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Spain Business
Throughout the Franco years, a relatively small
financial
elite of businessmen and bankers exercised a considerable
amount
of power through personal influence and connections rather
than
through support from organized interest groups. Moreover,
the
interests of the business community were generally
compatible
with those of the Franco dictatorship: both wanted
stability and
economic prosperity. In the later years of the regime,
business
leaders, influenced by their contacts with Western Europe,
came
to favor more economically liberal policies; many of these
leaders became vigorous proponents of economic and
political
modernization.
Many members of the financial elite under Franco
continued to
hold positions of authority after his death.
Constitutional and
statutory provisions enacted under the new democratic
regime
provided more formalized structures to represent their
interests
and those of the wider business community. In the early
days of
democratic government, a large number of employers'
organizations
came into being. Some of these were based on regions; a
larger
number were organized according to the type of business
activity
involved. In 1977 these diverse organizations were brought
together in the Spanish Confederation of Employers'
Organizations
(Confederacion Espanola de Organizaciones
Empresariales--CEOE).
This group subsequently became one of the strongest
supporters of
the AP. A separate confederation, the Spanish
Confederation of
Small and Medium-Sized Firms (Confederacion Espanola de
Pequenas
y Medianas Empresas--CEPYME), was incorporated into the
CEOE in
1980. It maintained a special status within the larger
confederation, and when agreements were reached with the
government and the unions, the CEPYME was a separate
signatory.
The CEOE was a highly consolidated organization,
representing
almost all of Spain's companies, other than those that
were owned
or controlled by the government. Two other national
associations
endeavored, with little success, to become the
representatives of
smaller-scale businesses: the General Confederation of
Small and
Medium-Sized Firms of Spain (Confederacion General de las
Pequenas y Medianas Empresas del Estado Espanol--COPYME)
and the
Union of Small and Medium-Sized Firms (Union de la Pequena
y
Mediana Empresa--UNIPYME).
In addition to employers' organizations, chambers of
commerce
endeavored to further the economic interests of their
members by
providing a variety of services to the firms and the
individuals
they represented. They had an international role as well,
and
they assisted in export promotion and trade missions.
The greatest degree of political influence within
Spain's
business community was exercised by the country's large
private
banks. During the Franco regime, the banking sector
provided
crucial financial support for Franco, and he in turn
enacted
measures that were to its benefit. For example, he
prohibited the
founding of new banks from 1936 to 1962, thereby further
concentrating the power of the larger banks. These banks
controlled large sectors of industry, directly and
indirectly,
and they collaborated with government institutions in
directing
Spain's economic expansion
(see Banking
, ch. 3).
The traditionally powerful position of the banks was
eroded
somewhat during the economic recession of the 1970s and by
increased government intervention in banking under the
democratic
regime. The inability of the leaders of the largest banks
to
transcend their mutual rivalries also attenuated the
influence of
this potentially formidable interest group. Nevertheless,
they
remained the single largest grouping of economic and
financial
interests in Spain, with close links to the government.
Banks
gained additional leverage by providing financial
assistance to
the frequently short-funded political parties.
Data as of December 1988
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