15 January 2018
Madrid Headquarters
A patriot with a rather pessimistic view of the current political situation. That is how José Bono defined himself during his talk at the January breakfast organised by Deusto Business School Madrid focusing on their entrepreneurship programmes PLPE and PLCE under the management of Iñaki Ortega and Juan Moscoso del Prado. These programmes are run jointly with ICADE Business School.
At the head table with Ortega and Moscoso del Prado, José Bono was also accompanied by the Director General of Deusto Business School, Luc Theis; the Director General of ICADE Business School, José María Pérez Garrido and the socialist member of Parliament for Navarre, Natalia Rojo, who was entrusted with the task of introducing her fellow party member.
Former president of the Congress as well as former Minister or Defence, Bono admitted that he was pessimistic "as regards Spain and its government" while he also expressed his concern for institutions being discredited. He feels that "Spain is suffering from a lack of self-esteem" and underscored the role of politics, moderation and clear messages.
With respect to the territorial problem, Bono warned that paying more taxes does not mean having more rights, as advocates of independence in Catalonia are claiming. He repeated that it is important to work to convince the Catalans that we will be better off together as one country. He also said that the idea of recentralisation is nonsense and defended, in contrast, a "re-rationalising movement".
As for possible Constitutional reforms, the former President of the Congress stated he was in favour of analysing some aspects of said reforms such as women not being able to hold the throne or the Senate’s role. He also defended the position that “we want Catalonia and Spain to continue united for a long time and if this requires changes in the Constitution, so be it".
Numerous mayors, deputies and senators attended the breakfast led by José Bono. Many of them were students or alumni of the leadership in entrepreneurship programmes sponsored by Steelcase and Sarenet, with the support of EY, the Business Leaders Circle and the Rafael de Pino Foundation.
