European technological sovereignty has been a hot topic in recent discussions within the technology sector. This was also the case at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), which this year offered several conferences dedicated to the issue. Faced with a situation in which the United States and China dominate the technological race and the foundations of the global order are changing, strategic sovereignty is becoming a crucial challenge for governments and industries. And where does Europe stand?

The sale of almost all subsidiaries in Latin America and the workforce reduction plan (ERE) that could result in the departure of more than 5,000 workers (the final impact is still being negotiated) have translated into a drag on Telefónica's 2025 results. Between January and December of last year, telecom The company, chaired by Marc Murtra, lost €4.318 billion due to the extraordinary impact of both factors, as reported Tuesday by the company to the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). These are the largest losses in the last twenty years, but the company sees it as an essential step – albeit undoubtedly difficult to accept – to meet its new roadmap. The stock remained fairly stable throughout the day with slight declines.

Marc Murtra's arrival at Telefónica almost a year ago It caused quite a stir, and not only because it was officially announced on a Saturday morning after the news leaked to the media. It also meant the departure of José María Álvarez-Pallete, who had been at the helm of the company since 2016. This change was driven by the Spanish government – which holds 10% of the share capital through SEPI – and it didn't raise any eyebrows at CriteriaCaixa, the other major shareholder. telecom with 10% of the share capital.

Who manufactures weapons in Spain? The European consortium Airbus, Navantia (a state-owned company), Indra, GDELS-Santa Bárbara Sistemas, Expal, and ITP Aero. These are the major players in the Spanish military industry, which, as in most countries, concentrates the bulk of the business in the hands of a few. Specifically, these six companies control 80% of the market. In Catalonia, only Indra has a presence: it has up to 12 facilities spread across the region, with 3,500 employees. Indra, an IBEX 35 company headquartered in Madrid, has made significant progress in recent years, ever since the Sánchez government assigned it the role of "national coordinator" in the program to replace the Eurofighter aircraft in 2019. In 2020, Marc Murtra, from the Socialist Party, arrived as non-executive chairman—he is now executive chairman of Telefónica. With 28% of the share capital, the State is Indra's largest shareholder. Murtra's predecessor was Fernando Abril-Martorell, a member of the People's Party (PP). The current CEO is Ángel Escribano: Escribano Mechanical & Engineering (EM&E Group) is Indra's second-largest shareholder, with 14.3%. The other major shareholders are the Basque company SAPA (7.9%) and the Amber fund (7.3%), the main owner of Prisa. In 2024, Indra's profit increased by 35% compared to the previous year, reaching €278 million.

Forty years later, Telefónica is preparing to say goodbye to the New York Stock Exchange. The company, chaired by Marc Murtra, has begun the process of delisting from Wall Street, as reported Wednesday afternoon by the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). This move marks a historic turning point, considering that Telefónica was the first Spanish company to list in the United States, where it debuted in June 1987. The decision comes at a time when the company is undergoing a change of direction that, among other things, involves its definitive exit from Latin America. telecom It is divesting itself of almost all its subsidiaries across the Atlantic—; exploring new businesses and simplifying operations, as well as reducing costs. In this context, it is necessary to frame a workforce reduction plan (ERE) that will affect, at a minimum, more than 4,550 employees of the company and that the company and unions are finalizing negotiations.

Telefónica has officially announced its intention to implement a workforce reduction plan (ERE). In a meeting with the main unions held this Monday morning, the company, chaired by Marc Murtra, announced that the ERE will affect seven of Telefónica's businesses, most notably Telefónica España, Telefónica Móviles, and Telefónica Soluciones. These three businesses are joined by Global Solutions, Telefónica Innovación Digital, and Movistar+. UGT, one of the main unions, explained that the company justified the decision on "objective grounds," according to a press release. "We will negotiate in good faith, through dialogue and consensus, but with firmness," UGT stated. The CCOO union also issued a statement. The union will fight to guarantee the "voluntary and universal nature" of the workforce reduction plan (ERE), "adequate" economic and social conditions, and that it be "linked to retirement" and not have "economic disadvantages" for the staff. The unions criticized management for using this as a way to implement "organizational adjustments" within the company.

Telefónica will announce next week what workforce reduction plan (ERE) it is considering for its staff. telecom Telefónica has summoned the three main unions at the company (UGT, CCOO, and Sumados) for a meeting next Monday to explain how it will implement the new strategic plan and what impact the proposed cost reductions will have on employees. Therefore, the possibility of implementing a collective dismissal procedure (ERE) exists, according to union sources who spoke to ARA.

Marc Murtra, president of Telefónica, is known to have a devotion to English authors and readings on history, economics and political philosophy. as the ARA explained in a profileFrom there, to what extent has the British economist John Maynard Keynes inspired the new roadmap of the telecomWe don't know. But what became clear last week, while Murtra was presenting the strategic plan for the next five years, is that this is an author who has not gone unnoticed by the Catalan executive when it comes to planning, and therefore outlining, the path he wants the company to follow. telecom From now on.

