Ferrovial's decision to move its headquarters and business center to the Netherlands
is bad news that should set off alarm bells for any responsible government
.
We are not talking about just any company, but rather an emblematic one, one of the few large companies that maintains a good part of the external image that used to be identified as the Spain brand.
The message that the Ferrovial march sends to investors and markets is very detrimental to the interests of our economy:
the
country is ceasing to be an attractive destination for global capital
, which moves in a market where competition is high.
There is nothing to celebrate: Ferrovial embodies 70 years of Spanish business success, largely based on the large public works undertaken in our country.
would have been desirable
that the company had reconsidered its position to maintain its commitment to Spain
, because with its departure the added value also leaves.
However,
Nadia Calvino
he has lost the right to the reproach that he allowed himself to launch against the construction company yesterday, in a new sample of populist contagion.
When the president himself slides down the demagogic slope of the confrontation between "those above" and "those below" and
demonizes businessmen with names and surnames
pointing them out as enemies of the people;
and when the Minister of Finance uses tax legislation as an electoral lever and chains tax increases and increases in contributions that
they drown the productive class without touching the expense
, while confirming the escape of Spanish businessmen in the direction of Portugal (where a social democracy governs
business friendly
), it is hypocritical to put your hands to your head now.
Ferrovial is the first, but it will not be the last.
The construction company directed by Rafael del Pino has wanted to avoid explicit political confrontation with the Government, and argues that the volume of business of the construction company is located mainly abroad.
Her goal, she says, is to open up new markets in the context of a global economy, and it makes sense given the company's accredited transatlantic vocation.
But one revealing adjective is included among the reasons given by the Ferrovial board:
in Amsterdam they will find a "stable" legal framework.
Unlike Spanish, it can be concluded.
Spain cannot become a hostile country to foreign investment, and even less to national investment.
One of our greatest strengths was always legal certainty and predictable regulations:
companies must be taxed fairly in proportion to their profits
.
But the continuous trial balloons that start from a divided coalition - from the rent cap to the intervention of the price of food, or taxes
ad hoc
appealed in the courts - generate insecurity and encourage relocation.
The signal that is sent is ruinous.
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