Trade associations ask for 'stability' to boost growth

On Monday, the large trade associations in Catalonia urged "stability" to boost growth. After a meeting with Catalan president Quim Torra, the representatives from the Business associations urged Madrid and Barcelona to engage in political dialogue.

One "gesture" of goodwill could be to eliminate the Spanish government decree approved by the former executive, one which made easier for companies to set their legal headquarters outside of Catalonia. This, said the vice president of the Foment del Treball trade union, would also offer "legal security" to companies.

The decree was passed by Mariano Rajoy's executive at the peak of the political conflict with Catalonia: some companies, including big banks such as CaixaBank or Sabadell, moved their legal headquarters to other cities in Spain due to this change in the law. The decree allowed the board of directors of companies to relocate legal HQs without consulting shareholders.

For his part, the president of the association of small and medium companies insisted that the Catalan economy is "going well" and the outlook is that the positive trend will continue. He said their priority is to work towards digitalization and ask the new Catalan government to boost professional training schemes.

The meeting between the Catalan president and the trade representatives came the same day as a similar summit between him and trade union leaders.