ONE of Catalunya's largest cava producers says it is 'extremely worried' about the possibility of the region becoming an independent nation.
José Luis Bonet Ferrer, chairman of Freixenet – among the most multinational manufacturers of Spain's answer to champagne – says Catalunya 'is an essential part' of the nation and 'must carrying on being so'.
Tensions created between Spain's central government and the Generalitat de Catalunya are not helping trade, he says.
“Business owners have the right to become worried if politicians seek to create tension instead of undertaking rational discussions,” stresses Bonet Ferrer.
He said he is 'deeply concerned' about the impact on business and the economy if Catalunya becomes a separate nation, since it would automatically cease to be a member of the EU, creating trade barriers, higher customs duties and a need to establish itself as a sound source of international commerce which the rest of the world had sufficient confidence to do business with.
Bonet Ferrer is one of several representatives of large companies in the north-eastern region, which wants to break away from Spain to become a country in its own right, who have 'grave concerns' about the secession debate.
A selection of company bosses were interviewed by The New York Times about how the business world viewed the possibility of an independence referendum which Catalunya's regional president Artur Mas is determined to hold.
Toni de la Rosa Torrelló, whose family has owned and run the prestigious cava producer of the same name since the year 1395, said: “Manufacturing the product that most represents Catalunya does not mean we want to be represented in this political debate.”
Salvador Alemany, chairman of telecoms and transport infrastructure giant Abertis, founded in 1967, adds: “Consensus is always better than conflict; it is always preferable for businesses to operate in a situation of certainty rather than insecurity.”
Jordi Bagó i Mons, executive director of hotel chain and tour operator SERHS, does not necessarily support Catalunya's independence bid, but does believe the region could 'construct a far better model for its economy' than the ones imposed by Spain's central government, if it were left to its own devices and allowed to do so.
And Xavier Torra, Chief Executive Officer of Simon Holding, one of Spain's largest electrical goods manufacturers, says the independence debate has become 'too emotional'.
“The voice of Catalunya's business world has been silenced, because we are part of an economy which is completely interdependent and global,” Torra states.
