Eloi Planes: "We must ensure that moderation is sexier than polarization"

Madrid"We must all ensure that moderation is sexier than polarization." This was one of the statements by Eloi Planes, president of the Family Business Institute (IEF), at the 29th edition of the congress that brings together this type of company. Consensus is not the solution to everything, but it is essential, he added, to build with solidity.

In his debut as host of the congress at the Gran Teatro Príncipe Pío in Madrid, Planes, elected president of the IEF in May, was forced to lengthen his speech. The fact is that early in the morning the president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, cancelled his participation after eight years of absence from this annual event because he made an institutional statement to call for elections.

Planes, who is the president of the Catalan swimming pool multinational Fluidra, took advantage of the situation to point out that there are issues that require "long-range vision," such as the cases of housing and healthcare. And he added that "there are problems that need less short-term calculation and more seeking agreements that are capable of lasting."

Long-range vision and continuity

In a speech that had to make up for the absence of Sánchez, he said that family companies can contribute their proposals "to the great debates" because they can provide a "long-term view and continuity" and maintain what is essential and do so over time. At the same time, he advocated for "strengthening public-private collaboration channels to provide solutions to major collective challenges."

He also made a fierce defense of companies controlled by families. At the opening of the congress, under the slogan "Center of gravity", he defended the role of these companies, as well as that of a country that bets on competitiveness and an administration that manages problems with a long-term view.

Planes also took the opportunity to make known his penchant for writing poetry and read to the audience one of the poems written in Catalan that he writes when traveling by plane. And he delivered a message from the King, who could not attend the congress because it coincided with a state visit to Finland. The monarch had participated in this annual event since his coronation in 2014. In the text that Planes read, he highlighted the values of family businesses.

At the same meeting, the president of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, during a friendly dialogue with the president of Corporación Hijos de Rivera and former president of the IEF, Ignacio Rivera, stated that he is aware that he is in the most important moment of his political life. He also reproached that Pedro Sánchez has not even presented any State budget project since the legislature began. And, even so, he has spent "more than a trillion euros without any kind of authorization" and increased public debt by more than 600,000 million. Before an audience of more than 700 business people who gave him a long ovation, he promised tax cuts so that young people can access housing, which, in his opinion, "has been the great failure of the executive" of Sánchez.

Rivera reminded him that he is "less than two months" away from the possibility of governing and, after painting a dark picture of the country's economic, social and political situation, Feijóo has assured that taxes will not rise and that they must be lowered.

In addition, he has committed to adjusting the personal income tax rate to inflation (deflate). He also dedicated some time to denouncing "the alarming data on absenteeism in Spain" and stated that institutions must "send a message of trust, make the word the instrument again and not the insult, and that the president must be a bridge builder".

Maintenance of staff

During the congress, which lasts until this Tuesday, an interactive survey was conducted in which attendees rated the economic situation at 4.83 out of 9 points, worse than a year ago (5.66). The majority believe that in the short and medium term, economic growth will be moderate and with limited job creation, while most expect to maintain their workforce and see an increase in sales figures this year.

Those consulted identify the difficulty of finding labor as one of the main risks to competitiveness, followed by inflation and interest rates. Regarding the most urgent reforms, the survey results primarily point to addressing workplace absenteeism, reducing bureaucratic hurdles, and greater collaboration between the administration and businesses.