UNDER REGISTRATION

Updated Thursday, March 28, 2024-00:00

The Government announced on Tuesday the return of the State to Telefónica's shareholding in the first phase of an intervention with which it aims to reach 10%. The announcement responds, according to the Executive, to the interest of the Saudi STC, owned by the sovereign fund of the Gulf autocracy,

in reaching 9.9% of the Spanish company

. This operation is still pending authorization from the Ministry of Defense.

Moncloa's intervention occurs in a context of great international upheaval. The

Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese aggressiveness towards Taiwan or the destabilization of the Middle East after the Hamas attack on Israel have placed geopolitics as a key variable in the management of the economy. Security or energy autonomy

affect the financial decisions of States

, which have a very delicate final frontier in the interference in private companies.

In this environment, it is not unreasonable to find that governments wonder about the origin of investors in their strategic companies, of which, due to its importance in the deployment of the network and its military technology, Telefónica is a part. The problem here lies not only in the credentials of the Saudi investor,

but in those that present the conduct of the Government of Pedro Sánchez itself

.

Firstly, Moncloa has carried out the operation from financial precariousness that reflects its political weakness.

With the extended budgets, it has withdrawn funds from the Treasury without any transparency

. The normal thing before entering a critical company under these conditions is that the president would have exposed his plan to the PP. Nothing suggests that it was like that.

The opacity and haste suggest that the Government is determined to force the entry of a counselor in record time. Sánchez's imprint on his relationship with the institutions and companies he owns is sectarian colonization. RTVE joined the CIS or the Efe agency yesterday, to whose presidency he elevated a militant. If instead of limiting his presence on the council or opting for a prestigious profile, Sánchez chooses a conmilitón

It will be clear that the Government does not want to protect Telefónica

, but to himself.

The

teleco

Spanish is a leading and well-managed company. The best way for the Government to protect it is to work in the EU to change the regulations that prevent it from scaling in size and guarantee fair competition against the technological giants that take advantage of its infrastructure. The imposition of strict conditions on unwanted investors or support for a Spanish hard core will always be better weapons than direct intervention in a private company. But if it had to be activated in extreme cases,

Transparency and respect for professional management must prevail

. The rest would be colonization that the market will punish.

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