Antonio Garamendi already has a free hand if he decides to run for a third term as president of the CEOE. He still has more than three years left in office, but this morning, the employers’ association’s general assembly approved the modification of the organization’s statutes, eliminating the limit of two consecutive terms introduced in the time of Juan Rosell, in 2014.
After the general assembly, Garamendi did not want to reveal his intentions for the future. “I have four summers left as president of the CEOE, and the elections were four months ago. I know what will happen in four years, there is a whole term left, the important thing is that the organization works in an orderly manner and when the electoral process arrives, whoever wants to present themselves is free”, affirmed the president of the CEOE.
Therefore, with this change, Garamendi leaves open an option that until now he did not have, that of running for a third consecutive term, but he does not reveal his intentions. However, what is clear is that for the foreseeable future, he is the only person affected by this change in the statutes.
In his speech in the assembly, Garamendi has asked to limit the role of the legislator in favor of collective bargaining, and has attacked the Government for introducing “with nocturnal and treachery” more than a dozen legislative changes “with their backs to social dialogue.” It is one of Garamendi’s usual criticisms of the current government, which he considers that he has introduced changes without agreeing with the employers.
In relation to the labor reform, Garamendi has affirmed that they will defend what they signed, although he is open to small changes in the aspects that have been implemented without the agreement of the employer.
In general terms, he has also called for an end to “the campaign of harassment and demolition that we suffer against companies and businessmen with names and surnames”, and demands that businessmen be respected.
One of the reasons given by Garamendi for this suppression of the two-mandate limit is that the vast majority of organizations affiliated with the CEOE, more than 80% according to his calculations, do not have this limitation in their statutes.
The revocation of the limit of the two mandates has not been the only change introduced in the statutes of the CEOE. The conditions for presenting the candidacy for president are also hardened. Specifically, the submission deadline is brought forward and the number of guarantees required for candidates for the presidency is increased. Another modification is that there will be no vote in the event that a single candidate presents himself when until now the request of a single member forced this vote, which could be used to assess the support enjoyed by the chosen one.
Today the general assembly has ratified the result obtained in the executive committee last month, where the CEOE already showed its clear support for the reform. It obtained the favorable vote of the vast majority of organizations, with Foment del Treball, with a hug included between Sánchez Llibre and Garamendi, the Madrid employers’ association (CEIM), the Valencian (CEV), Cepyme and ATA, as well as other organizations such as CNC, Confemetal , AEB and Unespa among others. Only one vote against was registered, that of Ametic, the technology employers, and one abstention, that of the pharmacies (FEFE). In both cases they justified it because in their statutes they have a limitation of mandates.
