The 'silver chairs' blur the sectoral balance in the Chamber's plenary session

BarcelonaThe Pyrrhic victory of the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, Josep Santacreu, in the vote to increase from two to 10 the voluntary contribution seats with the highest contribution – known as the "silver chairs– has redefined the composition of the institution's plenary session. By reducing the number of elected members by open suffrage among the employers of the demarcation, from the current 52 to 44, the regulations require a change in the sectoral distribution of the chamber seats.

Among the affected economic sectors are trade, hospitality, and parts of industry, as stated in the modification of the internal regulations approved on July 16. Losses that have left the sectors of the corporation most critical of the proposal dissatisfied: "The balance of sectoral representativeness is broken, which should have the Chamber's plenary session as a priority," says Toni Fitó in a conversation with ARA, the visible face of the chamber representatives who united in the last elections under the pro-independence candidacy Eines de País.

According to the document approved by the plenary – it should be remembered, with a tense 29-29 tie that had to be resolved by Santacreu's casting vote – the 14 sectoral groups that made up the plenary will become 12. The new distribution is not discretionary, but rather responds to calculations defined by the chamber's regulations: according to the decree on the electoral regime of Chambers of Commerce, the distribution of seats in the plenaries of the corporations must respond to various factors; among which the most significant is the contribution to the gross value added (GVA) of the demarcation of each economic segment.

With this redefinition, commerce, which in the previous elections occupied 10 chamber seats, will occupy eight. Hospitality is also affected, with one less representative – it goes from the current four to only three –; as will services related to sales or transport and communications. For its part, the extractive industries and energy group will merge with the metal industry group, losing a representative along the way; as will happen with the paper and textile industry. On the other hand, financial mediation – the group that includes the only elected seat held by banks, occupied by Sabadell – , construction, and chemistry will maintain their weight in the Chamber. It should be noted that, like any reform of this scope in the Chamber, it still has to be approved by the Generalitat, in its capacity as the supervisory body of the corporation.

Reluctance with 'silver chairs'

The plenary's sources consulted by ARA regret this redefinition, given that the plenary's "sectoral balance" will be subject to the companies that end up occupying the silver chairs. For now, it should be remembered, the two vice presidencies with the highest voluntary contribution are held by CriteriaCaixa, the investment arm of the La Caixa foundation, and by RACC. Previously, however, companies of the size of Naturgy, CaixaBank, Indra or Abertis were present. From next year, Fitó observes, the 10 vice presidencies will be occupied by "companies with sufficient economic capacity to make an offer of 300,000 euros, which are normally concentrated in certain sectors of activity, far from the most atomized ones such as trade or hospitality".

Those affected by the sectors lament the move. "It is not normal that in a public law corporation, representation can be bought," criticizes Antoni Torres, president of the Federation of Pharmacy Associations of Catalonia and a member of the plenary for the commercial heading. "Of the two of us in my heading, one will fall. The representation of my sector will decrease, and that of another will increase," adds the businessman, who is also part of Pimec's board of directors. When consulted by this media, the corporation insists that the new plenary "responds to the economic reality of the country".

The Chamber, it should be remembered, justified this decision as a move to balance the representation of large companies in the plenary, and to prevent them from being "underrepresented". In this regard, Torres urges the corporation's government to encourage these business profiles to opt for vice presidencies chosen by suffrage. "If you want more large companies in the plenary, make large companies stand for election. If large companies take into account the needs of small ones, small ones will vote for them," argues the member; who points to the electoral victories of firms such as Ficosa or Saba as an example. "With the definition in hand, in 2023, 16 large companies stood for election, and 9 won. That is a fairly high percentage," Torres adds.

For its part, Fitó insists that larger companies could have other ways of participating in the Chamber, even beyond the positions elected by business vote. The Eines representative refers to the consultant members, a profile that allows access and voice in the plenary session, but does not grant a vote to the businesspeople who are part of it. Currently, the Barcelona corporation has 13, just over half of those it can appoint, up to 25. Among these seats are Juan José Brugera, president of the real estate company Colonial; or Pau Relat, president of MAT Holding and Fira de Barcelona. "If there are no more large companies among the consultant members, it is the responsibility of the executive committee," points out Fitó.

However, and with a view to the upcoming chamber elections, Eines is already proposing to reverse the reform of the silver chairs as one of its major battles. "We will bring the point to our program, and we believe that the vast majority of the Catalan productive fabric shares it," announces Fitó.