The Catalan employers’ association Foment del Treball has decided to set foot directly in Madrid with the aim of making its voice heard directly in the capital. The organization’s Board of Directors, chaired by Josep Sánchez Llibre, was informed at their meeting this month. The movement admits two readings, the one of an employer’s action, strictly as an economic lobby, within the framework of a redefinition of its relations with the CEOE. The second, perhaps more relevant, is that of a position in the long-awaited reconstruction of the Catalan center-right space, previously occupied by pujolist nationalism, and non-existent after the devastating tornado of the procés; more political authority in Madrid that should result, in turn, in more political force in Barcelona.
According to what was announced by Sánchez Llibre at the aforementioned board of directors, “Foment will open representation in Madrid through the Barcelona Society for Economic and Social Studies (SBEES)”, founded in 1907 and whose bases of action have been renewed during the current mandate. The entity is chaired by the president of Foment.
The sources consulted have ruled out any reading in terms of internal disagreements with the leadership of the CEOE, chaired by Antonio Garamendi, with whom they claim to maintain a much more intimate relationship than in the previous term. But the decision to open a representation in Madrid comes after the recent elections for the presidency of the employers’ association, last November, in which the Basque businessman widely won the other candidate, Virginia Guinda from Barcelona, ??backed precisely by Sánchez Llibre.
In the background, the dissatisfaction of the Catalan business community for a management style described as little participatory and presidential. The two top leaders of the Spanish and Catalan employers have held different positions on relevant issues in the past. Garamendi supported the labor reform of the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, but rejected the latest increase in the minimum wage; while Sánchez opposed the first and was more open with the second.
Foment, the most important territorial organization of CEOE, as well as a founder, with Carles Ferrer Salat as its first president, considered that his opinion was not taken into account. In the political sphere, however, divergent points of view have not been expressed. Garamendi supported the government’s pardon for the pro-independence prisoners and has avoided publicly criticizing Sánchez Llibre’s negotiating moves and his efforts in favor of a reform of the Penal Code and the measure of grace. With this objective, he went to prison to visit the imprisoned politicians and also met with President Pedro Sánchez.
After his unquestionable victory, Garamendi reorganized the leadership and Sánchez Llibre ceased to be responsible for relations with the Cortes, a task he had carried out since 2016, at the request of the then president of the CEOE, the Catalan Juan Rosell, and which gave continuity to his previous performance as deputy in Congress representing the nationalist coalition CiU. at a time of full harmony between the two most influential spheres in Catalonia. Sánchez Llibre continues to hold a vice-presidency of the CEOE and maintains regular contact with the different parliamentary political forces. An essential space for the Catalan elite, essential both to project their sociopolitical proposals and to aspire to the reconstruction of a party with electoral force close to his thesis.
In fact, Foment has already rented some offices at number 11 Cedaceros street in the capital and it so happens that it shares a landing with the Association of parliamentary journalists. Although the Catalan employers shy away from using the concept of lobby or pressure group, the intention to maintain activity around the political and parliamentary world, in which legislation and key regulations for economic activity are decided, is evident. And he believes that he has his own interests, not always coinciding with those of the leadership of the Spanish employers’ association. Lobbying that is part of its tradition and of the Catalan bourgeoisie, from the times of the defense of protectionism in the 19th century, through Francesc Cambó, the Francoist Miquel Mateu and the aforementioned Ferrer Salat.
This new representation of Foment in Madrid will be headed by Jordi García Viñas, director of labor relations at CEOE during the second part of Rosell’s term (2014-2018) and who was replaced by Garamendi when he won his first elections, in November 2018. García Viñas is a professor of Labor Law.
In fact, in addition to removing the direction of these parliamentary relations from Sánchez Llibre, Garamendi agreed to create a commission with the same purpose and headed by the president of the Valencian businessmen, Salvador Navarro, a man very close to him. In addition, the CEOE has signed José Luis Ayllón, Mariano Rajoy’s short-lived chief of staff during the last months of his presidency of the Government. Before, in the two popular legislatures, Ayllón was Secretary of State for relations with the Cortes, a function comparable to the one he will carry out now, but from the private sector as a lobbyist. He was considered a Sorayista, in reference to the former Vice President of the Government, Soraya Saénz de Santamaría, as well as the current president of the CEOE foundation, Rajoy’s former Minister of Labor, Fátima Báñez, mother of the PP labor reform.
The activities of the SBEES in the capital will start with “the implementation of a permanent space for relations between Barcelona, ??Madrid, Seville, Malaga and other cities to implement economic, tourist and cultural spaces capable of competing internationally”, according to its declaration of objectives.
