Acento Public Affaris, the lobby created in 2019 by the socialists Pepe Blanco and Antonio Hernando, is offering Ibex companies “a direct, permanent, effective and useful communication channel with the Government of Spain”
In one of the offers presented, to which elEconomista.es has had access, Acento proposes, specifically, “to establish a permanent dialogue between (the company) and the Ministries of Finance, Labor and Consumption”, also informing prior when the Executive is going to discuss public policies that affect your business. In the offer presented, it is stated that the lobby will be in charge of “searching for a convergent regulation” with its needs and “developing in the medium-long term a model of fiscal and labor regulation compatible with the industrial interests of the sector”.
Sources from the firm assure, however, that “because the Government considers them strategic and it would therefore be suicide as a consultant.” In fact, the company insists that “if an energy or banking customer had called us, we would not have accepted.”
Acento, yes, ensures that in the case of being hired, it will define the interlocutors of interest to the company and prepare a schedule of action. Among others, he thus offers to open a channel of dialogue with Yolanda Díaz, second vice president of the Government and Minister of Labor; María Jesús Montero, Minister of Finance; Alberto Garzón, Minister of Consumption or Raquel Sánchez, Minister of Mobility, Transport and Urban Agenda, among others.
Politicians
In October of last year, Antonio Hernando left the lobby to become deputy director of the Presidency’s Cabinet, thus reinforcing contacts with the government. However, Acento also has on its advisory board, in addition to Blanco, Elena Valenciano, who was deputy secretary general of the PSOE with Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba and head of the list in the 2014 European elections, and Valeriano Gómez, former Minister of Labor in the last Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
In the Acento team there are also members of Podemos, such as ; and even the PP. This is the case of Alfonso Alonso, former Minister of Health during the Government of Mariano Rajoy; Elena Pisonero former Secretary of State for Economy, Energy and SMEs with José María Aznar as president or José María Lassalle, who was Secretary of State for Culture and the Digital Agenda.
Pepe Blanco’s lobby assures that it is not going to try to take advantage of the implementation of the new taxes on the financial or energy sector, but it does recognize that “as other consultancies do, which also have politicians on their teams, our objective is to treat to influence political decisions”, insisting that “it is legitimate to seek fiscal regulation” that can benefit its clients.
From Acento they also deny that “we are carrying out any type of work with the management of European funds, contrary to what has been said”.
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