Overview
- Foment spoke at its annual gala on Monday and called for the full weight of the justice system to fall on those behind Saturday’s Barcelona disturbances, explicitly saying this should apply to minors.
- Authorities reported about 130 arrests from the weekend unrest with a large share of detainees identified as underage.
- At the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Foment’s president publicly branded the planned November 11 general strike as profoundly mistaken and harmful to business activity.
- The association urged legal reforms including changes to the Penal Code and more power for company mutual insurers to grant medical returns to work as a way to reduce what it calls absenteeism.
- Foment used the gala to give awards to major firms and host regional officials, turning a ceremonial event into a platform to press policy demands that could influence legal, labor and political debates before the election period.