Sánchez Llibre revalidates the presidency of Foment unopposed
The president imposes himself with 290 supports and attacks fiscal pressure and absenteeism
BarcelonaWithout surprises, as everything at Foment del Treball. The president of the large Catalan employers' association, Josep Sánchez Llibre, has revalidated his position without opposition, as he did in the last electoral contest, in 2022. Amid a long ovation from the noble hall of the business association's headquarters, on Via Laietana; and driven by Vangelis's arrangements in Chariots of Fire, Sánchez Llibre has accepted the mandate in the presence of the top figures of the Catalan private sector. The new term, the third, will last until 2030. Among others, at the front row were present the president of the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organizations (CEOE), the main Spanish employers' association, Antonio Garamendi; the president of Banc Sabadell, Josep Oliu; or the former Spanish Minister of Employment and Social Security and president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez.
Sánchez Llibre will begin on Tuesday a term that he has described as "continuist", based on 290 supports from individual and collective members of the entity. The first task he has been assigned is to "deepen the relationship with the Generalitat". Firstly, to unblock the budgets and break the streak of extensions, because "a country without public accounts cannot function". In this regard, he has expressed optimism that the Party of the Socialists of Catalonia and Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya "will reach an agreement" on the negotiations of the past few days. Despite this, he insisted on warning against an "increase in fiscal pressure on companies and families in Catalonia" through the budget.
"Decalogue" for businesses
It has also been set as a horizon to cover the gap in Catalan infrastructure; and to recover the historical deficit that the country suffers from,
It has also set as a horizon the closing of the gap in Catalan infrastructures; and recovering the historical deficit that the country suffers, of close to 50,000 million euros, according to data from the same employers' association, of close to 50,000 million euros, according to data from the same employers' association. And it has recovered the energy line that Foment has taken since the general blackout of April 2025, in defense of nuclear power plants that, in its opinion, "must extend their useful life", both in the Principality and in the State as a whole.
Looking ahead to the coming years, Sánchez Llibre has taken up the banner of the "fight against absenteeism" that the rest of the country's employers are also tackling. He has described the phenomenon as a "silent emergency", due to the "brake on productivity" it causes in companies of all sectors. The goal would be, according to Foment's leader, to reduce the current level, from 5.5%, to 4%, the rate of labor absences recorded in 2019. "Achieving this milestone would mean reducing by 16,000 million euros" the subsidies for sick workers, divided between companies and Social Security.
Against "radicality"
The uncontested victory of Sánchez Llibre has been accentuated by the interventions of the state's business leaders. The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has lamented the "sectarianism and radicality" he attributes to the Spanish government, especially in matters related to labor regulation. "Instead of letting us work, they impose a monologue on us that brings us pre-determined agreements. And that's when we have to distance ourselves," he argued.
In line with Foment's demands, the leader of Spanish employers has criticized the "demonization" of businessmen, in a social environment where "it seems that it is forbidden to make a profit." As an example, he criticized the taxes on banks and energy companies, which have been in place since the beginning of the war in Ukraine: "What a great idea to tax banks and electricity companies when the Energy and Climate Plan estimates that 300 billion euros must be invested." Against this radicality, Garamendi has called for "unity" among business organizations, which seems to have prevailed in the last four years, with the alternative candidacy for the CEOE of the Catalan Virgínia Guinda already in the rearview mirror. "Unity makes us invincible. And that's without us having the BOE," concluded the president of the Spanish employers' association.