Garamendi (CEOE) calls for "respect" for the 'no' of employers to the pension reform

MADRID, 15 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has asked this Wednesday for "some respect" for his organization's decision not to support the second phase of the pension reform, which has attracted the support of the CCOO and UGT.

"When it is not no, it is not no. You may like it or not, but let no one doubt the loyalty of the businessmen and self-employed in this country (...). When a proposal is brought that you think is not good for your country , our obligation is to say no", said Garamendi, who has urged the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration "to learn to dialogue better".

Garamendi, in statements to RNE collected by Europa Press, has indicated that the Government has presented this reform as if they were "lentils" and has justified its rejection of it in that the increase in contributions to companies contemplated in the reform "will weigh down" the competitiveness of companies and employment.

"They have not counted on us (...) The Government has made the decision to go on its own", denounced Garamendi, who has denied that the CEOE has not presented proposals at the dialogue table as stated by the Minister of Inclusion, Jose Luis Escriva.

The leader of the CEOE has stressed that the Government was asked for an economic report on the reform in order to propose other solutions than the increase in social contributions, a report that they have not received.

Garamendi believes that the reform proposed by the Government only guarantees the sustainability of the system in the short term and that it would be necessary to think in the medium and long term, but without harming the competitiveness of companies.

"We are at the end of a legislature and it seems that everything is heating up, but I am not running for the elections (...) I do not have to wait for May or December", indicated the leader of the employers' association, who added that this country needs a lot less "twitch" and more "restraint."

Garamendi has reiterated that he will commission specialists in pension matters to analyze the reform once they have the final document, and has also indicated that it will be necessary to see how far the negotiation of this reform with the parliamentary groups goes.

Despite his rejection of the pension reform, the business leader has indicated that "nothing is broken" with the Government, with which they have signed more than 15 agreements in recent years.