Galán calls for greater institutional and regulatory stability in Spain to overcome the recession, Iberdrola

Release Date: 2009-12-21

IBERDROLA Chairman Ignacio Galán argued today for greater legal security and institutional and regulatory stability in Spain in order to attract the investment needed to improve the current economic situation

In his talk at a seminar on “The Basque economy in the 21st century: challenges and perspectives for civil society”, organised by the People’s Foundation for Basque Studies, Mr. Galán pointed out that “amid global competition to attract investment, greater legal security and institutional and regulatory stability are needed, not to mention an attractive tax regime”.

“Once these factors are in place, they need to marketed internationally. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go on some of these issues,” he added.

IBERDROLA’s Chairman felt that “the profound international financial crisis we are now facing, after a long period of growth, means a change of approach is more necessary now than ever. The new situation poses a challenge that neither society nor companies can avoid: to become more efficient and competitive.

He believes that human capital must be developed, the labour market made more flexible and innovation encouraged.

One of the key measures needed to get the economy moving again is to support its drivers, such as the power sector, where investments could help boost the new industrial fabric and provide suppliers with liquidity. Ignacio Galán reminded his audience that the sector “could be a driver of economic recovery and a key lever of change in the economic model, which is badly needed in Spain”.

Nevertheless, for these investments to be made, there must be “a predictable and stable regulatory framework that provides incentives, not one subject to the political whims and opportunism that unfortunately tend to characterise the sector”.

In his opinion, “energy policy decisions must be taken now, as it takes a long time to carry out investments and it is difficult to raise financing. We must define how we want our energy supplied and how much we are prepared to pay for it. We cannot opt for inefficient models at the cost of efficient ones, without having to pay for it”, he argued.

“The sooner energy policy is defined”, considers Galán, “the sooner the sector can become a driver for industries that supply it with goods and services. “Otherwise, other countries will benefit from these investments and our companies will have to pay for the mistakes of an ill-conceived energy policy”.

The IBERDROLA chairman also referred to the company’s international growth, which has enabled it in just nine years to become the leading domestic energy group, the fourth largest company in the Ibex 35 by market cap, the leading wind power company and one of the five largest power utilities in the world.

He pointed out that IBERDROLA has substantially diversified the geographical mix of its earnings, with Spain contributing a little under a third of total EBITDA in 2009 compared to 99% in 2000.

This has enabled IBERDROLA to “treble its installed capacity, double the quality of its service, increase clean energy by 11 times, provide employment to 33,000 people, create over 35,000 indirect jobs, make €27 billion worth of acquisitions, invest €100 million a year in R&D and create one of the largest energy engineering companies in the world, IBERDROLA Ingenieria. This company, headquartered in Erandio, is the group’s centre of excellence, its technological core, and is spearheading efforts to open new markets” said Galán.

Type:	NORMAL
Company:	Iberdrola
Country:	西班牙