Under-fire head of Spain's main employer group bows out
Embattled CEOE head will not stand again
With his own business affairs in tatters, the head of Spain's biggest employer group, Gerardo Díaz Ferrán, bowed to the inevitable and formally announced Wednesday he would be standing down as chairman of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations (CEOE) and called for an election to replace him next month.
With two of the companies he controlled in the hands of the receivers and facing legal and financial problems from their demises, Díaz Ferrán had become something of a liability as head of the CEOE at a time when the government had embarked on major reforms to the labor market and pension system in response to the country's worst recession in some 60 years, from which it barely managed to emerge at the start of this year.
The feeling among the CEOE's upper echelons was that Díaz Ferrán had to go. Arturo Fernández, a vice chairman of the CEOE and head of the Madrid Business Confederation, had all but announced Díaz Ferrán's departure on Tuesday.
Díaz Ferrán said Wednesday he had already made up his mind to leave some time ago but wanted to wait until after parliament had passed the government's labor reform and the general strike held on September 29, called by the main unions to protest a massive austerity drive.
The CEOE chief said he would dedicate his time to "personal problems." Díaz Ferrán was a co-owner of Air Comet and travel business Marsans before they went bust.
Díaz Ferrán said the election for the new chairman of the CEOE will take place on December 21.
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