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

Madrid"We must all achieve 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 declaration calling for elections.

Planes, who is the president of the Catalan pool multinational Fluidra, made a fierce defense of companies controlled by families. At the opening of the congress, under the motto "Center of gravity", he defended the role of family businesses, as well as a country that bets on competitiveness and an administration that manages problems with a long-term view.

He said that family companies can contribute their proposals "to the great debates" because they can provide a "long view and continuity" and maintain what is essential and do so over time. Planes also took the opportunity to make known his hobby of writing poetry and read to the auditorium one of the poems written in Catalan that he writes when he travels by plane.

He also conveyed a message from the King, who could not attend the congress because it coincided with a state trip 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.