It is not uncommon for businessmen and politicians to share dialogue spaces to exchange points of view in a discreet environment. But the dinner that two prominent Junts leaders had last Monday with a dozen prominent Catalan businessmen was something more than that, because it took place three days after Carles Puigdemont’s party had definitively broken its alliance with the Government of Pedro Sánchez.
The independentistas needed to explain to the Catalan economic world the maneuver they had just carried out in Congress, where they left the majority of the investiture inoperative and the legislature affected. Businessmen, for their part, needed these explanations to understand the economic implications of what had just happened in the political sphere.
Ignacio Marull, partner responsible for PwC in Catalonia, was the one who organized the evening, something that this consulting firm does regularly. On behalf of Junts, the leader of the Parliament, Albert Batet, and the president of the parliamentary group in Congress, Míriam Nogueras, attended.
The latter has been the visible face of the slamming of the door on the socialists in Madrid and is also an increasingly appreciated leader in Carles Puigdemont’s entourage. For his part, Batet is, along with the vice president of Junts Toni Castellà, one of the party’s usual links with the business world. From Junts they frame the dinner within the normal meetings that the party holds with businessmen.
Sources familiar with the meeting assure that the rest of the guests did not represent their companies or organizations, but rather attended in their personal capacity. This is what they did, for example, the president of the Cercle d’Economía, Teresa Garcia-Milà, or the president of the Fira de Barcelona, Pau Relat. Along with them, these same sources place Miquel Martí (Moventia), Xavier Pujol (Ficosa), Emili Rousaud (Factor Energía) or Javier Faus (Meridia), among others.
What the politicians presented to all of them was their account of how the negotiations with the PSOE had gone and the inability they had found to advance the relationship. But Batet and Nogueras also had time to present their main achievements for the business-friendly agenda, as well as why Junts had opposed, at 37.5 hours, the extension of the tax on energy companies or the law that requires union presence on company boards.
Junts’ strategy now, the politicians assured, is to “collect” the support provided to the Government and stop voting until that happens. This same Thursday the formation specified one by one all the laws that it planned to block, which includes the vast majority of those that are in process, including the Budgets. “They want to make it clear in Madrid that this is over,” explains a source familiar with the meeting.
Nogueras and Batet also took aim at the poor results that their party has recently achieved in the polls. According to what they indicated, the analysis they do in Junts is that, although Aliança Catalana is experiencing a boom, it is also overvalued in the polls, so its expectations will be adjusted downwards when the electoral period arrives.
On the business side, some voices recognized that Junts has played a relevant role in many of the parliamentary battles and expressed themselves comfortable with the role played by the independentistas. Someone else present also called for the need for Junts to practice a pragmatic policy. Sources familiar with the meeting report that there were also those who made an amendment to the entire Junts strategy in recent years.
Since Junts regained its role in the political life of Congress, in July 2023, Carles Puigdemont’s party has taken care of its relationship with Catalan businessmen, which had been frozen after the distancing of the process. The president of the Foment employers’ association, Josep Sánchez Llibre, has made an effort to mend the relationship with Puigdemont, which has borne fruit in recent years, turning Junts into one of the parties that has most defended Foment’s positions in Congress.
This harmony between Sánchez Llibre and Puigdemont has not been broken after the latest parliamentary turn of Junts, which the employers’ association continues to consider “a reliable partner”, as La Vanguardia published last week. However, this is not the feeling of all businessmen, among whom the change in strategy of the independentists is seen as a new turn that goes very poorly with the political stability they demand.
In the same way that some business voices recognize that Junts has effectively carried out the task of Catalan business lobby, they understand that the end of the legislature and a possible new majority could be very detrimental to the interests of Catalan companies.
Source: www.eldiario.es