Marc Murtra, president of Telefónica, anticipated a change of course last February. He had only been in the company for a month. telecom replacing José María Álvarez-Pallete, he argued that the company needed to adapt to the changing times. Nine months later, coinciding with the presentation of results for the period between January and September – Telefónica lost 1.08 billion euros – Murtra has put the announced change in writing. This Tuesday, under the name Transform and GrowTelefónica has presented its strategic plan for the next five years. "It will be a difficult battle," the Catalan executive acknowledged to analysts and investors, referring to the plan presented. However, he defended the need to fight it to become "the leading [telecommunications] operator in Europe." But the difficulties, at least initially, have not gone unnoticed by the market. Telefónica closed Tuesday's trading session with a 13.12% drop, one of the steepest in its history, with the share price settling at €3.73. One of the most sensitive issues for investors, and one that Telefónica has managed to address, is its shareholder remuneration policy. The company will maintain its 2025 dividend (0.30 cents per share), but has announced a cut for 2026 (0.15 cents per share, to be paid in cash in 2027). Management explained that the decision was unanimously approved by the board of directors, which includes shareholders such as SEPI, the state investment arm (10%), and Criteria (10%), La Caixa's holding company, which relies primarily on dividends from its subsidiaries. Murtra, however, downplayed the stock market decline. "[At Telefónica] there has been an aversion to making difficult decisions, whether cutting the dividend or acknowledging losses [...] these decisions are often difficult to explain or understand. [...] The market, when the time comes, or however it comes, will follow us," the Catalan executive stated at a press conference.

Telefónica's chairman, Marc Murtra, warned a few months ago that he would maintain "iron financial discipline" at the company in the coming years. For now, it is only a declaration of intent that will likely take shape on November 4th, when the telecom present a new strategic plan. However, for several days now, one of the issues looming over this financial discipline is the possibility of staff cuts through a redundancy plan (ERE), which could affect up to 6,000 employees at various Telefónica subsidiaries, according to a report published this Monday. Expansion.

Telefónica had a strategic plan until 2026, but the uproar at the top, marked by the change of president this past January —Marco Murtra took over from José María Álvarez-Pallete–, has caused the horizon of this roadmap to end prematurely. This coming November 4th, the first telecom The State will celebrate its Capital Markets Day and will present, along with the results of the first nine months of the year, the main lines of the new direction it wishes to follow.

Telefónica also wants to benefit from the buoyant moment in the defense sector. The company not only plans to invest in this activity, at least in the area linked to its business (information and communications technologies), but also wants to align itself with the Spanish government's defense plan and gain a foothold. "Will we invest in defense? Yes, we want to invest in defense, but always subordinate to the defense policy set by the Ministry [of Defense]," stated Telefónica's chairman, Marc Murtra, during his appearance in the Congress of Deputies on Thursday.

The Bank of Spain is now without a Director of Economics, a key figure in the organization's operations, which has had to put the position out to tender. Also this week, the Spanish Association of Executives elected Xavier Brossa as its new president, replacing Juan Antonio Alcaraz; Marc Murtra was elected a new member of the European Round Table for Industry (ERT); and King has a new president. These are some of the week's key executive moves.

Telefónica's chairman, Marc Murtra, took advantage of his speech at the 40th Annual Meeting of the Círculo de Economía (Economic Circle) to reiterate the need for a "single market" for telecommunications operators in Europe in order to compete with the US and China, a position he has championed since becoming chairman of Telefónica at the beginning of the year.

On April 16, just before the Easter holidays, something unusual occurred at La Caixa, the country's leading business conglomerate. The group chaired by Isidre Fainé is a world of "teamwork, with visible leaders, but without too much obsession with notoriety, and even less so with that related to conflicts," explain sources familiar with the universe of Miró's star.

Marc Murtra arrived at Telefónica with a vocation for change. First, with a promise of a new direction for the telecommunications company, with divestments and advocating for a more established European sector. Now he is materializing changes by remodeling his leadership, with a new right-hand man and new faces that come from Indra. Beyond Telefónica, Tous hires a new leader for its business in the United States and Almirall has a new financial director.

With the arrival of Marc Murtra to the presidency of Telefónica, there have also been significant changes in its leadership. This Thursday the board of directors of the company approved the dismissal of the current CEO of Telefónica, Ángel Vilá, and right-hand man of the former president José María Álvarez-Pallete. His position will be occupied by Emilio Gayo, a name that was already confirmed last week, and with whom Murtra will work together to face the strategic turnaround of the teleoperator, as the company has informed through the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). Gayo has been working at Telefónica for twenty years, where he has held different positions until becoming president of the business of the telecom in Spain.

The Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, has taken advantage of his visit to Barcelona, ​​​​in the framework of the Mobile World Congress (MWC) this Wednesday, to send a message of reassurance in case the US government of Donald Trump approves new tariffs: "From Europe and Spain we will not be naive; a," he said.

Extraordinary items once again mark Telefónica's annual accounts. If in 2023 the ERE in Spain and the situation in the United Kingdom led the first telecom Spanish: Telefónica to losses of 800 million euros, this time it is the subsidiaries in Latin America that cause it to close the 2024 financial year with losses of 49 million euros, as reported by the company this Thursday morning through the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). Specifically, Telefónica explains that this negative result is due to the extraordinary provision of up to 2.2 billion euros to deal with the deterioration of the business on the other side of the Atlantic (in all countries where it is present except Brazil).