Juan Rosell, president of the Spanish lobby CEOE (similar to the US Chamber of Commerce, this lobby represents various businesses and companies in Spain), visited el Ágora de elEconomista in collaboration with Ernst & Young. The gathering was held at the Villa Magna hotel in Madrid. The theme of the day was very clear: is it possible that we have to pay more taxes for fewer services? Further, Rosell criticized "noncompliant" civil servants and those who apply for unemployment simply because it´s there for them. He asked for more reforms, saying that if the government doesn?t have any force, then others will stand in for them.
"Spain has serious problems. We are poorer and cannot keep focused, and there no small amount of complacency. Our society is somewhat sedated," Rosell noted. "One must make sacrifices considering that we have a debt problem."
"We must grow more than 2% if we want to create jobs. Here we haven?t been capable of pressuring regional and national governments to cut back."
And to create jobs, Rosell suggests that "entrepreneurs are the solution. Work is going to come from the small companies, those who are hard-working and free-thinking. And this isn?t explained very well in our schools. We need to start there and plant seeds of entrepreneurship."
