Antonio Garamendi, president of the Confederation of Spanish Water and Business Employers? (Note: corrected below to standard title) , no. The President of the Confederation of Spanish Business Enterprises (CEOE) convened an executive committee for this Monday to address the urgent action needed to respond to the pressing questions facing Spain and to share the concerns voiced by the business sector after new investment commitments tied to Pedro Sánchez as head of government.
Sources from the business community cited by Europa Press indicate the committee meeting would run from 16:00. The gathering follows a Thursday, November 9 discussion and reflects the agreement reached between the PSOE and Junts within Sánchez’s administration.
Beyond Amnesty and Junts’ ambition to stage a referendum on self-determination, the agreement signed with the PSOE features elements focused on financial autonomy for Catalonia, access to the Catalan market, and a direct, pragmatic dialogue about how the current financing model impacts the region.
In line with this, Junts will propose an amendment to the Organic Law on the Financing of Autonomous Communities (LOFCA) from the outset. The proposal would recognize Catalonia’s distinctive institutional arrangement and facilitate the transfer of all taxes paid in Catalonia in full.
The agreement also envisages a plan to encourage the return of corporate headquarters that relocated to other regions back to Catalonia, reinforcing the region’s role as a central hub for business activity.
Employers convened an extraordinary committee amid broad anti-amnesty demonstrations this Sunday and following the pact reached between the PSOE and the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) the previous Friday.
Labor Code Reform
The pact between the two political groups includes a commitment to reform the Workers’ Regulations within six months to ensure regional agreements take precedence over sectoral ones.
The long-standing demand from Basque nationalists has been to elevate regional autonomy within the labor framework. The absence of this amendment in the Labor Charter previously led to opposition from Basque representatives to Yolanda Díaz’s reform.
The Basques have seized the negotiation environment created by the socialist government, which required five votes from the PNV for confidence in Sánchez, to push this expansion forward within half a year. The reform would modify Article 84 of the Labor Regulation to align the primacy of regional agreements with ongoing practice.
The agreement with the PSOE and PNV also contemplates the creation of a pathway for the transfer of pending responsibilities included in the Gernika Charter to the Basque Country within a maximum of two years, potentially opening the door to broader discussions about the political and fiscal recognition of Euskadi and related safeguards.
The pact further incorporates some of the PNV’s historic requests, such as moving economic management of the Social Security system to the Basque Country, a move with enduring implications for the fiscal and administrative landscape of the Basque region.