The businessman Josep Santacreu has presented this Monday his list for the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce elections with 46 names grouped under the motto “Va d’empresa” and with two key promises: focus on defending business interests, without bias political, and put an end to the “marginalization” of the institution which, in his opinion, is reflected, among other things, in the loss of the presidency of the Chamber of Spain, where an important part of the state and European resources for the cameras.
In an act at the Cercle d’Economia, the former general director of DKV also advanced the possibility of reversing some of the decisions of the current team, such as the drastic reduction (from 14 to 2) of the plenary seats that they occupy in exchange of an economic contribution, the so-called silver chairs. “And they have not even found candidates for those two positions,” he denounced. This, he added, in a context of deteriorating results, with three consecutive years of losses and a strong increase in the wage bill.
Supported by representatives of some of the companies that appear on his list, such as Juan José Brugera (Colonial), Eloi Planes (Cepex, from the Fluidra group), Joan Ametller (Ametller group) and Emili Rousaud (Factorenergia), Santacreu has insisted that It is a “plural and transversal” candidacy both in the representation of business segments, from self-employed to large companies, as well as in the political sensitivities of its members. “Now each one must work to win the seat in its corresponding section,” he recalled.
Unlike Eines de País-Un Pas Més, Santacreu does not present candidates for the 52 members of the plenary who are covered by suffrage. It presents only 46. For the other five, support will be given to entities that have chosen to compete for free – Banc Sabadell, Bon Preu, Saba, Col·legi de Farmacèutics and Gremi d’Hotels -, as explained by Enric Jové, the campaign director . And for a sixth position there is no candidate.
In the first section, the one related to energy and water, the battle is very close: CatGas (Eines), Rousaud (Santacreu) and Agbar, who is going it alone and has refused to support any of the previous lists.
On the other hand, Santacreu has rejected participation in debates proposed by the team led by Mònica Roca, whose candidacy is supported, as it was four years ago, by the Catalan National Assembly (ANC).
