X-ray of Ferrovial’s footprint in the Basque Country after announcing that its headquarters will move to the Netherlands

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Ferrovial announced this week that it wants to move its headquarters from Spain to the Netherlands. The company has built some of the Basque Country’s most recognizable decals, such as the Guggenheim Museum or the Marqués de Riscal Hotel-Museum in Rioja Alavesa, both projects by architect Frank Ghery.

In addition, the company has contributed to the construction of stations and railways Subway Bilbaoand also in the expansion of the Port of Bilbao in Santurtzi, where he built the central breakwater of 1 kilometer and 200,000 square meters.

Another important infrastructure that is the work of Ferrovial, the highway A-8 which unites Bilbao and Irun. Him too Saint Ignatius Bridge that connects the island of Zorrozaurre with the rest of Bilbao or a floating wind platform near the coast of Biscay are part of his legacy. Of course, in some of these cases it participated in construction in a joint venture.

According to data from the Basque government, since 2018 Ferrovial won the award 12 projects of the various departments of the Board of the CAV, for a total value of 5.7 million euros.

It has a different service business line, and takes the cleaning the street from different Basque towns: Vitoria-Gasteiz, Getxo, Gernika or Arrasate, among others.

Rafael del Pino Calvo-Sotelo He has been president of Ferrovial for over 20 years, a family business founded by his father in 1952, but he is also one of the most prominent faces in business in Spain and the third largest fortune with assets in excess of 3.8 billion euros.

controversial decision

The decision of this corporate behemoth has caused quite a stir in recent hours. So, United we can will introduce a bill in Congress in the coming days to force companies that move their production or fiscal headquarters outside of Spain to repay government aid and subsidies obtained in the 10 years prior to the decision to leave the country, including late payments. pay rent. This is a measure that has been carried out ‘ex profeso’ for Ferrovial.

From Unidas Podemos, they have influenced citizens to “rescue” Ferrovial with public funds through the ERTE mechanism during the pandemic.

The institution manager of the EBB of the GDP, Koldo Mediavilla, has admitted to being concerned that Basque companies are making decisions like Ferrovial, which will move its headquarters to the Netherlands, in order to get more favorable taxation. He even recalled that in the past, relocations have also taken place in the Basque Country. In an interview on Radio Euskadi, Mediavilla believes that cases like Ferrovial’s occur “in this globalized world, of savage capitalism”.

In any case, the CEO of Ferrovial, Ignacio Madridejosinsisted that “no one doubts” the company’s continuity in Spain, assuring that it will continue to contribute fiscally to the state “as it always has”.

Our goal is to continue to grow, maintain employment, projects and investments in Spain. We will continue to list in Madrid and continue to contribute tax, as we have always done. Ignacio Madridejos, CEO of Ferrovial, talks about the company reorganization. pic.twitter.com/iRFn2TUAjQ

— Ferrovial (@ferrovial_es) March 1, 2023

For its part, the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Diazhas shown his “totally disagreement” with Ferrovial’s decision and has urged the company to “preserve the more than 5,000 jobs in Spain” and believes that the government of Spain should act with the legislation in place hands.

In the same vein, the Minister of Finance and Public Function, Mary Jesus Monterohas publicly asked Ferrovial to “rethink” its decision and, “above all”, that if it does not change its mind, it will “maintain the level of investment and jobs it currently has” in Spain.