Antonio Garamendi is the great favorite to be re-elected as president of the CEOE in the Electoral Assembly that the employers celebrate this morning. The Basque businessman has enough support to make it very unlikely that the Catalan Virginia Guinda, vice president of Foment del Treball and a last-minute candidate, manages to surprise.
It will be decided by more than 700 members in a vote that is not usual in the CEOE. Almost always a single candidate has been presented, but today it is not the case. Garamendi is the third time he has appeared. He lost in 2014 to Juan Rosell, albeit by only 34 votes, he was the only candidate four years later and now faces a rival for his re-election. A candidate who jumped into the ring a few days after the deadline closed, and that she did when one after another, the different options to face Garamendi, did not come together. Neither Miguel Garrido (CEIM), nor Gerardo Cuerva (Cepyme), nor Gerardo Pérez (Faconauto) took the step. Pérez was the one who was closest, aiming to introduce himself and later retracting without giving clear explanations as to why. Guinda herself has explained that he was going to support the president of Faconauto and that, when he withdrew, he decided to present himself.
In any case, Garamendi has broad support and is behind all the large territorial and sectoral organizations, with the exception of Foment, and the vote may serve more to gauge the degree of support he has than to endanger his re-election. Precisely, what Guinda is trying to bring together discontent in sectors of the employers with their current president, because of his agreements with the Government and because of a style that they describe as presidential and with little participation. Against her is that she is little known outside of Catalonia and that she is perceived as having little experience to face a moment as complex as the current one.
The two candidates know each other, but have had virtually no contact. Guinda did not previously announce to Garamendi that he would appear, and subsequently they have only spoken on the spot in defense of the Mediterranean Corridor in Barcelona. Pure formal exchange, without going further. During the days of the campaign, the forms have been kept, although with a certain controversy on Monday, when Guinda was denied the right to address the Electoral Assembly today before the vote. “He is unheard of,” he declared to La Vanguardia. The reasons given are that it is legally not feasible.
The reading that is made from the Garamendi team of Guinda's candidacy is that it is an ally of Josep Sánchez Llibre, president of Foment del Treball, who maintains a deaf confrontation with the current president of the CEOE. Foment was already one of the four organizations that abstained from approving the labor reform, a position that marked discrepancies on the substance of the regulation and also on how it had been negotiated.
This is a point that Garamendi's critics reproach him for, that he basically trusts his hard core, which includes Íñigo Fernández de Mesa, vice president of the CEOE, and Fátima Báñez, president of the CEOE Foundation. His approach to the government has also been criticized, with the multiple pacts made during the pandemic, although in this case, Garamendi has already shown tougher positions in his relationship with the executive in recent months.
Today's vote will provide a direction to the CEOE that has several burning issues on the table. From the salary negotiation, which is still blocked, to the increase in the SMI and the pension reform. The last two have to close before the end of the year.
