Post by account_disabled on Feb 20, 2024 4:58:19 GMT -5
As El Confidencial Digital has learned through in-person sources, the businessmen who visited Rajoy this week at the Moncloa Palace arrived at the meeting with great concern about the president's short-term plans. The meeting took place at a very delicate moment for the head of the Executive, after accusations of irregular financing of the PP, the collection of bonuses and the SMS between Mariano Rajoy and the former treasurer of the party, Luis Bárcenas , which appeared on the cover from the newspaper El Mundo a week ago. In this scenario, one of the questions that he heard the most from the managers present, such as César Alierta (Telefónica), Francisco González (BBVA), Isidro Fainé (Caixabank), Isidoro Álvarez (El Corte Inglés), Pablo Isla (Inditex) or Florentino Pérez (ACS) was: -- “ President, but are you going to leave? are you going to resign? It will continue? ”. That the Government paralyzes its reformist agenda The sources to which ECD has had access reveal that one of the biggest concerns of big businessmen is that Rajoy and his ministers are not focused. They will focus in the coming months - crucial for the economic recovery in Spain - on solving their judicial problems , or on defending themselves against the opposition due to corruption cases. And they neglect the search for solutions, agreements and the daily management of the country's economic policy. “While talking about corruption, we neglect to get Spain out of the crisis.
And, in the end, what matters to investors is that the numbers add up ,” summarizes the president of one of the large Ibex companies consulted by this confidentiality and also present at the lunch in Moncloa. They cite as unavoidable the reform of pensions and Special Database the tax system , which must be ready by the beginning of next year at the latest. There was more talk about corruption than economics Rajoy's attitude in his meeting with businessmen did not go unnoticed. According to the sources consulted, the president was firm and repeated the expression “I'm staying” on several occasions . It was blunt and emphatic. But the leaders of the country's most important companies were concerned that during the meeting there was more talk about the political situation (corruption and irregular financing of parties) than about the economy. Something that, as ECD revealed, also happened this week during the last meeting of the CEOE leadership . Right now the greatest concern of large Spanish companies is that the Government ensures the political stability of the country due to the implications it may have for economic recovery . And this is what they let Rajoy know directly. Within the Government there is also some concern with the behavior of Mariano Rajoy: “These days, the president has stopped talking about the economy – his main headache until now – and his only message is that he is clean and that there is a Government spend time with him at the helm,” say sources close to him.
Other curious facts from the meeting in Moncloa Managers present at the Moncloa meeting did not overlook other unique details that took place at the President's residence: -- Rajoy, more cautious in private about the Spanish economy : Although Rajoy and his economic ministers have been speaking openly in public for weeks about Spain emerging from recession in the last quarter of the year, the president wanted to be more cautious with the businessmen. He assured them that Spain is emerging from recession, although he warned them that the pace of recovery will depend largely on credit and the attitude of Europe. -- Álvaro Nadal and Jorge Moragas supported the president at all times : His chief of staff, Jorge Moragas, and the director of the Moncloa Economic Office, Álvaro Nadal, did not leave Rajoy at any time. They provided him with all kinds of reports and notes on the economic forecasts managed by the Government, data that the president shared with the businessmen. -- The “good vibes” between Antonio Brufau (Repsol) and Isidro Fainé (Caixabank) : One of the images left by the business summit in Moncloa was the one starring Brufau and Fainé. Although in recent weeks information has been published alluding to possible disagreements between the two due to the differences they maintain over the solution to the dispute with Argentina over the expropriation of YPF from Repsol, in public they kept their manners. They were seen talking friendly, in a very cordial tone, sharing confidences, and even joking with each other.