Sanchez does not fail

The Barcelona economic world sensed yesterday that something important was about to happen at the Palacio de Congresos during the opening speech of the Cercle d'Economia meeting by Pedro Sánchez, the Prime Minister. And that's why the enormous hall where the event was being held was packed like never before. Packed to the rafters and then some.

And indeed, Sánchez didn't fail. He did it again, just like with the pardons and the amnesty. After a long litany of data about how good he sees the Spanish economy, he dropped the bombshell the audience had been waiting for: BBVA's "hostile takeover bid" for Sabadell, launched just a year ago, will be put to public consultation. A vote in the assembly, just like in the old days.

The president offers a way out after the fiasco of the CNMC resolution

In truth, the audience thought they would have to wait for Jaume Guardiola, the president of Cercle, to elicit some sign or omen of his intentions and the meaning of his final decision regarding the approach to Carlos Torres' bench over Josep Oliu's, in the dialogue following his intervention.

Sánchez stepped forward, and the audience remained in suspense for a few seconds until the meaning of what they had just heard sank in. An unexpected click would have frightened him; a single applause would have brought him to his feet. Having achieved the dramatic effect, the Prime Minister shielded himself so that Guardiola wouldn't ask him any more questions on the subject. It had been enough. The message was explicit: a new obstacle stands in the way of the BBVA takeover bid. With a call to mobilize those who oppose it to do so publicly and massively. Employers' associations, unions, guilds, professional associations...

The Competition Commission (CNMC) refused to let them appear in person, and their protests continue to bounce around the courts. But now they can say whatever they want, as the Prime Minister has promised to take them into account, in this case through his Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, "a reliable expert." The outcome of the consultation seems easy to predict. Furthermore, at one point it transcends the boundaries of the classic territorial debate. It will be difficult for Spanish economic stakeholders, beyond Catalonia, who express their opinions, to defend the takeover bid and the banking concentration it entails. The People's Party (PP), which yesterday reaffirmed its rejection of the Basque bank's move, is a clear sign of the direction things are heading.

Sánchez's surprising move comes as the fire ignited by the favorable vote for the takeover bid by Pere Soler, the CNMC member proposed by Junts, the pro-independence party headed by Carles Puigdemont, has yet to be extinguished. Yesterday's announcement seems to implicitly, subliminally, say, don't worry, despite the unexpected unanimous green light from the CNMC, I'm here, offering you a way out. Sánchez never fails.

In fact, the legislation explicitly states that competition is not the only tool to be used when intervening in a merger, but Sánchez wants to ensure that his future decision appears to be dictated by social demands rather than by his political calculations.

Those present at the time cared little when Sánchez told them that the reduction in working hours would be approved today in the Council of Ministers. This is one of his pet peeves. The Catalan economic world has clear priorities.

Between the sudden death of the recently recovered, century-old Sabadell and the longer-term cost of reduced working hours, he prefers to avoid the former; it's the most urgent; he'll see how he deals with the latter. Furthermore, by the time Sánchez was speaking about the working day, his audience yesterday already knew that Junts had announced a comprehensive amendment, which, if upheld, will prevent parliamentary ratification of the new law. It remains to be seen how the negotiations progress. Business leaders still hold out hope that the bill won't be approved, at least in its initial version.