At the inauguration of the twenty-sixth congress of the Family Business Institute, held in Bilbao, Sendagorta sent a very clear message to the future Government and all parliamentary forces. Precisely, in the midst of the negotiations for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez, the president of the IEF said: “Let us avoid polarization and opt for moderation and dialogue, so that they allow us to build a framework of stable relations that project our country and our companies. towards a long-term future.
“We [businessmen] dedicate ourselves to work and we are not distracted by empty words and fratricidal disagreements,” said the Basque businessman.
Sendagorta also referred to the need to rebuild relations between businessmen and the Executive. In the last year, businessmen and the Government have experienced an important confrontation. Several members of the Executive have accused businessmen of stimulating price increases for the growth of margins and profits. “We don’t ask for anything, but our work deserves respect and support.”
However, Sendagorta, before King Felipe VI and an assembly of some 600 businessmen, asked for institutional stability, at a time when the Government and the opposition are exchanging accusations about the weakening of the judicial power and even the Constitutional Court. At a time also when a part of the Executive – Sumar and Podemos – defend a republican model against the current parliamentary monarchy. “It is vital to recover and reinforce the sense of institutionality. It is everyone’s task to make all the institutions that represent us and structure our society stronger.”
In his protest platform before the political parties, the business leader asked that the costs of employment not be taxed or increased. “It is necessary to encourage employment and taxing it does not seem like the best way to achieve it. Let’s review taxation to ensure, together, that the net salary that reaches the pockets of workers is as close as possible to the gross cost assumed by companies. Let’s review also salaries, with no limit other than maintaining the bar of competitiveness, essential for the continuity of our companies.
In short, Sendagorta demanded the reduction of the so-called fiscal wedge that taxes and social contributions form in the costs of companies and in the salaries of workers.
Especially when “in Spain we are witnessing a marked difficulty in having adequate professional profiles to incorporate into our companies. We lack engineers and computer scientists, but also people who work in the world of hospitality or the industrial world.” Therefore, the Basque businessman said: we are witnessing in Spain a marked difficulty in having adequate professional profiles to incorporate into our companies. “We lack engineers and computer scientists.”
Sendagorta also demanded an education reform. “I have the impression that more time is spent in our public debate highlighting ideological features than supporting the real objectives that our educational programs should pursue.”
