The decision of railwayone of the large construction companies and an emblematic company on the Ibex, to merge with its Dutch subsidiary and move its headquarters to the Netherlands It has caused surprise and a great political storm. People say that Rafael del Pino Moreno, the civil engineer who founded it in 1952 and whom I dealt with in the 1980s and 1990s, would not have acted like that. Perhaps that is why Vice President Calviño’s rejection, stating that it is not acceptable for a company that was born and grew in Spain thanks to public works to show this lack of commitment to her country. Yolanda Díaz has gone further criticizing the Europe of tax ‘dumping’. AND Pedro Sanchez has ruled: the homeland is not to make heritage, but to help your country.
The Government’s concern is understandable because a ‘national champion’ goes to the Netherlands -and even more some of the reasons given- can damage the image of Spain and it also contrasts with the great increase in foreign investment. But it is convenient neither to confuse things nor to oversimplify them. If the government is too enervated by the free decision of a company and he resorts to easy populist criticism -they get rich at the expense of Spain and then leave out of greed and to avoid paying taxes- will only achieve worsen the political climate and economic at a time of great uncertainty across Europe. And the criticism will be cubed by Podemos with ‘Venezuelan’ arguments. It is not convenient for Spain or Sánchez.
It is true that the company grew thanks to Spanish public investment, but today its main business is the management of airports and toll roads in the Anglo-Saxon world.
Things are more complex. Ferrovial is no longer just a Spanish construction company like a few years ago. 82% of its business is carried out in other countries and construction is just one of its divisions. The management of large infrastructures such as Heathrow and other British airports and important toll highways in the United States and Canada have more weight. Its future growth is more in those countries than in Spain, where toll motorways are ‘de facto’ prohibited. And although it is true that Rafael del Pino Calvo-Sotelo -the son of the founder and nephew of Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, the president of the Government of UCD- has 20% of the company -relevant percentage- most of the capital is on the stock market and much of it in the hands of international funds that prioritize the future.
Does that future justify the transfer of headquarters? The objective of listing without restrictions in New York is reasonable for a company that wants to grow in the American market. And companies such as Stellantis, the result of the merger between the French Peugeot and Fiat, have chosen Amsterdam, reinforced compared to London after Brexit. AND The Netherlands has a maximum rating of triple A for the three big rating agencies, from which Spain is far, which can generate advantages in international financing. In addition, the Netherlands, the founding country of the EU, has some tax incentive in taxation of the subsidiaries.
You may like it more or less, but Europe is like that. And it is there -with the countries with more social well-being- where we have decided to integrate. Pedro Sánchez, who rightly travels a lot to European capitals, knows this. Or he should know. What he has most annoyed is the allusion to the legal security from Holland. But for the economic world, unpredictability and the absence of a stable fiscal framework border on insecurity. And in Spain they have now created new taxes -provisional and of indeterminate duration- on banks, energy companies and large fortunes. It is not about judging them today because they have their reasons, but they are improvised and do not exist in other EU countries.
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And it’s not just Pedro Sánchez. When the General Council of the Judiciary – nothing less than the governing body of judges which, according to the Constitution, must be renewed every four years – has already been exceeded for four years because the PP has not wanted to lose its majority, Spain cannot boast of legal certainty.
The Government would do well not to dramatize a decision that should not be a precedent for anything. And that a successful Spanish company believes it necessary to be on Wall Street can also be a source of pride. And perhaps the Government should do something so that it is not more attractive to achieve it from Amsterdam than from Madrid. Of course, that requires more seriousness and less populism.