The lawyer and former leader of Unió Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida will be the new president of Asedas, the association of the distribution sector and supermarkets. The institution agreed on the appointment yesterday at the meeting of its general council. Duran, 70 years old, will replace Antonio Garrigues Walker, who is now honorary president.
In the election, Duran i Lleida's "great personal and professional career" was taken into account, with political responsibilities from the local to the European level, "among which his parliamentary and international work stands out". This experience is seen as fundamental in order to "provide an experience and vision that will help to defend interests as broad as those represented by the Asedas companies, among which dialogue and the search for consensus stand out", according to a press release from the organization.
As a whole, Asedas brings together more than 19,000 stores, 322,000 jobs and represents 75% of the food distribution area. Among its associates are Mercadona, Dia, Condis, Lidl, Ifa, Spar, Plusfresc, Masymas, AhorraMas or Coviran, among others. After his election, Duran i Lleida assessed the importance of the sector as a creator of employment and wealth, "fundamental for the territorial structure of Spain and essential for the daily life of citizens".
The new president also stated that he intends to strengthen the work and presence of Asedas on the legal front, at a time of "intense legislative activity at the regional, national and European level", with matters such as the circular economy, consumption or commercial relations at the center of the debate.
"The figure of Duran and Lleida represents not only the values that have inspired the decisions of Asedas since its foundation, more than twenty years ago, but also its present objectives", assured the companies of the association . "Our employers have valued their involvement with the legislative, economic and social challenges that the sector faces; something that, together with the conciliatory and dialogical nature that has always inspired his career, will be of great help to us in the coming years to continue advancing in a distribution model of proximity at the service of society", highlighted Ignacio García Magarzo, general manager of Asedas.
Duran i Lleida, who exported CiU to the Congress of Deputies, will be the third president of Asedas, after Antonio Garrigues Walker and José Pedro Pérez-Llorca, prestigious jurist and father of the Constitution, who led the association for almost 20 years
