The economic and business world has received the electoral result with doubts and concern, but without hysteria. Concern fundamentally for the fear of the blockade and the repetition of elections or the configuration of an unstable executive. It was by no means a day of significant falls since the Ibex was left only 0.29%. A percentage of fall slightly worse than that of Frankfurt (0.08%), Paris (-0.07%) or Milan (0.18%).
The Spanish employer CEOE made a call “to responsibility so that those agreements can be reached that guarantee the highest possible level of stability and also the necessary moderation.” From Catalonia, in a tweet, the employers’ association Foment del Treball pointed out that “the necessary pacts that Spanish politics will have to make should focus on economic and social challenges”, on the European agenda and institutional stability.
In its statement, the CEOE urged the “sense of State and respect for the constitutional framework to preserve economic and social progress.” The employers’ association chaired by Antonio Garamendi offered the “collaboration of the companies with that government that could conform.”
The result of the elections makes a government with only a pact between the PP and Vox impossible, as has happened with some regional executives, because they do not reach an absolute majority. That is why the PSOE will have to seek alliances with the rest of the forces if it wants to opt to overcome the investiture.
The CEOE also took the opportunity to ask that Spanish companies “definitively cease the attacks that have been suffering from the institutional sphere”. In recent months, some members of the Government have questioned business decisions such as the escape from the Ferrovial headquarters. There were also tensions between the Government and the large Ibex companies regarding special taxes on energy companies and banks.
The businessmen’s request for agreements comes at a time when, in his opinion, “the Spanish economy envisions a slowdown scenario, which will foreseeably become more apparent after the summer.” The CEOE blamed this situation on the geopolitical tensions derived from the war in Ukraine, the impact of the restrictive monetary policy and high inflation. All this has an impact “on the consumption and investment of Spanish families and companies”
Some sectors are more concerned, above all, about the possibility of a stoppage, such as builders. The president of the National Construction Confederation (CNC), Pedro Fernández-Alén, pointed out yesterday that the sector views the results of the general elections “with some concern” “due to the fact that it takes time to form a government” and there is a “paralysis” of European Next Generation-EU funds while there is an Executive in office, reports Servimedia.
The clearest about the risks for the future was the president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, who considered that “the country cannot consider second elections, since they would generate more uncertainty and disaffection”, and appealed to the parties with parliamentary representation to seek formulas for dialogue and compromise that give stability to govern. About Catalonia, Cañete lamented “the sharp drop in participation” and warned about “the need to reduce political disaffection” in the community.
The position of the businessmen contrasts with the silence yesterday of the state confederations of CC.OO. and UGT, who will wait until today to make the assessments, despite the fact that they were very active during the campaign. On the other hand, from Catalonia it was pronounced CC.OO. The organization led by Javier Pacheco requested “a progressive and multinational pact to invest a left-wing government to continue working on the creation of a new social contract.”
