06 November 2017
Madrid Headquarters
The former Minister of the Interior and former president of the ruling PP party, delivered the opening remarks at the first of the business lunches organised monthly by Deusto Business School Madrid for the Public Leadership Programme in Entrepreneurship and the Corporate Leadership Programme in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. These programmes are directed by Iñaki Ortega and Juan Moscoso del Prado and are taught jointly with ICADE Business School.
Mayor Oreja currently chairs the European Federation One of Us, the Transatlantic Political Network for Values Forum and the Values and Society Foundation. The latter was created as a result of his deep concern for the values crisis, which, in his opinion, not only affects Europe but the western world as a whole.
The former minister shared his opinion on the current situation in Spain with students and alumni at the first lunch held this year. He believes our country is going through an exteremely serious situation and referred to the "Catalan independence movement". Among other business leaders, the Director of ICADE Business School, José María Pérez Garrido and the CEO of the Eulen Group, María José Álvarez attended the lunch.
The former minister expressed his reservations concerning the elections scheduled for 21 December in Catalonia. He believes that the elections pose a risk. If the pro-independence parties win, what has been an illegal referendum to date could become a legal one.
Mayor Oreja stated that we must put a stop to this situation that could lead to Spain breaking apart and called for parties from the left and right to "stop the fight for power because Spain's situation is severe".
When asked his opinion on supporting community institutions, the former minister and Euro Deputy stated that it is better to gain the support of large European nations like France, Italy or Germany, which understand the problem they may also be facing. “Little is known about the Catalan situation in Europe”, he said.
Many of the students on the Public Leadership Programme in Entrepreneurship occupy high public positions and are learning how to use the administration to help entrepreneurs to create jobs without endangering the system's sustainability. Following the lunch, they had their first class. It was led by the Secretary General of the Business Leaders Circle, Jesús Sáinz and Deusto Business School lecturer, Iñaki Peña.
The programme is supported by EY, the Business Leaders Circle and the Rafael del Pino Foundation. It runs until next July and will close with a ceremony during which a real project supporting entrepreneurs, with measurement of returns will be presented. The aim is to apply it in the respective administrations.
