CMDsport reports that seven trade organizations – the Spanish Confederation of Commerce (CEC); the Spanish Association of Buying Groups (Anceco); the retail, service and restaurant associations Amicca, Comertia, Acotex and Eurelia; and the Spanish Federation of Home Appliance Merchants (Fece) – have submitted a formal letter to the Spanish government to request aid for retailers during the Covid-19 crisis. The quarantine has brought a radical drop in their revenues, and the associations argue that without relief from the payment of store rents, some 50 percent of the businesses in their sector might be forced to cease operations or, in the short and medium term, lay off hundreds of thousands of people. The associations represent more than half of Spain’s total retail sector, according to CMDsport, with 510,000 points of sale and 1.7 million jobs. The sector is Spain’s top employer and accounts for 13 percent of the Spanish economy. The associations seek a new framework for the bilateral renegotiation of commercial leases, with rent forgiveness to cover the entirety of the quarantine and the six months thereafter, as well as an amendment of the Law on Urban Leases, which they consider obsolete for commercial property. They would also like these legislative proposals to take shape within a government-established forum.

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