The president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has managed to make investors believe that we will be harmless in matters that concern them. In a closed-door meeting with a dozen members of the international investment community, the leader of the PSOE gave assurances that the entry of Pablo Iglesias will not alter his economic policy and did not receive, for now, signs of concern. "In the markets, we 'bought' your arguments, president. We believe it will be a responsible government in the economy and we are not worried," said Morgan Stanley's international chief. Franck Petitgas , who promised that the funds he manages will continue to acquire Spanish public debt. This is how this senior executive of the US bank expressed himself, according to several assistants consulted by EL MUNDO. "The representative of Morgan has been a bit exaggerated, but it is true that no one has expressed discrepancy with what he said, " says another financier. According to his version, "the Spanish president has been business-friendly [pro-business] and when there were technical doubts the vice-presidents have given a good image".

An example is that Nadia Calviño has subtracted iron during the meeting to the IMF growth forecast reduction (1.6% in 2020) remarking that it was still above the Eurozone average, and that Teresa Ribera has highlighted that there will be legal certainty for energy investments. Sanchez himself has reiterated behind closed doors what he had already sustained in his public intervention in the plenary session of the Davos Forum that the fact that he now governs with Podemos does not alter his commitment to reduce the deficit and debt. At the moment, he himself has not fulfilled it in 2019, but at least he does not have in his electoral program, as we can, stop reducing the deficit from 2% of the Gross Domestic Product. The socialist leader gave assurances that this section of the Iglesias program is outside government policy.

The question of Catalonia has been little treated during the meeting, despite the presence of, among others, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Spain, the Catalan Jaime Malet, and Sánchez has remarked in any case that there will be no unilateral decisions as in 2017, which frightened the investment community.

Calviño has assured that, in general in all Sanchez's meetings with businessmen and investors, there has been no "concern" with the new coalition government, but in any case "curiosity", how the new Executive was articulated and worked. The president has been very collaborative with the representatives of the Renault group and has offered to help Nissan who, despite its difficulties, is committing not to practice layoffs. "It has been a cordial meeting," the head of Renault in Spain, José Vicente de los Mozos, summed up to EL MUNDO.

Government sources have underlined the "constructive" position of investors with whom Sánchez has met. The president of the Zurich reinsurer, Mario Greco, argues that Spain can attract more young talent and Keith Block, from Salesforce consultancy, influenced the role that the fourth euro economy can play as a cybersecurity platform.

The president handles these meetings in English and knows how to influence the issues that investors want to hear and avoid those that don't. For example, according to government sources, no derogations from labor reforms or tax increases were mentioned . Sanchez summed up the result in his twitter account: "Profitable meeting with investors, banks and international consulting companies. They rely on the strength and stability of the Spanish economy and convey their support to the Government's economic priorities, especially digital transformation and the ecological transition. "

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  • We can
  • Spain
  • Pablo Iglesias
  • Pedro Sanchez
  • Teresa Ribera
  • PSOE
  • Nadia Calviño
  • IMF
  • Davos
  • Catalonia

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