2023-06-22 04:15:00
Prevent Asturias from becoming a fiscal island surrounded by communities with greater advantages, and put an end to the bureaucracy that stifles companies. These are the two main demands that the Oviedo economist Iñigo Cabal, general director of Geinco Grupo and since yesterday the new president of the Asturian Association of Family Businesses (Aefas) launched to the future regional government. He took over from Jose Maria Salazarwho exhausted his term.
“I face the position with great desire and enthusiasm and, after ten years on the board of directors of Aefas, I hope to be up to the task,” said Cabal after being elected by the representatives of nearly 200 companies in the assembly held in Las Caldas. The new president affirmed that family businesses face many challenges and difficulties, among which he cited the cost of raw materials, the rise in interest rates or the recruitment of talent. “But the family business is rooted in the territory and this makes us strong to fight against uncertainties,” said Cabal after highlighting the long-term vision of these companies that, he said, employ 22,000 people in Asturias and account for 60% of private sector GDP.
Cabal asked the new regional government to help and value them, “because we want to endure in the territory and generate new projects and jobs.” But for that, he pointed out, you need “an adequate ecosystem because our competition is next door and there are many elements with which we have to fight.” Among them stood out the prosecutor. “At the level of inheritance and donations tax, we are the last and we run the risk of being the only ones in that ranking of burdensome taxation,” said Cabal before the announcements of new communities that join the “suppression” of the tax – the last one Valencian Community-. “Asturias has become a fiscal island that is in danger of sinking. It is a clear competitive disadvantage for companies because we cannot last like this,” Cabal highlighted in response to questions from LA NUEVA ESPAÑA.
He also highlighted the bureaucracy as “another of the workhorses”. “We have to make a more effective and efficient Administration because the excess of bureaucracy weighs down the projects and the arrival of aid, we need agility and in that aspect there is a long way to go,” he stressed.
As the president of the Asturian Business Federation (FADE) did in the past, Cabal asked the majority parties “to leave ideologies aside and be pragmatic and practical in the interest of companies and all Asturians”. .
Later, in his closing speech at the Aefas assembly and before the attending partners and guests – among whom were the leader of the Asturian PP, Diego Cangas; the deputy of Foro Asturias, Adrian Pumares: the CEO of FADE, Alberto Gonzalezor the general secretary of the UGT of Asturias, Javier Fernandez Lanero, among others– again referred to all these issues and the need to “get out of the queue” because the region has important attractions, among which he highlighted the availability of land for the installation of large industries, good seaports and some infrastructures of communication (with the exception of the southwest), and to which he added the landscape, gastronomy or skilled labor. “But we should not be deceived, because no company will feel comfortable without an attractive ecosystem in which to operate,” he said, returning to taxation and bureaucracy and also adding the need to direct aid for business growth, not only for entrepreneurship. , and to improve training with dual vocational training and the orientation of university studies towards companies.
Before Cabal, the deputy mayor of Oviedo, Ignacio Cuestawhich highlighted the need to “deepen in public-private collaboration”, and closed the act the vice-president of the Principality, Juan Cofinowho began his speech by denying that the political class does not look at the businessman.
Cofiño acknowledged that the prosecutor is a “real problem” whose resolution “cannot be postponed any longer.” But he pointed out that where it should be addressed is within the review of the financing system of the autonomous communities. The objective, he pointed out, must be “fiscal harmonization to end serious asymmetries” guaranteeing the financing of health, education, social services…
Regarding the bureaucracy, Cofiño pointed out that it is an issue that obsesses him. He highlighted the steps that have been taken to simplify laws, improve the public procurement system and improve efficiency and, now that he is leaving the Executive, he called for “continuity in that battle.”
Cofiño also denied that Asturias is an isolated region (he pointed out that the road connections with the outside world are complete, that the railway variant will open soon and that the airport has more flights than ever) and affirmed that the main challenges for the next regional government are on the one hand, the transformation of the industry and business growth (“so that among multinationals and SMEs there is also more business middle class”), and on the other hand, the demographic challenge and depopulation. On this last aspect, and linked to the need for labor, Cofiño pointed out that “we must start talking about orderly emigration.”
Luis Pasamontes, in the group of businessmen
Former Asturian professional cyclist Luis Pasamontes, now dedicated to “mentoring” athletes and businessmen, turned the assembly of the Asturian Family Business Association into a peloton. He made the businessmen get into the shoes of the gregarious of a cycling team so that they understand what they expect from their leaders. “I gave 100% for some, but for others I squeezed 200%,” said Pasamontes after narrating personal experiences from his stage in teams like Movistar. He spoke of leaders who have no problem putting on the gregarious overalls (“the day that I was not well, Valverde raised the drums for us,” the cyclist exemplified); how commitment ends up becoming an opportunity; how in a team time trial the group does not add but multiplies; of the importance of integrating leadership (exemplified in the change of the jersey of the entire team when the leader wears yellow); of the value of marginal gains or the importance of saying thank you, a factor that he exemplified with a photo in which Fran Ventoso, after winning a stage of the Giro, waited 19 minutes at the finish line for Pasamontes, delaying the podium ceremony, to give him a hug for his help. “Emotional salary matters,” he said.
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