Cuerva defends his candidacy and calls for unity among business organizations

The president of Cepyme, the small and medium-sized business association, Gerardo Cuerva, defended business unity this morning during the presentation of his candidacy at the Nueva Economía Forum meeting : "This is not a time for division. For my part, there hasn't been any, and there never will be," he stated. He did so in a context of tension among business organizations after the CEOE withdrew its support for his reelection, when its president, Antonio Garamendi, denounced the "abandonment" felt by small and medium-sized businesses after these years of Cuerva's management and defended the candidacy of his opponent, Ángela de Miguel.

"I've been pressured not to run," Cuerva stated at the presentation, where he recalled the collaboration agreement signed by CEOE and Cepyme in 1980, which established unified business action based on the independence of both organizations. CEOE President Antonio Garamendi and Cuerva's rival, Ángela de Miguel, did not attend the presentation of Cuerva's candidacy.

"We promoted and published the Manifesto of Spanish Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises for Freedom of Enterprise , which garnered the unanimous support of all Spanish business organizations. All except one, our older sister organization, CEOE. I still don't know why," Cuerva lamented in his speech. He added that "companies are stronger if we stand together" and "creating division within the business community only gives an advantage to those who don't believe in business."

A division that, while he noted, "is not something new, has always been a great temptation for some," is "especially serious at the present time because businesses are facing the most hostile government in recent decades ." "I cannot understand how some people thought this was a good time to create a rift in CEOE," he lamented. "The sense of business organizations is being distorted."

An event in which the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, took the opportunity to defend the SME employers' association : "SMEs are essential for employment, free enterprise, and innovation. It is everyone's responsibility to ensure they continue to be so," she emphasized. She also called for "walking together" at a time when CEPYME is electing its next leader, a process from which Ayuso hopes this institution "will emerge strengthened."

In his candidacy presentation, the president of Cepyme focused on the company's ideology. Specifically, he emphasized the defense of liberalism : "Business will only prosper on the basis of liberalism. Freedom of enterprise, freedom of the market, and non-intervention are principles intrinsic to our business. Without them, there is no business," he explained.