Last summer, Jaume Guardiola (Barcelona, ​​1957) stepped down as president of the Círculo de Economía and the board of trustees of the Esade Foundation after a long career in the business world. The former CEO of Banc Sabadell and, previously, BBVA, is returning to the forefront with the Barça elections. He admits to being a lifelong Barça fan and losing sleep when the team loses. He also says he is worried about the club's current situation.

Jaume Guardiola is stepping aside and leaving public life; at least for the time being. The current president of the Círculo de Economía and chairman of the board of trustees of the Esade Foundation is retiring. Last week, the changeover at the Círculo took effect. Professor Teresa Garcia-Milà, and this week the replacement at the head of the Esade Foundation, Anna Xicoy, has been made official. Guardiola makes way for two women, who in both cases will be the first to hold these positions. Former CEO of Banc Sabadell and previously of BBVA, Guardiola also chaired the economic committee of Barça between 2021 and 2022. As life would have it, the former banker was the host of the Círculo conferences in which BBVA's takeover bid for Sabadell, the two banks of his life, was.

A long round of applause resounded in the auditorium of the Círculo de Economía this Monday afternoon. It was a big day for the institution. Guardiola, a long-time executive in the banking sector who has earned the sympathy of the business and institutional sectors over the past three years at the helm of the Círculo, took stock of his three years in office and thanked the board of directors and the committee for their work during the last term. "We have carried out more than 100 activities, many linked to current issues or news [...]. And we have also seen how younger people have become more involved, although in this institution the concept of young "It's relative," Guardiola joked.

Economics professor Teresa Garcia-Milà was appointed this Thursday as the new president of the Círculo de Economía, replacing Jaume Guardiola. She was the only candidate nominated to lead the institution. The deadline for submitting nominations was this Thursday, June 26, and there was no competition. Garcia-Milà, Elisabet Alier (president of Alier), Jordi Amat (philologist and writer), Maite Barrera (founder of Bluecap), Ignasi Biosca (CEO of Reig Jofre), Núria Cabutí (CEO of Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial), Clara Campàs (Clara Campàs), Pilar Conesa (president of Anteverti), Josep Franch (director of investments for southern Europe at Rockfield), Carmina Ganyet (corporate general manager of Inmobiliaria Colonial), Jordi Gual (professor of Economics at IESE), Pau Guardans (CEO of Único Hotels) (director of CIDOB), Osmar Polo (CEO and president of T-Systems Iberia), Marc Puig (president and CEO of Puig), Camino Quiroga (notary), Laura Urquizu (CEO and president of Red Points) and David Vegara (Executive Director-CRO of the Bank, Aspachs Technical Secretary and Xavier Vives will continue to lead the Productivity and Innovation Initiative (IPI).

The Círculo de Economía (Economic Circle) highlights territorial balance as the main impact of the potential merger being promoted by BBVA with Banc Sabadell. This is one of the "general interest" arguments incorporated by this organization into the public consultation launched by the central government, presented this Tuesday by the Círculo's president, Jaume Guardiola, and its general director, Miquel Nadal. The entity believes that the only options that the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) should have approved to preserve free competition were either to impose the sale of part of the business in the event of a potential merger or, simply, to prevent it.

This morning Two conclave votes are scheduled, in Rome. Since the dean of cardinals gave Cardinal Parolin a double peace, it has been read between the lines that, this time, Parolin will contradict the saying: a cardinal will enter the conclave, and a pope will emerge. We'll see, because Pietro Parolin has campaigned, which began before Pope Francis's death, and there are cardinals who didn't like his candidacy. Parolin is more of a diplomat than a pastor; he's the current Secretary of State and he's the man who fits the idea that after a Polish pope, another German pope, and another Argentinian pope, the Vatican should put its house in order and return to an Italian pope, one who knows what's going on in the political and economic organization of the city. "inventions" (a word that refers to the Eurocentric vision of the Church). But we'll see.

Economics professor Teresa Garcia-Milà will take over from Jaume Guardiola as president of the Círculo de Economía at the end of June or beginning of July, following the entity's general assembly. She will be the first woman to hold this position in the sixty-seven-year history of this organization, which brings together more than 1,500 businesspeople, executives, and representatives from the economic and social world.

It is no coincidence that the award for European construction at the closing of the 40th Annual Meeting of the Círculo de Economía (Economy Circle) in Barcelona went to Roxana Mînzatu, Executive Vice President and European Commissioner for Social Rights, Skills, Quality Employment and Training. She represents the organization responsible for the Erasmus program and was recognized with a speech by the Minister for the European Union and External Action, Jaume Duch.

Once again, the Círculo de Economía is preparing for its annual meeting, which this year marks its 40th edition. The conference, under the theme Europe: Wake-up call? How to respond to a moment of geopolitical disruption They will be held between May 5 and 7 at the Palacio de Congresos de Catalunya (Catalan Congress Palace), with around thirty speakers and the objective, as the title suggests, of "awakening" Europe to the current global context and "the current scenario of uncertainty on an international scale."

In an opinion piece published this Thursday, the Círculo de Economía (Economic Circle) advocated a reform of the regional financing system similar to that existing in "federal" countries such as the United States and Canada, and has moved away from implementing in Catalonia a model like the regional agreements already in place in Navarre and the Basque Country.