Looking ahead to the next legislature, once the general elections of November 10, the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations, are held, CEOE believes that it will be essential and urgent to reach governance agreements between the different political forces in a necessary climate of stability and moderation, with the participation of social agents.

Thus, CEOE has prepared a document that sets a decalogue of business priorities for the new political course, which reiterate and complement those presented in March 2019, on the occasion of the general elections held on April 28. With this document, he shows his predisposition to collaborate with the Government that the citizens legitimately choose.

Promotion of entrepreneurship: The economic dynamism is closely linked to the creation of new companies and the development of existing ones. Therefore, the environment must be especially favorable for newly created and / or small businesses. For this, it is necessary to eliminate the barriers to the increase of the size of our SMEs and the promotion of culture and business vocation, especially from the educational field.

Training as a way to grow more and better: The training allows to increase the human capital and the productivity of the economy, which makes it a key factor of business competitiveness and, therefore, of future growth and employment generation. Quality education must align with the real needs of companies.

Strengthen innovation and digitalization: The R + D + i must approach the real needs of the companies to be able to materialize in innovations of products and processes that allow them to overcome the new challenges that lie ahead. A greater effort by all, both from the public and private sectors, is essential to ensure that expenditure in this item in terms of GDP reaches 3% as soon as possible, according to the Lisbon Strategy. In addition, digitalization is already introducing profound changes in production processes and employment. It is essential that it be incorporated into the political, economic and social agenda of the Government.

Sustainability as an instrument of competitiveness: The Spanish economy must lay the foundations of its great structural transformations in the future. Sustainability must be the axis in which the decarbonization of the economy and the consequent transition in energy, climate and circular economy are progressively and orderly instructed. Sustainability is the framework in which the world economy will work in the coming years. Our companies are called to implement it as a source of competitiveness. In this way, the sustainable development goals (SDGs), proposed by the United Nations, are a channel in which to address this challenge.

Intensify the internationalization of our economy: Despite the good results of our foreign sector, there is still room to increase the export base and continue the process of internationalization of our economy through a firm commitment to develop an environment favorable to business competitiveness. This is the main way to consolidate a new growth pattern based on the recovery of activity without generating external deficits.

Structural reforms to increase growth: We must not forget that the competitiveness of companies is the necessary condition for their growth and provides the basis for sustainable employment creation over time and to improve the living standards of our society. From CEOE we believe that it is more necessary and urgent than ever for economic policy to prioritize the improvement of competitiveness. New structural reforms that favor it as a catalytic lever must be implemented both to reverse the current cyclical trend in the short term, and to sustainably boost the potential for long-term growth and employment generation.

Continue budgetary consolidation by improving the efficiency of public spending: One of the main vulnerabilities of the Spanish economy is the significant amount of public debt accumulated in the last crisis. To reduce these high levels, the fiscal consolidation process must be advanced, avoiding additional increases in structural public spending. In addition, criteria of rationality, budgetary discipline and continuous evaluation should be incorporated to improve the efficiency of public spending of Public Administrations, as well as intensify the fight against the submerged economy.

Business taxation must be competitive: The results of improving spending efficiency and reducing fraud should be aimed at reducing corporate taxation to make it more competitive as a way to increase our trend growth and thus accelerate the convergence of income with our European partners . Similarly, property taxation in Spain is one of the highest in the developed world with the consequent penalty of savings and business investment. These taxes, in a context of mobility of people and capital, have little real collection capacity and, instead, generate strong distortions in economic activity and in attracting talent and capital, so it is a priority to eliminate the Property Tax and reduce the Tax on Inheritance and Donations.

Legal certainty and the guarantee of property rights to favor investment: Legal security is the best guarantee to invest in our country. It is essential to create a system in which it is reasonable to foresee the economic consequences of the actions of individuals and public authorities, which is essential to build trust that facilitates investment and economic and social development.

Freedom of enterprise and market unit: The freedom of enterprise must not only be protected by preventing actions that restrict it, but also promoted by actions developed by the public authorities. In this sense, it is necessary to advance in efficiency to achieve public objectives without imposing unnecessary or disproportionate burdens on companies, and coordinate territorial policies (state, regional and local), which sometimes hinder the exercise of the right to freedom of company. Finally, the market unit is key to achieving free and equal access and exercise of economic activity.



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