing power of workers, stop the climate emergency, vindicate international standards and defend democracy and fight against the regression represented by the reactionary wave sweeping the world.” . “In short: help us give people a better life” and “let’s not swallow the old neoliberal postulates,” he proclaimed. “I ask you to get involved,” he claimed.
“We have learned from our own experience that there is a virtuous circle between growth and redistribution of growth. “That the best way to grow, and the most resilient, is to ensure that the benefits of growth reach the entire population, especially the most vulnerable,” Sánchez added.
For the President of the Government, without a solid welfare state, companies’ business models “would collapse like a house of cards.”
“Spain is a paradise for companies that want to prosper through innovation, talent, clean and cheap energy, institutional stability and first-class infrastructure. For companies that want to get rich by generating real value and paying the taxes that correspond to them. We welcome these companies with open arms,” Sánchez defended in the 2024 Davos edition.
Sánchez has even spoken of “a new virtuous triangle formed by the private sector, the State and civil society that allows us to guarantee economic prosperity, increase well-being and equality and ensure environmental sustainability for everyone and around the world.”
The Chief Executive has also warned of the dangers of Artificial Intelligence for populations and has called for “paying more attention to the concerns of our workers, our young people and our elders, and less attention to the empty promises of some Silicon Valley gurus.” , who are more interested in gaining followers or climbing the Forbes millionaire list than in the true progress of humanity.
This afternoon Sánchez held an informal meeting with the dozen businessmen from large Spanish companies present in Davos whom his cabinet had summoned. The meeting, government sources highlight, has taken place in an “atmosphere of cordiality”, a vision corroborated by several companies.
Present in the room were José Manuel Entrecanales, president of Acciona; Hector Grisi, CEO of Banco Santander; Carlos Torres and Onur Genç, president and CEO of BBVA; Maarten Wetselaar, CEO of Cepsa; Rafael del Pino, executive president of Ferrovial; Ignacio S. Galán, president of Iberdrola; Francisco Reynés, president of Naturgy; Josu Jon Imaz, CEO of Repsol; José María Álvarez-Pallete, president of Telefónica; and José Luis Blanco, CEO of Nordex. Ana Botín, for her part, came to greet Sánchez but she was not present at the meeting due to an act by her entity that coincided with this appointment.
The conversation with the Spanish managers lasted half an hour, according to sources familiar with the meeting, and focused mainly on artificial intelligence, the impact and the risks; in the reindustrialization of Europe; on Spain’s economic prospects and labor challenges. The first to speak was Imaz, CEO of Repsol, who wanted to highlight that the president had placed too much emphasis on the risks and not on the opportunities for its development. There was no mention of taxes on banks and energy companies that have been extended for another year.
In the morning, Sánchez had highlighted in an interview on Bloomberg that he maintains “a positive relationship” with the Ibex 35 companies. Gone are the phrase he uttered about that connection, which he short-circuited: “If Botín and Galán protest, it is because we are in the wrong.” good direction.” “The development of the stock markets in Spain, for example, last year was quite exceptional. And this is a very important example of the public-private collaboration that we have established with Spanish private companies and the Spanish Government in recent years And I am looking forward to strengthening this cooperation,” he said.
Sánchez also spoke about the announced, but not executed, participation of the State in Telefónica through SEPI: “Cybersecurity is also very important for companies and the Spanish government. And that is why we are going to participate in Telefónica. To reinforce and strengthen all matters related to cybersecurity. And he added that the return to ownership of the telecommunications company “is part of a strategy, of a public-private relationship in order to jointly confront these challenges.”
The President of the Government also referred to Indra in Davos. “Our objective is to structure and transform the defense industry in Spain.” “I think we can get a lot of benefits and leverage our assets in this new industry we are building in the EU,” he said.
