He affirms that blaming him, for his salary, for the attacks against businessmen is like blaming a girl for her rape for going "in a miniskirt"
The president of the CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, has criticized the "constant attack" on businessmen by certain members of the Government as part of a "discredit campaign" against the business world: "This week it was my turn", he indicated in reference to the salary that he receives in the employer's association, of about 380,000 euros per year.
In statements to Telecinco and Antena 3 collected by Europa Press, Garamendi has stated that his salary has not increased by 9%, but by 3%, the same percentage as the rest of the CEOE staff, and has denied that he has to regularize your employment status.
"It is false. I do not have to regularize anything at all. In Spain there are more than 200,000 people like me, who have to pay the Treasury twice. I am self-employed and I will continue to be so because businessmen cannot be in the General Regime", has underlined.
"It is not 400,000 euros nor have I raised 9% because it is not me, this is a matter for a private entity. The Board of Directors is 255 members and it is what has been approved. People may like it or not" , has defended.
The Basque businessman believes that with everything that is being said about his salary in CEOE a "campaign" is being carried out to destroy him, but he has warned that he will go ahead, because "he is from the North and will endure."
"That the Government is sending divisive messages seems very serious to me. It is accusing itself with its finger and now it has touched me, because I am alone," he denounced.
Regarding the criticism of the president of the Confederation of Employers of Pontevedra (CEP), Jorge Cebreiros, that Garamendi's salary does not seem "sensitive" to him and that this situation can "complicate" life for the business class, Garamendi has pointed out that his salary "neither complicates nor uncomplicates".
"Forgive the example, but this is like when there is a rape and they say that the girl was wearing a miniskirt. I do not accept an octopus as a pet," he said.
Garamendi has insisted that his salary has been approved by the CEOE Board of Directors and that it is a decision made within a private organization. "The only thing missing was for the Government to have to decide what we have to be or say or decide for some to give their opinion on what is done right or wrong," he pointed out.
WARNS THAT THE SUBMERGED ECONOMY WILL INCREASE DUE TO THE RISE OF THE SMI
Regarding the increase in the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) to 1,080 euros per month, which the CEOE has opposed, Garamendi has assured that it will not affect large companies but it will affect the self-employed and small companies, and has warned of that its rise will cause "more people to leave the legal field of employment".
"Spain has 24% of the underground economy and the rest of Europe has 13%, I think it is something very serious, that we should attack. In Spain we need open jobs that are legal", defended Garamendi, who recalled that His organization proposed a 4% rise in the SMI for this year, up to 1,040 euros per month.
"We are always going to negotiate with the Government. What seems incredible to me is that when you reach agreements you are a phenomenon and it turns out that the day you say no, because it is not good for Spain, you become a villain," he added. .
Garamendi has reproached the Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, for having "put it out" that businessmen "do everything wrong and against the most vulnerable." "That is a lie. Vulnerable are the self-employed and small businessmen, who do not have unemployment," she argued.
