The controversy surrounding Ferrovial’s decision to move its headquarters to the Netherlands continues. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has once again summoned the top executive of Ferrovial, Rafael del Pino, to reproach him that “the homeland is not only about making heritage, it is being supportive, pitching in, and helping, above all, when your country needs you.” This is the second time that the head of the Executive has ruled against the decision of the construction group.
Along these lines, Pedro Sánchez has maintained that the progress of the company is not related to legal guarantees, “which exist because in all international indices Spain, both from the OECD and from the most prestigious in the world, is ranked at the country as one of the safest places to invest and there are the data”.
Some demonstrations that delve into the line of argument deployed since the decision was known and, by the mouth of several ministers of his cabinet, for which Ferrovial owes a lot to Spain and the transfer of its corporate and fiscal headquarters would be a sign of disloyalty.
An “unfair” decision
Along these lines, the Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, has ruled, calling Ferrovial’s move to the Netherlands “a political act” and, in her opinion, we are facing an “unfair” decision. . The number three of the Government has abounded that Ferrovial is “a company whose capital accumulation is closely linked to public works, and fortunately Spanish society understands that there is a responsibility on the part of companies.”
For the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, it is “an isolated decision that is produced by a particular decision” of its president. Montero has reported that she had a “cordial conversation” with the president of Ferrovial, Rafael del Pino, in which she transferred the government’s praise for the decision. In any case, it has highlighted that in the past year 2022, “there was 50% more foreign investment in our country than the previous year”, so that “30,000 million euros arrived” in Spain “due to the conditions of stability, taxation, demand that exists in Spain”.
For his part, the head of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, José Luis Escrivá, has insisted on the idea that Ferrovial’s announcement should not “at all” be considered as a matter that generates a “particular problem” in the face of the flow growing foreign investment in Spain. In a breakfast-discussion organized by the Association for the Progress of Management (APD) organized in Valladolid, he added that Spain has recorded an “acceleration” of foreign investment in recent years. In this sense, he has given as an example the technology companies that “are expanding and growing in Spain”.
