The majority of the Cepyme Executive Committee threatens Cuerva with legal action if it does not withdraw its statutory reform

Cepyme , the employers' association for small and medium-sized companies, is still in internal turmoil. The controversial outcome of the last board meeting held last week, in which its president, Gerardo Cuerva, managed, in the face of the opposition of a significant part of the directors, to push through a modification of the Statutes and the regulations of the organization to eliminate the delegated vote in the elections for the presidency, which it will run for again, now adds a new chapter in the form of a letter. Two pages, to which EL PAÍS has had access, in which the majority of members of the Executive Committee denounce "serious irregularities" committed by its top executive, whom they threaten to take to court if he does not "immediately" withdraw the reform of the regulations.

Sources from the Cepyme management flatly reject the accusations made in the letter: “Sending a letter defending theses and actions against democracy and good governance is difficult to explain.” The promoters of the letter claim that 20 of the 26 members of the Executive Committee support the letter. Cepyme management says it has received the text from 15 members.

The letter, dated in Madrid on February 20, uses very strong and harsh terms against Cuerva from the very beginning. “Following the regrettable events that we witnessed at the meetings of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors on February 18, in which a series of serious irregularities were committed, both in form and substance, which represented a serious violation of the Statutes of Cepyme and which have seriously damaged the confidence of the members in the organization and its external image,” the letter says, “[...] we hereby make a series of requests with the aim of repairing, as far as possible, the damage caused to the organization.”

Before detailing them, the letter denounces “the lack of information” suffered by the members of both bodies “in areas as relevant as an alleged statutory modification”; and the imposition “at the very moment of the meeting” of the adoption “of agreements by secret vote, without considering the opinion of the members of said bodies”. These two complaints are then accompanied by the accusation of having “consciously” encouraged the “violation of article 57 of the Statutes of Cepyme”, and of submitting to a vote of the Board of Directors “a non-existent proposal with an unknown wording, thus circumventing the powers of the Executive Committee of Cepyme”.

The management of Cepyme, for its part, considers that the change in the regulations, with the elimination of the proxy vote, democratises the organisation: “Business organisations must be governed by democratic principles as dictated by article 7 of the Constitution. Those who defend something else and do so publicly, as they are doing, must give a lot of explanations.” Along the same lines, the same sources emphasise: “We cannot accept that our organisation is not governed by democratic principles. It is inconceivable. In the 21st century in democratic Europe they want to vote as they did under Franco. And they are going to destroy the credibility of the organisations.”

Reform of the regulations

The signatories of the letter request that Cuerva “immediately withdraw the reform of the Internal Regulations approved illegally” and announce that, if this is not done, the directors reserve “the corresponding legal actions to protect the rights of the members of Cepyme, including the request for a precautionary measure for the immediate suspension of the aforementioned agreement.”

This initial claim is joined by two others: “the immediate start of the electoral process for the election of the President and Executive Committee” – if it does not start, they already warn that they will not approve any act or proposal for agreement proposed by the presidency “that does not have a direct and necessary relationship with said electoral process” – and the provision “during the electoral process” of “the most complete information on the points to be approved by each respective body” for all members of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors.

In response to these requests, Cepyme's management emphasises that "the Executive Committee is a collegiate body of the president and does not have the authority to change internal rules, it only deals with daily management." "They must accept that the Board of Directors has overwhelmingly supported voting freely and secretly. And it must be remembered that the Board's powers also include supervising the actions of the Committee itself," the same sources add.

The letter ends by hoping for a reaction from Cuerva, “in the hope that we can give our organizations a voice in a democratic manner and with full and absolute respect for the rules that govern Cepyme.”

Presidential fracture

The rift between Cepyme and the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE) , in which the SME employers' association is integrated, is taking shape in the disaffection that its two presidents feel today. Antonio Garamendi's opinion of Cuerva has deteriorated in recent months, to the point that in a tense meeting in January he told him that he would propose and support another candidate. The Basque leader considers that the relationship between both organisations has moved away from a vertical structure, which has given rise to Cepyme having its own voice.

Faced with this situation, Cuerva, who took a few days to announce that he would run for a new re-election - he has held the leadership of Cepyme since 2019 - made the decision at the meeting on February 18 to propose the elimination of the delegated vote in order to avoid the "pressures" that, according to him, CEOE exerts on the other integrated employers' associations could play against him. However, this maneuver, which plunged the organization into chaos for hours, was then harshly contested by some detractors who now once again show their deep discomfort with Cuerva's behavior.