Ferrovial has clarified this Tuesday that "the Spanish legal system is up to the best in the world", in response to doubts about whether its change of headquarters to the Netherlands was due to some kind of insecurity in its country of origin.
When presenting the reverse merger operation for the transfer of headquarters last week, Ferrovial alluded to the "triple A" status of the Netherlands and the "stability" of its legal framework. Both the decision to move the headquarters and this allusion generated enormous discomfort in the Government, which considers the company's position "unacceptable", at a time when the country is strongly increasing the arrival of international investment.
"Perhaps in the announcement, and here I sing the mea culpa, we did not explain the reasons clearly," said the company's communication director, Juan Francisco Polo, in statements to RTVE today. "What we were explaining is that in the Netherlands there is a stable legal framework, but let me emphasize that Ferrovial believes that the Spanish legal system and the stability it provides is on a par with the best in the world and, of course, with all the European ones. , and for that reason we are going to continue in Spain competing fairly with the best projects".
This statement is the first in a week in which Ferrovial has publicly alluded to this issue. On Friday, the company's CEO, Ignacio Madridejos, published a video in which he alluded to the company's commitment to Spain, but made no mention of this aspect.
In the contacts that the president of Ferrovial himself, Rafael del Pino, has maintained with members of the Government, including the Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño, the Executive has asked him to clarify that the country enjoys legal and regulatory stability. The CNMV has also asked the company to explain it if it has any problem with the listing in Spain.
In the presentation to the market, Ferrovial alluded generically to the legal stability of the Netherlands, although in the largest 92-page document with all the details of the merger it explained that this circumstance had been occurring in the European country for decades.
Among the ministers, Calviño has accused the company of "lack of commitment" with Spain for an "erroneous" decision. "It is not acceptable that a company that was born and grew in Spain and thanks to the public investment of Spanish citizens shows this lack of commitment to its country", he indicated.
From the Government they insist that foreign investment has increased by 55% until the third quarter of 2022 and that Spain attracted 30,000 million foreign investment in 2922. They also underline the investment announcements made by Maersk in hydrogen, by Volkswagen in the development of the electric car and by Microsoft in data centers.
