President of European employers: “What you have to do is work more hours, not less”

CEO of CEO, Antonio Garamendihe confirmed this Thursday that Spain needs moderation and “non-radicalism” and called for dialogue after regional and local elections and the next general election celebration on July 23.

“Spain is a country of moderate people (…) Honestly, when I see these winds that could one day pick up storms, I have to say that I don’t like it. I think it is legitimate to conduct election campaigns, but I would leave it to the political class The Spanish are moderate people and we like peace“, pointed out the business leader, who added that it would be a mistake to “expose stress to society” in Spain because of the elections.

Garamendi stated this during an informative breakfast organized by the New Economy Forum, where he was in charge of representing the president of the European employers’ association BusinessEurope. Fredrik Persson, on a working visit to Spain. At the same time, both businessmen will present the so-called Madrid Declarationa document that will contain European business priorities during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

In this regard, Persson stressed that a “resilient and prosperous” Europe requires “competitive industry and business” and denied that businessmen are exploiting inflation to raise prices.

“When I travel around Europe, I see companies and entrepreneurs who are struggling like never before. A strong and resilient Europe starts with competitive companies,” said Persson, who warned that not only price growth, but also what he called “regulatory inflation,” i.e. the increase in regulations, must be stopped. “We are putting new regulations on top of old ones. And the costs business in Europe are very high,” condemned Persson.

The president of European businessmen outlined the main points on which, in his opinion, the Spanish presidency of the EU should focus: reducing the regulatory burden to make it easier to do business in Europe; “much better use of the single market in the world of services”; addressing energy prices to reduce costs; and increase the qualifications of workers. “The United States spends twice as much as Europe spends on these issues, on workforce skills and on innovation,” said the president of BusinessEurope, who, when asked whether working hours should be cut, noted that what you have to do is “work more hours not less”.

Likewise, Persson asked Spain’s EU presidency to help create a “more resilient” supply chain, while urging companies to manage the influx of European funds more quickly.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, the president of the European employers’ association pointed out that so many sanctions packages have been introduced against Russia that “as a company it is very difficult to do it well”. For this reason, he called for the creation of a white book in which he could unite them all so that it would be easier for companies to comply with the mentioned sanctions. He also asked for help to make it easier for companies that want to leave Russia to do so.

“Concern” due to criticism from businessmen

Asked about the criticism that some members of the Spanish government directed at certain businessmen, Persson assessed the situation as “worrying” and pointed out that with these insults “they put a gun to their foreheads”because “social progress goes hand in hand with economic progress” and competitive companies.

Regarding state aid to companies, the European business leader pointed out that a company “will never be competitive if it cannot sustain itself”, which is why, in his opinion, they should not rely on state aid even though they may need support at certain times from governments, as happened during the pandemic.

Pope asks entrepreneurs to avoid “profit at all costs”

For his part, he pope Francis Today, in front of a delegation of Latin American businessmen, he asked companies to avoid “profit at all costs” because it degrades or enslaves workers. The Pope asked these administrators to direct their work “from the culture of meeting”, in order to “to defend ourselves from the shadows of evil, which attack us when profit at any cost misrepresents our relationshipsto the point of humiliating or enslaving the people themselves.”

“The culture of encounter, on the contrary, expresses the search for the common good, thereby helping to dispel these shadows,” said the Pope. He added that these values ​​inspire “the daily efforts and sacrifices that their companies make in order to advance, train and improve their workers, to avoid conflicts and avoid the pain of dismissal, also aware that behind every worker is a family, and the whole society”.

He also suggested that “like the first followers of Jesus, be network builders” to help each other. “The service they perform is not abstract, but to each person and each nation, therefore it is necessary to act together, not passing anyone and not leaving anyone behind,” added the Pope.