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On the margin

Pedro Sánchez reminds that there are large family businesses

Unverified translation
The President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, greets Francisco J. Riberas (r), president of the Family Business Institute, during the closing, at the Valencia Congress Palace, of the XXI National Family Business Congress, held on October 30, 2018
The President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, greeting Francisco J. Riberas, president of the Family Business Institute at the Valencia Congress Palace within the framework of the XXI National Family Business Congress. Kai Forsterling / Efe
Agustí Sala
20/09/2026 - 07:55 h.
2 min

BarcelonaNo one likes to go where they believe they will not be well received or where an ovation is not a given. That is what the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, must have thought, as he last attended the Family Business Institute (IEF) congress in October 2018 in Valencia. From 2019 to 2025, he stopped attending, even though this powerful lobby had invited him. It includes some of the main companies controlled by families, from Mercadona to Banco Santander, Barceló, Banca March, Mango, or Amancio López's Hotusa, which joined last year.

For this year's edition, which is being held in Madrid from October 4th to 6th, Sánchez will give the opening speech. It will be his return to this event, which is held in a different Spanish city every year, in the midst of a context of polarization. Some say he will replace the King, who surprisingly will not be present for the first time because the meeting with the family business owners coincides with a state visit to Finland. The monarch had not missed a single edition since he succeeded his father to the throne in 2014.

We do not know for sure now if Sánchez is taking advantage of the fact that the meeting is taking place close to home, the Moncloa Palace, and with a new IEF president at the helm, Eloi Planes, top executive of the multinational Fluidra, a prominent member of the Catalan business community, and a person of dialogue and moderation, but he has decided to participate.

The break with this organization occurred shortly after Sánchez acceded to the Spanish prime ministership after winning the motion of no confidence against Mariano Rajoy's PP government. At that time, Sánchez demanded fiscal solidarity from the family business owners in a speech that was received with coldness (to be benevolent). The person who was the president of the IEF at the time, Francisco J. Riberas, the boss of Gestamp, did not bite his tongue and criticized the economic policy of the newly inaugurated executive before the president, saying it was too focused on the short term.

Afterwards, the congresses were held under the presidency of Riberas himself, from 2018 to 2020; Marc Puig (Puig), from 2020 to 2022; Andrés Sendagorta (Sener), from 2022 to 2024, and Ignacio Rivera (Corporación Hijos de Rivera), from 2024 until May 2026, without him participating in the meeting. Now, with elections on the horizon, Sánchez, who had ceded this ground to the leaders of the PP, Pablo Casado and Alberto Núñez Feijóo –although not always taking advantage of the occasion– must have thought that it is necessary to go fishing in all the pools. Every vote counts.

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