For the first time, businessmen have twisted the arm of the Government of Pedro Sánchez, which had already included in the Budget and in the fiscal plan sent to Brussels an extension of the tax on energy companies and banks. And it is not the only occasion, because on Tuesday the second vice president and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, was forced to extend for the umpteenth time the negotiation of the reduction of the working day. A sign that it can stop the Government. In both movements, the vote of Junts was essential, Puigdemont’s party, which is willing to make Sánchez sweat to approve his Budgets and other economic laws. Could the ideological complexity of the current government coalition turn against you in the coming months?
Junts seeks to recover the spectrum of the old CiU, claiming its role as a conservative party, representative of the bourgeoisie and the broad Catalan middle class. Although unfortunately without renouncing independence, which limits its scope for collaboration with other political forces and social agents. They assure that they will support all proposals that create wealth for Catalonia. Why, then, did they stop the tax on the oil companies and not on the banks?
The trigger was the letter sent to La Vanguardia by the CEO of Repsol, Josu Jon Imaz, to warn of the stoppage of the oil company’s investments in Tarragona for around 1.1 billion. The movement was supported by CEPSA, the second largest oil company, which until then had remained in the background. In a statement, it also acknowledged that it could stop its commitment to the Andalusian hydrogen valley, which mobilized the unions.
CEPSA’s Arab partners, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund, Mubadala, informed Sánchez of their refusal to invest nearly 3 billion in hydrogen projects if the tax was extended. But they had done it privately, so as not to snub the President of the Government, who had participated with his presence in the presentation of the investment plans.
The final touch came from the statement from the Catalan employers’ association Foment del Trevall, in which they warned that the Tarragona chemical hub was at stake. The complaint was taken up by the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, who promised to convey this concern to Sánchez.
Meanwhile, the bank was much more discreet in its public pronouncements in honor, perhaps, of the Botín doctrine. The legendary Cantabrian banker argued that a bank could never get along with its Government, as it was a regulated sector.
The president of the AEB, Alejandra Kindelan, acknowledged that the Government had not contacted them. Many entities thought that things were not serious after the cordial meeting held in June with the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, to sign the agreement for ICO loans for 30,000 million on account of the Next Generation funds. Body did not mention the tax, which confirms that its management corresponds entirely to Vice President Montero.
All entities approached the ICO honey panel. Did the Next Generation serve to mislead or perhaps even to cover the mouths of the banks? They barely objected until they saw it.
The demonstrations against the employers and bank executives came at the last moment, when Junts had practically made its decision.
Sources from the Catalan independence party acknowledge that only those responsible for a Catalan entity contacted them before that date. You don’t have to be very smart to guess the name. The CEO of Sabadell, César González Bueno, publicly acknowledged that “not enough” had been done.
The pressure on Junts was redoubled in the last week, with a statement from Foment, promoted by the president of the La Caixa Foundation, Isidro Fainé, in which it warned of the adverse effects for it and for the financing of SMEs.
CaixaBank is the most affected entity, according to its CEO, Gonzalo Gortázar, since the tax is progressive depending on size up to 6 percent of the tax base. Gortázar called it “the CaixaBank fee”, which could have to pay around 500 million, almost half of the income anticipated by the Treasury.
Some see a political conflict behind the scenes. The bridges with Puigdemont’s party have still not been completely rebuilt since the departure of the former general director of the La Caixa Foundation, Jaume Giró. But its powers are diminished and it lacks internal support. Giró unsuccessfully aspired to play the role of the current spokesperson in Congress, Miriam Nogueras, and then to other positions in the Junts leadership.
Be that as it may, the two large banking associations, AEB and CECA, have announced an appeal because they consider that double taxation occurs, as well as discrimination with respect to other sectors.
The pact with the PNV to assume the tax is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, since the Basque Government’s intention would be to establish a deduction higher than the 25 percent proposed by the State. The main beneficiary would be Kutxabank and not BBVA, which in Euskadi only pays for its activity in that territory.
Montero does not stitch without thread. If anyone thought that they were going to stop collecting 2.5 billion annually due to the huge taxes, they were wrong. The vice president, desperate for the need to comply with Europe and pressured by rising public spending, has come up with other taxes to more than compensate for the loss and double income, which predicts a court battle.
Bank employers will not only defend themselves in court, political elements will also come into play. Podemos and Sumar are against the elimination of the tax on oil companies. and they could end up knocking down the entire amendment. But it is still too early to say for sure.
Another paradigmatic case is the reduction of the working day to 37.5 hours per week, which has been stuck for months and lowered Labor’s ultimatums, which it never complies with because it does not have enough support to get it passed in Congress. The president of the employers’ association, Antonio Garamendi, has managed on this occasion to bring together the support of the general secretary of CEPYME, Gerardo Cuerva, and the president of Foment, Sánchez Llibre, thanks again to Junts’ frontal opposition to Díaz’s reform.
The rebellion of the businessmen comes at the worst moment for the Government, with five waterways, which weaken its management.
- The indictment of his wife, Begoña Gómez, accused of four crimes, including misappropriation.
- The Koldo case, with the risk that former minister José Liis Ábalos and former organizational secretary of the PSOE, will pull the rug and reveal where the Venezuelan money that Delcy Rodríguez brought in suitcases through Barajas went.
- The probable blowing up of Sumar due to the Errejón case, which deteriorates Vice President Yolanda Díaz in the eyes of public opinion and in front of her party, because she did not stop her in time.
- The lack of Budgets for the second consecutive year. Junts does not even have an agreement for the spending ceiling.
- Housing has become the second concern of Spaniards and Podemos threatens to withdraw its support if measures are not taken to lower rents by 40 percent. Something impossible to achieve with current market conditions.
Pending issues are piling up on the table, although Sánchez will try to extend his mandate at any price. The turn of Junts, the bad relationship with Podemos, as well as the internal crisis of Sumar together with the judicial conflicts open a way to overthrow the Government’s crazy projects in fiscal and labor matters, which businessmen should take advantage of so that it does not happen again like the bank tax.
P.S. Anymore. It is urgent to fix the lack of coordination of the administrations to avoid tragedies such as the Valencia floods. After sending the alerts late, assistance to survivors is chaotic.
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