Garamendi (CEOE), on the political situation: "If a company does not present budgets, the manager is out on the street"

SantanderWhile Pedro Sánchez stands up to the demand for early elections from the opposition and some of his investiture partners in Congress, the president of the employers' association CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has emphasized the consequences of the Spanish government not having approved – in fact, not even presented – any budget law in the three years of the legislature. "In a company, if the director on duty does not present the budget, they know they are out on the street," he stated from Santander this Wednesday.

Although he assured that it is not his place to "get involved in politics" – and therefore avoided explicitly calling for elections – he agreed that it is up to businessmen to "call attention." Along these lines, he criticized that it would be "unbelievable" if the legislature ended without the Spanish executive having been able to push through even a single account. He added a touch of irony: "It might be unbelievable that on the day of the elections, when the time comes, if we ask a deputy from this legislature what budgets are, they ask us what they are."

In this context, he has distanced himself and recalled that "there is a parliament that has the responsibility and who must make the decisions", but he has recalled that "there are means" to reverse the situation, and has listed a call for elections, a motion of no confidence, and a vote of confidence. He has lamented the institutional "deterioration" that Spain is experiencing and has recalled that instability "is not good" for the economy.

The president of the CEOE has lashed out at the deficit – that is, the volume of spending that exceeds income, of 40,330 million euros – and Spain's debt, 1.7 trillion euros, and has assured that "we must start doing our homework" because the European Union says "that the open bar has ended a bit".

In defense of judges and police

Garamendi has come out to defend the separation of powers and the work of judges and police and State security forces, when the centence against the former minister and former high-ranking PSOE leader, José Luis Ábalos, and in full controversy over the withdrawal of the passport of Pedro Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez. "Companies cannot do more than say that we believe in the separation of powers, that they are there to work and do their job", he stressed, without journalists having to ask about the issue. He expressed his "support for the judges" and wanted to "thank the work of the security forces and corps". "We do not like interference from one place or another", he warned.

It has demanded "trust, political security, regulatory stability and quality of law" to facilitate business activity. In this regard, he has wished that Catalan companies that moved their registered office outside Catalonia in the context of 1-O "can one day continue to return". "We would all like that," he assured. He opined that "the numbers don't quite add up", considering that "762 companies have returned out of the 9,221 that left, according to Informa BD.

CEOE Elections

Garamendi has confirmed that he will run in the employers' association elections and will opt for a fourth term, and has assured that he has the "explicit support" of organizations and companies: "People have told me that now is the time to continue." He has asked for it to be a "clean campaign with positive proposals," where there isn't "a project that tries to tarnish colleagues." In parallel, he has tried to dissociate the CEOE meeting from the "dirty wars" that loom over the last year's Cepyme elections.

This Tuesday Garamendi gave the kick-off to the electoral process and this July 1st they will set the date for the vote, which will take place before the end of November, the deadline according to the employers' statutes. The objective is that they do not coincide with the Ibero-American summit that will be held in Madrid at the beginning of that month.