The coordinator of the PP’s economic area, Juan Bravo, believes that there is no “justified reason” for the entry of the State Society of Industrial Participations (SEPI) into Telefónica and believes that it is an act of “populism” that threatens “break” the market.
The Council of Ministers gave the go-ahead this Tuesday to SEPI to acquire up to 10% of Telefónica after the Saudi telecommunications group STC announced in September its intention to become the largest shareholder of the Spanish company.
Although PSOE and Sumar consider that the entry of SEPI means defending the interests of Telefónica as a strategic company in the face of the Saudi irruption, the PP deputy believes that the Government has carried out this operation “because it wants to” and “without justified reason.” Especially considering that there is already what is known as ‘golden share’, with which the Government has veto power over certain decisions in the board of directors.
That is why Bravo believes that the entry of SEPI implies an act of “intervention” and “occupation” in private institutions. Specifically, he has warned that the public business holding movement seems to be a continuation of government intervention in the field of public institutions. “Now it seems that the next step is intervention, occupation and placement within the scope of the private sector,” stressed the ‘popular’ deputy in the halls of Congress.
In fact, he recalled that the Telefónica operation is not the first example of this “intervention”, because in his opinion he already did it with Indra when SEPI bought a package of shares to become the company’s first shareholder.
Regarding the possibility of the State continuing to acquire shareholding packages in strategic companies, something that groups such as Sumar or ERC support, Bravo considers it a form of “populism” that could begin to “break” the market.
He has also asserted that the “minimum” thing the Government should have done is inform the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of the operation, as he is the leader of the opposition before “finding out through the media.”
