The Council of Statutory Guarantees (CGE) has endorsed the law of chambers of Catalonia, including the “silver seats” that led the Comuns and CUP groups to request an opinion from the advisory body. The advisory body, in an opinion released this Tuesday, has determined that the reservation of seats based on the voluntary economic contributions made by companies to the entities complies with both the Statute of Autonomy and the Constitution.
Comuns and CUP took the regulation, promoted by PSC-Units, Junts, ERC and PP and under processing in the Parliament, to the advisory body considering that it “questions the foundations of social dialogue and unbalances it towards the business side.” The two formations also pointed out that making a higher economic contribution “does not prove greater representativeness, territorial implantation or capacity to defend the general interests of the entire business fabric.”
The CGE has determined that the bill respects the principle of democratic organization and functioning of the chambers and endorses in its opinion the three types of candidacies: those electable by voter suffrage; those proposed by business organizations and elected by the previous seats, and those of the companies with the highest voluntary contribution, which “respond to the legitimate purpose of contributing to the economic sustainability of the chambers.”
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In addition to the ‘silver seats’, the CGE also sees within the Statute and Constitution the participation of the chambers in public and public-private administrative bodies and areas, as well as participation in professional training, points that Comuns and CUP had also questioned.
The text recognizes the chambers as advisory and collaboration bodies with the administrations that represent, promote and defend the general interests of commerce, industry, navigation and services. According to the promoters, it also promotes the creation of chamber plans, with the aim of “supporting the development of Catalan companies through collaboration with public administrations.”
