“It’s one thing to wield power and another to know how to influence it.” The expression comes from a Catalan businessman very close to the Foment del Treball Nacional and who knows well the main commercial institutions of Barcelona and Madrid, and uses it to describe the ability of Josep Sánchez Llibre and the influence that the big Catalan bosses exercise under his mandate in the economic affairs of the country.
The last example that materialized and surely the most relevant is the removal, a few days ago, of the special tax on energy companies. Foment mobilized publicly and privately to make this happen, saying it was a “discriminatory” measure and an “attack on the heart of the economy.” And he succeeded, thanks to the votes against Junts and the PNV in Congress, who ended up agreeing with the PSOE to lower this rate, while maintaining the tax on the banks.
Besides Repsol’s threat to paralyze multi-million dollar investments in Tarragona, “here one of the key issues for this to happen was the PNV’s reaction to the threat of also relocating Petronor’s activity” , a subsidiary of the multinational headed by Josu Jon. Imaz and owner of the Muskiz refinery (Bizcaia), declares a Foment manager very close to Sánchez Llibre.
An almost exact copy of the above may soon be produced. Just two days after the PSOE and Sumar announced a tax reform for 2025 that includes, among other measures, the increase in VAT on tourist rentals, a luxury tax and the end of the tax regime for real estate investment companies listed companies (socimis), the structure of counter-power was implemented again. On the one hand, Foment asked Junts and the PNV to vote against the tax abolition of SOCIMI and, on the other, the two largest real estate companies in Spain, Merlin and Colonial, threatened the government with leaving the country if it was approved. the tax plan.
The two episodes illustrate the two main lines of action of the Foment led by Sánchez Llibre: defending the economic interests of Catalonia and the Spanish “productive economy”, paraphrasing the old CiU, and taking advantage of the window of opportunity that For a pure-blooded lobbyist it represents the current parliamentary geometry or, in other words, taking advantage of the weakness of the current coalition government between the PSOE and Sumar to sneak into their agenda.
A window for Garamendi and Puigdemont
Sánchez Llibre managed to convince both the president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi – who buried the hatchet for the employers’ presidency ten minutes after sweeping aside the candidate supported by Foment – and Carles Puigdemont, president of Junts. “Garamendi was and is informed at all times of Sánchez Llibre’s meetings with Puigdemont and never opened his mouth,” recall Foment.
At the CEOE, of which Foment is a member, we “tolerate very well” the pre-eminence of the former Catalan politician because it is an organization that really senses economic power. “The economic elites consider Sánchez Llibre as an important asset because they see that he defends their interests,” summarizes a businessman.
Despite meetings with Junts and Puigdemont to guide the Spanish legislature based on Foment’s economic program and the independence party’s obvious shift toward a conservative economic front, according to their votes in parliamentary seats, “Junts has in no way” He is the political arm of Foment!”, specifies a leader of the Catalan employers’ union, who recalls: “Junts’ attempt to want to be the CiU of before remains to be seen, it is a very unstable formation.”
Tacit agreement with Junts, PNV and PP: “we marry whoever”
Foment insists that they speak with all political forces, but the same source admits that “there is a tacit agreement with Junts, PNV and PP for everything that can benefit businesses and the economy, especially facing a certain Sumar and vice-president Yolanda Díaz.” . We marry whoever.
Those who know and are close to Josep Sánchez Llibre (born in Vilassar de Mar, Barcelona, in 1949) remember at the same time his inexhaustible capacity for work and his capacity for influence forged after several decades as a CiU deputy in the Congress of Deputies and spokesperson for the Economy and Finance Commission of the lower house for six terms, between 1993 and 2016.
Since his assault on the presidency of Foment del Treball in 2018 through the vice-presidency of Conserves Dani, the politician belonging to the defunct Unió Democràtica de Catalunya does not miss the opportunity to appear omnipresent at the forefront of the main commercial and economic challenges of Catalonia, taking advantage of the non-appearance in several of them of the governments of Quim Torra (Junts) and Pere Aragonès (ERC).
“He likes to be at all the parties,” comments an influential businessman, a regular on the AVE Barcelona-Madrid. Thus, he was involved from the beginning in the search for alternatives to the closure of Nissan in Barcelona after the pandemic, as more recently in the creation of a commission to promote the expansion of Barcelona airport.
Entrance hall in Madrid
But Catalonia is too small for him. Josep Sánchez Llibre “has a Spanish vocation and we must recognize that he is a great lobbyist in Madrid, with a surprising talent for reaching all places,” recalls one of the leaders consulted. What for some is nothing other than an “extension of the politician who was in Congress”, for others is nothing other than the original essence of the great Catalan employers’ association.
Of all areas of Foment, we remember that since its foundation – it is the oldest employers’ association in Europe, its origins date back to 1771 – until the arrival of democracy – under the Franco regime, l The employers’ association could not act as such. -, it had its scope throughout Spain. And they remember the key role played by Catalan businessmen Alfredo Molinas and Carles Ferrer Salat, both presidents of Foment, in the creation of the CEOE.
This is the explanation, they say, of the landing of the Catalan employers’ association in Madrid, through the Society for Economic and Social Studies of Barcelona (SBEES), in February of this year. The economic sources consulted exclude that these are disagreements with Garamendi, “who attends with pleasure all the events” that the Barcelona Company organizes in the Spanish capital.
“Even if Foment is part of the CEOE, Sánchez Llibre has his own life, he is a free verse, and sometimes there is disagreement,” explains a leader. Like when he publicly expressed his opposition to the labor reform approved by the CEOE.
The director of the office of the Foment del Treball presidency, the former Unió politician, Jordi Casas, recalls that “the influence of the Catalan business world in Madrid has always existed and this is the idea that had in mind Sánchez Llibre, to put pressure in Madrid on the industrial sector”. questions, introduce topics for debate”, outside the Círculo de Empresarios and the Institute of Economic Studies. The last one, a month ago, concerned the automotive industry through a conference that brought together representatives of the governments of Aragon and Galicia and managers of the main brands that manufacture in Spain.
“Our idea is to look for commonalities between Barcelona and Catalonia with other cities and communities willing to be present and lead. There is an industrial Catalonia with a vocation to participate in the Spanish economy with the interest that Catalan industry succeeds”, explains Casas, who adds: “It is a question of recovering the idea of Tarradellas and Vicens Vives de Pouvoir reach an agreement with Madrid on all subjects that benefit us economically without waking the emotional wolf. “It’s the idea of a friendly Catalonia, part of Spain, but with sufficient autonomy.”
