Antonio Garamendi is now free to run for a third term as president of the CEOE. He still has more than three years left in office, but yesterday the general assembly of the employer approved the modification of the statutes of the organization which eliminates the limit of two consecutive terms introduced in 2014.
Once the limitation was removed, Garamendi did not want to reveal future intentions. “I have four summers left as president of the CEOE and the elections were a few months ago. I know what will happen in four years, there is a whole term left”, said Garamendi, adding that when the time comes “there will be freedom so that whoever wants to can present themselves”.
There is the circumstance that in 2018 Garamendi was the first beneficiary of the limit rule that Juan Rosell instituted and that prevented the then president of the CEOE from trying to repeat a third term; and that he will now be the only person who, in the immediate future, is favored by the modification of the statutes.
In addition to the revocation of the two-term limit, the conditions for presenting the candidacy for president are also tightened. In particular, the submission deadline is being brought forward and the number of endorsements required for the candidates to occupy the presidency is increased. Another modification is that there will be no vote in the event that a single candidate is presented, when until now the request of a single member forced the vote, which could be used to assess the support enjoyed by the elected. It is the set of changes that Garamendi proposed and that he has managed to carry out and with full support, without cracks.
In reality, the general assembly has ratified the result that was obtained in the executive committee last month, where the employer already showed support for the reform. He obtained the favorable vote of the vast majority of organizations, with Foment del Treball, with embrace included between Sánchez Llibre and Garamendi, the Madrid employer (CEIM), the Valencian employer (CEV), Cepyme and the ATA, in addition to other organizations such as the CNC, Confemetal, the AEB and Unespa among others. There was only one vote against, that of Ametic, the technology union, and one abstention, that of the pharmacy offices.
During the intervention in the assembly, Garamendi asked to limit the role of the legislator in favor of collective bargaining, and he attacked the central government for introducing “with nocturnal and treacherous” more than a dozen legislative changes “on the back of the social dialogue”. In relation to the labor reform, Garamendi has stated that they will defend what they signed, despite the fact that he is open to changes in the aspects that have been implemented without the agreement of the employer.
In addition, the businessman has also asked for an end to “the campaign of systematic harassment that we suffer against companies and entrepreneurs with first and last names”, and demands that entrepreneurs be respected.
