Spanish business leaders call for structural reforms and consider the management of European funds to be negative
"Today there are no direct channels of communication between the Government and Spanish entrepreneurs, simply because part of the Government is allergic to entrepreneurship and ignores the fact that in order to distribute wealth it is first necessary to create it, and entrepreneurs do that". This was the answer to questions from Atalayar by the president of the Círculo de Empresarios, Manuel Pérez-Sala, at the presentation of the results of the annual survey carried out by this institution.
Both he and the president of the working group that has drawn up the sample, Miguel Iraburu, did not hide their unease, disappointment and weariness at the repetition year after year of the indicators that show that the essential fundamental reforms that the country needs are not being tackled. Both harshly criticised the fact that productivity in Spain is 16% lower than the European average; that GDP growth is the lowest in the EU, which has led countries such as Ireland and Slovenia to overtake us, as well as the inefficiency in the management of the Next Generation Funds, "to the point that 25% of the initial 7,000 million have been returned to the Treasury, due to the immense obstacles and bureaucratic hurdles encountered". Such is the lack of confidence in the management of these funds that 55% of entrepreneurs who could have applied for them say they have given up applying for them.
Between 70 and 80% of the businessmen consulted consider that the progressive lack of competitiveness of the Spanish economy (36th place in the 2022 ranking of the International Institute for Management Development, headed by Denmark and Switzerland), is due to obstacles such as the increasingly heavy regulatory burden, the deterioration of institutional quality and the lack of legal certainty.
They once again call on the government and political parties to tackle the structural reforms that the Spanish economy needs, and of those they consider most urgent, they highlight the one that affects the efficiency of public administrations, accompanied by "a radical tax reform that allows us citizens to know where our money is really going".
Education is another of the reforms considered urgent by the Círculo de Empresarios, where 80% of those surveyed see the modifications derived from the LOMLOE as negative. In this respect, they recommend as priority measures the promotion of Dual Vocational Training, the introduction of values and consideration of entrepreneurship from primary school onwards, and adapting the range of qualifications on offer to the reality of the market. "In this way, we would not be faced with such discouraging data as the fact that there are 150,000 unfilled skilled jobs when we have more than three million unemployed," Pérez-Sala stressed.
In response to another question raised by Atalayar, the president of the Círculo de Empresarios rejected the idea that the new general budgets presented by the government show solidarity, and even made the accusation that they encourage intergenerational confrontation: "It does not show solidarity that while workers only see their income increase by around 2-3%, pensioners are going to receive an 8% increase, especially when such a large increase will be paid for by an enormous debt that today's active workers will have to pay". In addition, beyond this one-off increase, coincidentally in an election year, the report is concerned that paying such pensions should be sustainable over time, and advocates encouraging active life after the legal retirement age, as well as the establishment of capitalisation of the so-called "Austrian rucksack" type, which accompanies the entire working life of each worker.
The business community is also calling for tax incentives for investment, a reduction in social security contributions payable by the company (85% compared to 15% for the worker (60%-40% in the EU), the abolition of wealth tax (Spain is the only EU country that maintains it), and the maintenance of inheritance and gift tax, but with high exemptions for direct transfers, given that most Spanish companies are small family-run businesses.
