Stroke of direction of the employers of Mercadona in full crisis of prices. The board of directors of the Spanish Association of Distributors, Self-services and Supermarkets (Asedas), which has among its associates other large chains such as Dia, Lidl or Ahorramas, has agreed on Thursday the appointment of the former leader of CiU Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida as the new president of the organization. He replaces Antonio Garrigues, who has agreed to assume the honorary presidency.

The companies of Asedas, which represent 75% of the distribution area fed in Spain, have considered in the first of these appointments the "great career" personal and professional Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, who will contribute to the defense of interests as broad as those represented by the companies of Asedas "an experience and vision that will help them continue to serve society based on the values they share, among which dialogue and the search for consensus stand out".

For its part, Duran i Lleida has valued the importance of local food distribution represented by Asedas supermarkets as a sector that creates employment and wealth, fundamental for the territorial structuring of Spain and essential for the daily life of citizens.

The intense legislative activity that at the regional, national and European level is being developed around the sector – which covers, among others, issues such as the circular economy, consumption or commercial relations – constitutes, likewise, an aspect of interest in which the new president of Asedas hopes "to be able to reinforce the work of the association to the maximum".

"The figure of Duran i Lleida represents not only the values that have tried to inspire the decisions of Asedas since its foundation, more than twenty years ago, but also its present objectives, when facing important challenges such as the environmental, economic and social sustainability of the food distribution model of our country, at a time of conditioned change, In addition, due to the serious multifactorial crisis we are experiencing", they have highlighted from the association.

ANTONIO GARRIGUES ASSUMES THE HONORARY PRESIDENCY

Likewise, Asedas thanked Antonio Garrigues Walker for his "successful" work as president of the organization during the last four years. For this reason, he has agreed to continue accompanying the companies of Asedas as honorary president of the organization, after fulfilling a "very important task, in especially complicated moments, marked among others by the Covid-19 pandemic".

During this time, according to Asedas, Garrigues Walker has contributed "in a very personal and committed way" to raising the social recognition of the supermarket sector and "making visible" the strategic work of the more than 322,000 employees in the sector.

"We are very grateful to Antonio Garrigues Walker, a key person in the Spanish and international legal world, for his advice, support and closeness to the reality of Spanish supermarkets in recent years. This spirit will continue to inspire us from his work as honorary president of Asedas, "said the CEO of Asedas, Ignacio García Magarzo.

In addition, he welcomed Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida as the new president of the organization: "Our entrepreneurs have valued the involvement of Josep Antoni Durán i Lleida with the legislative, economic and social challenges that the sector has ahead; which, together with the conciliatory and dialoguing spirit that has always inspired his career, will help us greatly in the coming years to continue advancing in a distribution model of proximity at the service of society".

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