The employers' association Cecot makes a call to respect the institutions at the gates of a new electoral campaign

BarcelonaThe business association Cecot held the 31st Business Night this Thursday in Sant Cugat del Vallès. During the meeting, the president of the association, Xavier Panés, questioned the call for a general strike due to the housing crisis: "Now, a strike? A strike against whom? Against the Government? Against companies? Immersed in a spiral of rising costs and international disruptions that make their viability and continuity more difficult every day". Furthermore, in light of the call for elections, the president of the Vallès business association called for maintaining "respect for institutions" and not "denigrating adversaries". The meeting was attended by the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull, and the Spanish government's Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, among others.

Regarding the general strike scheduled for next November 11th, Panés wanted to remind of the weight of SMEs in the Catalan ecosystem and asked that the "error" of "thinking that the country's economy is that of the Ibex-35" not be committed. "We share the responsibility of improving the purchasing power of the country's workers. When will there be protests against the increase in energy costs or against the non-deflation of personal income tax brackets? When will we go out to demand the urgent reform of the administration or administrative simplification?", the leader of the entity asked during the celebration.

Joan Font, award winner

As it announced last month, the employers' association has awarded its main institutional recognition, the 2026 Cecot Recognition for Professional and Business Trajectory, to Joan Font i Fabregó, founder, president and CEO of the Bon Preu group. Cecot has thus distinguished a business career of more than fifty years marked "by entrepreneurial vision, commercial innovation, sustained growth, and the ability to build one of the main Catalan food distribution groups while maintaining local roots, its own identity, and commitment to the country".

Regarding the 2026 Cecot Recognition for Collective Contribution, the distinction has been awarded to the Catalunya Cultura Foundation. Other recognitions go to Roca Group, Smilics, Culinarium, ExE Global Forwarders (Envio x Envio), Anudal Industrial, Establiments Viena, and Grup Zanini.