The recent movements have a well-known precedent: the step of José María Aznar from presiding over the Spanish government and the PP to lead the FAES foundation, from the orbit of training and which aims to influence it with the battle of ideas. The new batch was started by Romeva when he was appointed president of the Irla Foundation in January, after the accumulated weight in ERC and having been the head of the Junts pel Sí list in 2015 – and Minister of Foreign Affairs during the 1 -Or–. Borràs, who has just chaired Junts and was the party’s presidential candidate in 2021, has yet to be appointed by the trustees of the Fundació Democrates de Catalunya, but the announcement was made before the Juntaire congress in October and already a change of statutes has been put on the table to adapt them to the party. Meanwhile, Colau, after eight years as mayor and the last failure in the 28-M elections – in which she came third – took the step to lead Sentit Comú in mid-November.
In conversation with the ARA, UPF political science professor Marc Sanjaume explains that he sees “a pattern” in the transition to foundations of politicians who have been professionals for many years. Taking this step is “understood at the heart of the professionalization of politics”, in which “people who have had recognition in a party are looking for an outlet and a utility”.
A latent idea is that political life “implies resignation”, according to Miguel Ángel Belmonte, professor of political science at the Abat Oliba University. He maintains that when prominent politicians retire, a way must be found to “compensate” them, and a “reasonable” way is to “serve their experience in debating ideas outside of active politics.” This is because there is a new trend: “Before it was more common to end up on boards of directors, but now alternatives are being explored and foundations are one of them,” says political scientist Pau Torres, UPF researcher.
Revolving doors are regulated in the State by the incompatibilities law of 2006, and the transparency law of two years ago also affected it. This rule prohibits that a politician can immediately land on the board of directors of a company in the same sector that he had previously regulated to avoid exchanges of favors. In any case, there are numerous controversial signings – Aznar himself went through Endesa, and his predecessor, Felipe González, through Gas Natural -, such as that of former president José Montilla – advisor to Enagás -, or the career of Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, who was on boards of directors such as that of Aena – now he is in the Brazilian subsidiary and presides over the employers’ union of the supermarkets. Others have joined the lobby, such as the socialist Pepe Blanco and the populist Alfonso Alonso, both at the Acento consultancy.
From boards of directors to foundations?
Belmonte insists that, although it was not common to go to foundations, and yes to the private sector, there is an element that connects with the “political vocation” of some leaders and their desire to “continue influencing public affairs”: “If they don’t have enough strength to lead, it’s consistent that they want to influence with books and ideas.” In any case, while it may be an outlet to continue to have some weight, he also warns that in some cases it is “like being sent to the Senate not to disturb and to be entertained”. On the other hand, Sanjaume makes a distinction between what can be “a space of political retreat in the case of leaders who have held a position when it is not possible to go further and retire, like Aznar”, and the “revolving doors” of ‘other cases he says “may not be the final destination”.
In fact, he points out that in many cases it is important that the transition to the foundations is of a person “respected by the militancy, with a certain leadership and pre-eminent position, and that his opinion is heard”. A positive factor that Torres notes is that the political capital of these people who want to continue to be linked to politics “is squeezed by the foundation and not by a company”. In addition, he connects the increasing weight of foundations in the party system with the “Americanization” of politics. Gradually, he explains, they are think tanks with academic weight, reports and studies, and that have relevance in the “culture war”, in which the goal is to “disseminate specific ideas” using all means. Sanjaume points out that the foundations, in the State, are steeped in the German intellectual tradition, with a strong weight of like-minded academics, and now also with people who have preached.
