The dome of the Confederation of Valencian Entrepreneurs (CEV), branch of the Great Employers CEOE, lived on Tuesday an unexpectedly convulsed day. Its president since 2011, Salvador Navarro, who converted the organization after the bankruptcy of its Cierval predecessor, unexpectedly announced that to the elections that will be held on November 6. A few minutes after his withdrawal, the president of the Valencian Employer of Metal, Vicente Lafuente, publicly announced his candidacy and thanked Navarro for the services provided.
In Diego de León, 50 (where the Madrid headquarters of CEOE) are located) there were those who knew that this movement was going to occur. But in general some initial bewilderment was lived due to the open struggle in Valencia. However, the idea that the withdrawal of Navarro occurred even produced even because, this time, he did not achieve the public support of Garamendi and the employer dome against Lafuentes. The adhesion of the latter to the future candidacy of the current president of CEOE seems more solid than that of the hitherto Valencian business leader, according to different sources consulted.
In fact, Navarro’s resignation to revalidate his position in the Valencian employer show , since before it was not possible.
That change pissed Garamendi’s intention to appear again. Less clear is which rival or rivals could have, although the episode lived in the CEV and a runrún in many employer venues points to the former president of Cepyme, Gerardo Cuerva, dethroned last May. “I am very restless and I will not be still,” Cuerva said after losing the elections in the organization of SMEs, showing that he had not said his last word in the field of business representativeness.
The past spring was not settled when on May 21 the candidate to preside over the employer of SMEs. De Miguel, supported by Garamendi, won with a very tight victory (53% of the votes against 46% of his opponent). And that distribution of the support left the door open to the former president of Cepyme could recompose himself to stand up to Garamendi in the next elections of CEOE.
However, for this it would need to return to the ring of business representation. Above all, it would need to return to the managerial levels of the CEOE from where decisions are made and influences organizations. At the moment he is still in charge of the Granada Confederation of Entrepreneurs – his headquarters, which has been chaired for 20 years – and from there, several sources from different organizations claim that he plans to make the leap and present himself as a candidate to preside over the Confederation of Entrepreneurs of Andalusia (CEA). This organization has been directed for more than ten years by Javier González de Lara and everything indicates that he will opt for re -election.
The Cerva Uncognite
However, these elections are planned for spring and Cuerva has not made their intention to present official. Sources that supported him in the elections to the presidency of Cepyme insist that “he will try.” These sources suggest that it would have the safe support of the employer of Granada, of course; The Sevillian and part of the businessmen of Jaén. But other executives who support the current Andalusian president and Garamendi say that Cuerva is not even in order to win Andalusia. “You would have to hurry, because such an elections are not prepared and much less win in three months,” they say.
In addition, the CEOE presidency election system is very different from Cepyme’s. This was explained by Garamendi himself. Asked the day he lost Cuerva for the narrow margin of support, he denied the possibility that this fracture was reproduced in the CEOE elections. “In Cepyme the correlation of votes is very different from representativeness,” he said. With this, he wanted to say that the vote in the great employer is proportional to the weight of territorial organizations, so having the support of half a dozen the greatest victory is achieved.
Garamendi’s environment is quiet and sees more than feasible to the possibility of getting these supports. Territorially, the key is to achieve the votes of Madrid (45 vocalies), Catalonia (45 vocalies) and Valencian Community (30 vocalies). This last organization would be assured if President Lafuente, who is also vice president of the current team of Miguel.
However, the presidency of Lafuente in CEV is not guaranteed. There is still time to present candidacies and there are those who expect another more related candidate to arise to great Valencian businessmen such as Juan Roig or Vicente Boluda.
The Madrid employer, although divided into the Cepyme elections, does not present to the environment of the employer of Spanish businessmen. The same goes for the support of the Catalan organization, directed by Josep Sánchez Llibre. The differences that he has maintained with Garamendi on occasion seems to have disappeared. A sample of this is, argue sources close to the leader of CEOE.
More than a year for elections, it is still early to make firm support counts. Especially when it is unknown if there will be alternative candidates. Among the polls in the different business organizations, there are those who assure that Cuerva “the sufflé has been lowered” and will not fight for the presidency of CEOE. But the last movement in Valencia denotes that the employers are already moving in electoral code.
