- Business: José Blanco, advisor with a fierce lobby and far from Ferraz
- Profile: Alfonso Alonso, the minister with a hard childhood
"Pepe has always known how to form good teams, he has done it in politics and he is doing it now in the company." Elena Valenciano's voice (59) sounds most relaxed on the other end of the phone. The former MEP and deputy secretary general of the PSOE is at her home in Altea , her base, where she has spent confinement with her family and parents. The Pepe he refers to is José Blanco (58), his former party partner, who has signed her for Acento, the consulting firm he founded less than a year ago and which has already managed several important companies as clients.
With Pepiño he was tanned in a thousand political battles before they rebounded from the party in which they have militated "almost since we were little." Ferraz did not have either of them for the lists of the last elections to the European Parliament, but since leaving politics a year ago, Elena Valenciano admits that she is happy . "In the end I had a bad time. Politics for us has been much more than an activity, the PSOE has been almost an affective element , but that is already over. I do not miss it, I have a much more pleasant life now and my family he suffers much less than he did when he was on the front line, "he says.
Valenciano is not the only rebounded rescued by Pepiño Blanco. His last star signing has been Alfonso Alonso (53), the former leader of the Basque PP, struck down by Pablo Casado, who for a week has been on the organization chart as president of Acento. "Alfonso Alonso is a very balanced person , who analyzes very well, moderate ... someone with whom you can form a team. I am very satisfied and have made a brave decision, Blanco said in an interview on Onda Cero last week.
" Pepe's call surprised me a lot , I was not expecting it. I had just had my day and asked him for some time to think about it. I thought about it a lot, accepted and I am delighted, very excited," says the former popular politician in conversation. telephone with LOC from the headquarters of Acento, in the Salamanca district of Madrid. "I spent the confinement in Vitoria with my family, with my wife and the boys, and that helped me digest things and see the perspective. In my house they are delighted because they have been many years in politics and for the family it is hard. My woman, above all, is very relieved, "she confesses.
Like Valenciano and Blanco himself, Alonso does not miss politics either. "I am very grateful to my party, which will always be my home, but I have no idea of going back ."
In the team that Blanco has formed there are also Esteban González Guitart (28), the poet and lawyer son of Esteban González Pons, PP spokesman in the European Parliament, and former PSOE spokesman in Congress Antonio Hernando (52), also purged by Pedro Sánchez. The rebounded thing does not like the former socialist leader very much, "it sounds derogatory," he says, but he admits that both she and her colleagues are.
"THEY DON'T LOVE US"
"The directions of the PSOE and the PP have not wanted to continue counting on us and in that sense, yes, we can be the rebounded, but like any of the politicians who are working in their offices or consultancies ... When you leave a political activity As intense as the one that Pepe and I have had, recycling is not so easy, however we have done it and we have not asked anyone for anything, "defends Valenciano, who works as an external advisor, even though his photo appears on the web. "That transfer is a lot to call him. I am an advisor for international and European issues . I am not on the staff or anything like that. Since I left the European Parliament I have worked at the Henri Dunant Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, which is based in Geneva" , Explain.
Many have also been surprised that former leaders of the PP and PSOE work side by side in the same office , parties that in Congress have led the confrontation to tension . "I did not plan to do anything with people from the PSOE but, although some may find it strange, it is a very attractive idea, we are transversal people and that is very good," says the former mayor of Vitoria.
Valenciano does not see it strange either. "When Pepe told me about Alfonso, I was not surprised because in reality all of us who are there are already out of politics. Furthermore, at least when we were, the relationship with many people in the PP has been very good . In this case The PP and the PSOE does not rule much, what governs is the personal relationship of trust and the professional capacity of those of us who are there, that is what has been measured and in that Pepe has always been very good and is not sectarian at all "
All of them, except Valenciano, who remains at his base in Altea and travels constantly, share an office and the task of "helping the corporate world , institutions and governments to proactively face the social, political and economic context in Spain, Europe and Latin America. "as it says on the website. They offer "permanent dialogue with the public powers" and "dialogue with those responsible for the administrations on legal initiatives that may affect the interests and investments" of listed companies
"Acento is a boutique consulting firm . We get personally involved with clients, not like other larger consulting firms, " says Alonso. At the moment, and in less than a year, they have obtained an important portfolio , attracted by the agendas and contacts that their managers manage. Alonso, however, warns: "We are not going to provide shortcuts , but a good job."
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