The political drift of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce upsets the members of the plenary

Some unions and companies affiliated with the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce are very upset by the management’s decision to sponsor the acts to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the illegal referendum held on October 1, 2017. In the anniversary video, their logo appeared alongside that of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural, the Consell de la República, the Intersindical and the Association of Independent Municipalities (AMI) as sponsors and organizers of the “unitary” events held at the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona . “The decision to support a strictly political act it was not discussed in plenarythen the direction of the Chamber it should provide explanations and clarify whether the entity’s resources have been allocated to pay for these acts, “explains a member of the entity to El Confidentcial.

“This is the first time this has happened, because until now political issues had also passed into plenary session: It happened when a manifesto in support of Carles Puigdemont was approved, for example. The issue was discussed and the supporters of independence asserted their majority and approved this purely political document. Subsequently, they changed the logo of the institution because They said the royal coat of arms was outwhich represented the monarchy, although it was from the 18th century [fue diseñado en 1758]. But the participation and patronage of the Chamber in the 1-O anniversary proceedings was not discussed in plenary. We don’t know why the logo appears in a video of these political events. The presidency should explain partners “, explains an important businessman from Barcelona to this newspaper.

Official sources from the House explained to El Confidentcial that the institution was invited to participate in the 1-O commemorative events and a few words were requested from its president, Monica Roca. “We didn’t organize anything, but we were just collaborators. We were asked to put the logo on a video and for the president to address a few words to those present. It is like when we are invited to a congress or an act of another entity, a very frequent situation. Therefore, we consider it it was a matter of little importance, in which the executive committee, mainly due to the immediacy of the act, has the ability to make decisions. Only the important issues should go to the plenary, but not the small ones, because if we discuss any decision in the plenary, it would be impossible to do our job. The daily management of the Chamber would be paralyzed. Furthermore, they underline that “no economic or human resources were poured into that act. Simply, let them put the logo. We have not even disseminated information about 1-O through social networks. Therefore, it did not assume any damage to the entity “.

Opponents, however, also blame the political burden of the initiative. “It is incredible and inadmissible that a Chamber of Commerce, a body governed by public law, a public body as such, sponsors and adheres to a totally political and partisan act,” said another of the members of the plenary. There are also those who directly point out that the management of the institution “he is more engaged in politics than to solve the real problems of companies, trade unions or groups that make it up ”. Another exponent of the critical body who “sometimes behaves like another political party. If you want to play this, let them organize a party and run for elections, but don’t play with the institution. ”

One of the members consulted by this newspaper also stated that “plenary meetings are very rare. There is a lot of talk about macro-issues, the macro-economy of Catalonia, internationalization, innovation, but few of the real problems we have“.

an incendiary speech

Secessionism appealed, during the act of 1-O, to an achrony: bent on business The Catalan assured that he supported a “general strike” on 3 October 2017 and gave an example to the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce as a spearhead. All to give the microphone to the independent Mónica Roca, current president of the institute. There was only one small flaw: the entity has no second neither the referendum nor the strike. At that time, moderate businessmen were the majority in the institution.

The current management team has dominated the entity since 2019, although there are already several court rulings ruling it there was fraud in the elections to the House, so the last elections are canceled. unaware of this reality, Rock pronounced a incendiary speech. His mission was to send messages against Spain. He assured that if independence had materialized in 2017, “we would have 100,000 million more, we would have earned dozens of them. of educational centers and hospitalsinfrastructures for those without mobile coverage, photovoltaic parks, training courses, a salary for all young people which would have meant half the salary of their parents, etc.

Given these words, the entrepreneurs recall that there have been rulings by the Constitutional Court, especially those relating to universities, which are entities with a similar regime to the Chamber, which reject their political and biased use. “Public institutions, unlike citizens, they do not enjoy the fundamental right to the freedom of expression it proclaims article 20 of the Constitutionbut rather that their work appears to be linked to the achievement of the purposes assigned to them by the legal system “. The Supreme Court also ruled on the matter. In relation to a political declaration of professional association, “declaring that a public company law, representative of a profession and to which membership is mandatory in order to exercise it, I can not stop the position of neutrality that is proper to it in this field to take ideological and political positions on the part, even if they are not linked to the professional interests that it must serve ».

Final sentence: the elections to the Chambers of Commerce won by the separatists are canceled

Antonio Fernandez

In this sense, several members of the plenary session stressed in El Confidentcial that “the Chamber of Barcelona is very dedicated to political and macroeconomic issues and does not stop at solving the problems of trade unions or companies. Many of us, as well as the hotel and retail, for example, we didn’t understand why the Chamber transformed its profile when groups of thugs has devastated the center of Barcelona and has not openly denounced that it is loot shops, destroy shop windows or destroy bars for a week. You made a belated and wrong statement. We have no doubt that the Chamber has been more proactive in political demands than when the members of the plenary asked for positions in the sectors “, explains the representative of a large company from the institution.

Some unions and companies affiliated with the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce are very upset by the management’s decision to sponsor the acts to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the illegal referendum held on October 1, 2017. In the anniversary video, their logo appeared alongside that of the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), Òmnium Cultural, the Consell de la República, the Intersindical and the Association of Independent Municipalities (AMI) as sponsors and organizers of the “unitary” events held at the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona . “The decision to support a strictly political act it was not discussed in plenarythen the direction of the Chamber it should provide explanations and clarify whether the entity’s resources have been allocated to pay for these acts, “explains a member of the entity to El Confidentcial.