The former CEO of DKV Josep Santacreu has been proclaimed the new president of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce. In the constitutive plenary session, he set as his objective "to recover the prestige, relevance, and influence of the Chamber", and proposed to do so with a "voice of its own" and pursuing the representativeness, influence, effectiveness, and independence of the chamber.
"The Chamber must have its unique and own point of view, a voice of its own and not influenced by any external institution," Santacreu declared in the plenary session. The session closed a mandate led by Eines de País, which was promoted by the ANC four years ago. Santacreu has committed to working "without making noise or stridency" and with determination in favor of businesses.
The new president was appointed in a plenary session lasting more than four hours. It included delays, surprises, and recesses. Members of the pro-independence candidacy of the until now president, Mònica Roca, also asked for a vote. However, all the candidates proposed by Santacreu were chosen, without any representative of Eines de País achieving representation in the executive committee.
Santacreu ran in the Chamber elections leading the list Va d'Empresa and as a representative of the Fundació Pro-Disminuïts Psíquics Finestrelles. He has assured that his candidacy aims to be transversal, and has thanked Roca for her work at the head of the institution. He was chosen with the support of 35 out of 58 votes, in a plenary session that was closed by the Minister of Business and Labor of the Generalitat, Roger Torrent.
Santacreu's objectives for this mandate include moving towards a less bureaucratic Chamber; contributing to social welfare and sustainability; strengthening innovation and internationalization; promoting industry and infrastructure, and improving taxation. In this regard, he announced that they will defend a new financing model for Catalonia. In addition, he wants to advance in gender parity ---less than a third of the plenary are women--- and in the representation of diversities from areas such as age, sexual orientation, origin, and functional diversity. All this to achieve a more representative and plural chamber.
The new executive committee
Precisely in favor of this plurality, members of the plenary who supported the Eines de País candidacy have asked for the vote. This has been done by the until now first vice-president, Toni Fitó, and the former third vice-president, Roser Xalabarder, along with Imma Folch and the president of Barcelona Oberta, Gabriel Jené. After three long votes and not having been elected, Fitó warned that the quorum with which the members had been elected was not adequate. It was then proposed to hold a new vote, but the general secretary of the Cambra, Xavier Coronas, ruled it out. Santacreu later described the disagreement over the votes as a "spectacle" and advocated for transforming the chamber taking into account all its plenary members.
Thus, the plenary has chosen the representatives proposed by the new president. Eloi Planes (Fluidra) will be part of his executive committee, as first vice-president; Martina Font (Font Packaging), as second, and Miquel Martí (Moventia), as third. Xavier Comerma (Banc Sabadell) will be the treasurer, and the members will be Emma Gumbert (Pimec), Xavier Pujol (Fico Cables), Marta Angerri (Casa Ametller), Joan Nogués (Norprint), Salvador Vendrell (Ofisol 2000), Enric Bordas (Santacreu 2000) and August Tarragó (Llop Gestió Esportiva).
Anomalous plenary
The plenary has unfolded in an unusual way. It started late and in a second call due to lack of quorum, as a large part of its members joined later. The session opened with details of the agenda not yet closed, something that forced it to stop shortly after. It was not easy for the general secretary of the institution or the secretary of Business and Competitiveness of the Generalitat, Albert Castellanos, to moderate the plenary. They led an anomalous plenary in which there was no shortage of laughter from businessmen due to comments made from the Table, nor reactions of disagreement to some decisions.
In one more on the list of unforeseen events, the Board has denied Roca the right to intervene, as she had asked to address the plenary but it was not contemplated. The outgoing president witnessed the session seated next to her predecessor in office, Joan Canadell. Precisely she replaced him when Canadell made the leap to politics in 2021 and was appointed a Member of Parliament for Junts. Roca then assumed the position, becoming the first woman to preside over the Cambra in its almost 140 years of history.
During Roca's mandate, the Cambra has reformed its headquarters, located on Diagonal avenue, and has served some 56,000 companies, in years marked by the pandemic. As Roca explained a few days before ending her mandate, there are pending projects, of which she especially highlighted one: the new Catalan law on chambers. Now, this matter will pass into the hands of Santacreu and his team, who will pilot the corporation for four years and set the direction for Barcelona's entrepreneurs and self-employed.