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

SantanderWhile Pedro Sánchez resists the demand for early elections by 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 budgets, he knows he is out on the street," he stated from Santander this Wednesday.

Although he assured that it is not his role to "get involved in politics" – and, therefore, he avoided explicitly calling for elections – he agreed that it is up to employers to "call attention." Along these lines, he criticized that it would be "incredible" if the legislature ended without the Spanish executive having been able to push through even some accounts. He added a touch of irony: "It could be incredible that on the day there are 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 enumerated 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 railed against 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 is over a bit".

In defense of judges and police

Garamendi has come out to defend the separation of powers and the work of judges, police, and state security forces, while the conviction against former minister and ex-high-ranking official of the PSOE, José Luis Ábalos, is still fresh, and amid the controversy over the passport withdrawal of Pedro Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez, and amid the controversy over the passport withdrawal of Pedro Sánchez's wife, Begoña Gómez. "Companies can only 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 matter. He expressed his "support for 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.

He demanded "confidence, political security, regulatory stability, and quality of law" to facilitate business activity. In this regard, he expressed his hope that Catalan companies that moved their registered office outside of Catalonia in the context of 1-O "can continue to return someday." "We would all like that," he assured. He opined that "the numbers do not quite add up," considering that 762 companies have returned out of the 9,221 that left, according to Informa BD.

Elections at CEOE

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 it is time to continue." He has asked for it to be a "clean campaign with positive proposals", where there is no "project that simply 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 election results.

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.