The president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, commits to strengthening the role of CEIM and Foment del Treball in decision-making and institutional representation. Josep Sánchez Llibre would restore relations with the Cortes.
The leader of the Madrid business association CEIM, Miguel Garrido, and the leader of the Catalan Foment del Treball, Josep Sánchez Llibre, have negotiated with Antonio Garamendi a new status within CEOE. According to EL MUNDO, both leaders conditioned their support for the president's re-election on obtaining more power for their territories in the leadership of the Spanish employers' association.
The talks began in early July, before both organizations publicly announced their support for Garamendi, and have been finalised in recent days. The president of CEOE will be re-elected this Thursday by acclamation, without opposition, and will begin his third term with a more cohesive team after the rift that shook the confederation a year and a half ago due to the electoral process of Cepyme.
Garrido has already held the first vice-presidency of CEOE since the previous elections, when Garamendi created that position for him after Sánchez Llibre promoted an alternative candidacy to remove him from the presidency. Now, the Madrid leader aspires to a decisive role in the chain of command and has demanded more influence. Sources familiar with the negotiations indicate that Garamendi's commitment involves granting him greater participation in both decision-making and institutional representation.
"It remains to be seen how this will be reflected in the organisational chart," they say from the CEOE leadership.
In Sánchez Llibre's case, his request focuses on restoring relations with the Cortes, a role that Garamendi removed from him in the previous term and transferred to a specific commission then headed by the president of the Valencian employers' association, Salvador Navarro. Despite this, the Catalan leader has continued to exercise that interlocution in the shadows, and his contacts with Junts have been decisive in halting laws such as the reduction of the working day thanks to the votes of the Catalan independents.
No major changes are expected in the structure, which currently has up to 11 vice-presidencies. CEOE partners are betting on continuity, although the more influential territorial representatives have demanded adjustments. Garamendi himself will announce the new organisational chart at the first meeting of the governing bodies held after the elections this Thursday.
The president's core team includes, in addition to Garrido and Sánchez Llibre, the president of Cepyme, Ángela de Miguel, and the head of the self-employed association ATA, Lorenzo Amor. Both are vice-presidents of CEOE, as are the presidents of the Andalusian employers' association, Javier González de Lara, and the Valencian one, Vicente Lafuente; the head of the Institute of Economic Studies, Íñigo Fernández de Mesa; the head of the large construction employers' association Seopan, Julián Núñez; the presidents of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB), Alejandra Kindelán, and the insurance employers' association Unespa, Maria Aranzazu del Valle; and the businesswoman María Helena Antolín.
For the Catalan business community, the strengthening of Foment in the CEOE leadership means gaining weight in decisions affecting financing, taxation, and infrastructure in Catalonia. The new phase of the employers' association will be marked by a complex political and economic scenario, with an eye on relations with the Government and parliamentary groups.
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