Antonio Garamendi (Getxo, 1958) presides over CEOE in what is shaping up to be the worst collapse of the economy in the history of the organization. Grant this interview to EL MUNDO by telephone.

What will be the impact of this crisis? Here is a health crisis and as a consequence comes an economic crisis. We do not have figures yet but there will be a drop in GDP and employment is very clear. The first thing to do is to solve the people's health problem and we have been in contact with the Ministry of Health for weeks following their recommendations. But companies must also be cared for and protected because they are the ones that have to mount the recovery so that the country can get going as soon as this ends. They must be protected from the danger of not producing, not providing services, not billing and yet maintaining expenses. How to protect them? We must ensure that the country does not stop. I'm not saying that at any price, but at the right one. It is necessary to provide Individual Protective Equipment [PPE] to companies, and promote mobility. Do you disagree with PP communities or the President of the Generalitat that it is necessary to harden more and go to total confinement to stop the virus? Yes Health says that one should not go to total confinement, one should not discuss it, nor be more tremendous. You cannot follow the recommendations of Health until one that does not interest arrives. I wish there was no politics with this. People must be protected, but the country must not stop. We risk recovery when this is over. As the country stops, in two months we will have a problem and see how it starts later. A factory doesn't have to work like Monday, but it can work like a Sunday and keep it going. All this provided that the health authorities endorse it, of course. And how to guarantee the health of the workers in these factories? Precisely, the first thing that companies need is PPE. We are asking the government for it and it is extremely urgent. Many of the masks, of the PPE that had private companies have been requisitioned by the Health Service and I do not dispute it, but companies have been checked out. This is not a time for criticism, but we must highlight the performance of the companies Inditex, BBVA, Santander, Iberdrola, Mercadona, and many others that lend a hand from the private sector. By the way, private health care must be valued. Isn't it a risk that there are citizens who still go to work every day? Mobility should be facilitated safely, but people should be able to go to work. There are many sectors that must continue to function: transport, agriculture, pharmacy, slaughterhouses, warehouses, gas stations ... This value chain cannot be stopped. There are very important factories that are necessary and let's not forget the energy, the water ... People have to be aware. There is an avalanche of ERTEs, will they end in EREs? Do we have to transmit calm and calm to people? The company's intention is to get the country back on track. In the situation in which we are, no businessman wants to sack on purpose. A fortnight ago we reached an agreement with the unions to streamline and automate ERTEs. Companies do not want to take people away, but there are activities such as schools, bars or restaurants that have been closed by administrative order. The communities do not have enough to process them ... It is necessary to automate and make them more flexible. For example, job maintenance is required for six months and it will be difficult for a company to maintain the workforce at the start of activity, especially services. It is not the same as requiring you to keep your job in one year, but initially, up to six months will not be easy. Tourism for example is going to cost us. And as for the current system of positive silence, it generates insecurity and it is key that it works. Companies need much more agility and also workers so that they can collect these ERTEs. There are CEOE leaders who are asking for suspension of tax payments in these weeks ... A delay has already been achieved for small and medium-sized companies that bill up to six million and you can widen that threshold. It would always be to postpone, but not to exonerate, because the State has to function. If the State does not work, we all fall. Is the 200,000 million plan announced by the Government going to be a hard cost for the State? .- It is not 200,000 million. There are 100,000 million loans from private banks covered with up to 100,000 million of State guarantees. That has nothing to do with enabling $ 200 billion. At the moment it has started with 20,000 million and hopefully it will not take much more, but they have already said that they are ready for more. The State coverage for SMEs and large companies is very high. We are not only talking about the new financing, but refinancing is allowed. _ With the guarantees liquidity enters the system. How much will the State lose? It will depend. If things go wrong in five years, it could be 10,000 or 15,000 million. If the State loses 100,000, it will mean that Spain has gone bankrupt, because we will have all gone bankrupt. Have you been surprised that this Government with Podemos gives such support to companies? We have spoken with the Ministry of Economy and have followed Germany and France. We are satisfied with Nadia Calviño things as they are. You have seen the problem in a very pragmatic and professional way. It has taken care of what we propose. A lesson from this crisis is that the Government will have to change its economic policy? Yes, when this happens, I will need another economic policy for the country to rise up. Populist adventures of one or the other sign are not worth it. Other measures will have to be applied with much more budgetary rigor and economic orthodoxy. Two and two are four, not seven. The Welfare State must be protected without populism and with State Pacts. I appreciate that the parties with a sense of state have given parliamentary support now beyond the criticism they must make. Will the labor reform be repealed after this crisis? We did not understand the repeal of the labor reform and now we would understand it even less. If it was possible to negotiate something in the growth phase, now it would be very complicated. The ERTEs of now is the flexible labor reform. As the labor reform is touched and there is rigidity, they will ensure that employers cannot get ahead.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • CEOE
  • Spain
  • Mercadona
  • Nadia Calviño
  • GDP
  • PP
  • We can
  • Santander
  • Germany
  • France
  • Inditex Group

EUROPACalviño, against massive stimulus packages that "may generate irresponsible behavior"

Covid 19 Two buses are chartered from Alicante to collect the students 'trapped' in Italy by the coronavirus

Telecommunications Online traffic record on Saturday night: the leading Spanish network, tested by the closure against the coronavirus