The president of Circle of Entrepreneurs of Lanzarote, José Valle, Since this Wednesday, he has held the same position in the Chamber of Commerce of said island. It is the first of the Canarian chamber institutions that deals with the renewal of its plenary session after twelve years. This Thursday it is the turn of Gran Canaria and on Friday, the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Only the one from Fuerteventura will have to go through the polls to vote for a single heading. In the rest, consensus solutions have been reached, which simplifies the processes. Valle, who presented his company Tahíche Logística SL (Seur) -the chairs in the chambers are for companies, not for people-, succeeds José Torres Fuentes and will be accompanied by a joint executive committee.
Reaching a 50% female presence in the governing body is one of the great milestones with which the new stage begins. If the establishment of quotas facilitates it in areas such as politics, in the company it is more complicated due to the still majority presence of men. The new president is accompanied María del Carmen Martinón, First Vice President; José Antonio Martínez, second vice president; Nayra Valls, treasurer, and as members, Susana Pérez, Raquel Caraballo, Miguel Páez and Nicolás López.
The new executive committee of the Lanzarote chamber is joint
Despite the existence of an agreement since the beginning of the electoral process in the autumn of last year, it was only at the last minute when the names of those who will be at the helm for the next four years in the Lanzarote and La Graciosa Chamber of Commerce were known. Of the 24 chambers that make up this renewed plenary session, 23 attended yesterday.
In his investiture speech, José Valle thanked the trust placed in him. “I request the support and responsibility of all the people gathered here so that the Chamber of Commerce can continue to maintain the high level of activity that it has had so far, to face the important challenges that lie ahead,” he explained. He also dedicated a few words of appreciation to the entire outgoing team, especially the already former president, José Torres Fuentes, for the work carried out during the last twelve years.
The previous mandate, of four years, lasted for twelve
The event was presided over by the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce of the Government of the Canary Islands, the governing body of the chambers, which was represented by the Deputy Minister of Industry, Commerce and Consumption, Justo Artiles, and the General Director of Commerce and Consumption, David Mille. The latter expressed his satisfaction at having been able to “successfully pilot the renewal process of plenary sessions and executive committees,” he said.
In addition, the general director indicated that “the chambers of commerce play a fundamental role in the activity and the productive sector of the Canary Islands” and highlighted its importance “when it comes to becoming a collaborative instrument of public administrations in the development of their actions”.
“Proof of it,” he said, “we have it in the distribution of the 1,100 million euros of covid aid [a empresarios y autonómos], that has been carried out in the Canary Islands through the cameras and that has been an unprecedented success”, so much so that other autonomous communities “want to copy the model”.
Padrón and Sesé, the following
In Gran Canaria, it will be Luis Padron, so far general secretarywho will take the witness of José Sánchez Tinoco, who has been in the position since the death -January 2011- of Ángel Luis Tadeo, the last winner of an election, in May 2010. Padrón will be accompanied in the vice presidencies by Juan Acosta, first; Salud Gil, second, and Santiago de Armas, third. The position of treasurer will be held by Cristóbal Castro.
Friday will be the turn for Santiago Sese renew in office President of the Chamber of Commerce of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. After the opposition movement that Pedro Alfonso found to lead CEOE-Tenerife last April, there was fear of a replica of the confrontation in the chamber institution; something that has not happened. Sesé took the reins in a close contest against Modesto Campos -23 to 22 votes- in December 2016 to succeed José Luis García, who resigned after just over three years at the head of the institution.
The end of the mandatory chamber quota, the new Law of Chambers and its translation into the legal system of the Archipelago and, finally, the pandemic These are the factors that have led to prolonging for twelve years the mandates that were born to last four.