290 endorsements and an unopposed re-election. Josep Sánchez Llibre has been re-elected as president of Foment del Treball, for a third consecutive term. And he did so surrounded by the business establishment, accompanied by the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, with all the liturgy of great occasions—long applause and Chariots of Fire playing in the auditorium— and a very clear message: the Catalan business world believes the time has come to set the economic agenda, in favor of growth and competitiveness.
From "the Great House of Catalan Business, with 255 years of history," Sánchez Llibre asserted the weight of an employers' association that represents 260,000 companies, 110 economic sectors, and 75% of Catalonia's private GDP. But above all, he asserted the role of the company —and the entrepreneur— in a Catalonia that is once again discussing competitiveness, taxation, housing, and infrastructure after years in which political tension had conditioned a part of the public debate.
"I say it with serenity and firmness: a mature society must respect companies and entrepreneurs. We will not accept that companies are criminalized or that private initiative is treated as permanently suspicious," he affirmed before an auditorium full of business and institutional representatives.
"We have confronted the discourse of degrowth with rigor and proposals."
"Entrepreneurs are not the problem. We are an essential part of the solution. And we want to contribute," he added. And it is precisely in this desire to "contribute" where the president of Foment places the great priorities for the next four years: productivity, business competitiveness, taxation, the fight against absenteeism, housing, and infrastructure.
And the order is not casual. Sánchez Llibre's speech constantly revolved around one idea: Catalonia needs to once again create an environment favorable to growth. A country "with fewer obstacles, more legal certainty, and a more agile administration," he argued. And he added: "We have confronted the discourse of degrowth with rigor and proposals."
And under this premise, the president of Foment del Treball outlined the main strategic lines of the new mandate, with a roadmap clearly aimed at strengthening the competitiveness of the Catalan economy and the weight of business in public debate.
Taxation: "stop suffocating" companies and middle classes
The fiscal battle will continue to be one of Sánchez Llibre's great priorities. The president of Foment del Treball called for "stable, competitive and growth-oriented" taxation and warned that Catalonia cannot continue to increase tax pressure if it wants to attract investment and talent.
Among the proposals defended by the employers' association are the elimination of the wealth tax, the reform of inheritance and gift taxes, the deflation of the personal income tax (IRPF) and the review of Catalonia's own taxes to prevent it from losing attractiveness compared to other European territories.
Productivity and absenteeism
Another of the main axes of the mandate will be productivity, which Sánchez Llibre defined as "the central axis of economic and social progress". In this framework, the president of Foment placed special emphasis on absenteeism, which he described as a "silent emergency".
The employers' association will promote a white paper on this issue with the participation of experts and social agents, with the aim of analyzing the impact of absenteeism on competitiveness, wages and the functioning of the labor market.
Housing: more supply and less dogmatism
Access to housing will also occupy a central place in this new stage. Sánchez Llibre argued that the housing crisis will not be resolved by "demonizing owners or scaring away investment," but by increasing the available supply. Foment advocates for more land, more administrative agility, more public-private collaboration, and more legal certainty as a recipe to facilitate access to housing and retain talent.
Infrastructure and mobility
The president of the employers' association also insisted on the need to accelerate investments in strategic infrastructures and correct the historical deficit that Catalonia has, "which already almost reaches 50,000 million euros."
"Infrastructures are not an expense; they are an investment for the country," he assured. And the message comes in the midst of the reopening of the debate on major pending infrastructures: the expansion of Barcelona airport, the recurrent collapse of Rodalies, the delays of the Mediterranean Corridor, or the need to reinforce the railway and logistics connections of the metropolitan area. For Foment, all these issues are part of the same problem: Catalonia's difficulty in maintaining international competitiveness without a mobility and infrastructure network commensurate with its economic weight.
And to achieve this: an outstretched hand
Despite maintaining disagreements on fiscal or housing matters, Sánchez Llibre also wanted to stage a new phase of institutional relations with the Government of Salvador Illa.
The president of Foment offered "an outstretched hand, loyal dialogue, and a willingness to reach an agreement" to build a "deep and permanent" space for collaboration with the Generalitat. A message aligned with Foment's desire to strengthen institutional collaboration to boost competitiveness, investments, and economic growth.
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