MPs José Vicente Muñoz and Marisol Pérez (PSOE) and Celinda Sánchez and Paco Vañó (PP) have completed their four days of training at ONCE and its Foundation, in line with the Companies-Members of Parliament Programme (See “Así Somos” 89 and 91). Since the programme kicked off on 6th April, the Members of Parliament have visited the ONCE General Council, its Educational Resources Centre in Madrid and the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation, on 26th May, as well as several companies of the CEOSA and Fundosa Groups, on 27th June, and, finally, the headquarters of the ONCE Foundation, on 18th July.
Furthermore, on Wednesday 20th July, a delegation of executives and representatives of ONCE and its Foundation, who have looked after the MPs  over the past few months, visited the Congress of Deputies in Carrera de San Jerónimo, where they were welcomed  by the President of Congress himself, José Bono. The delegation included, Teresa Palahí, Second Vice-President of the  ONCE General Council; Alberto Durán, the First Executive Vice-President of the ONCE Foundation and President of CEOSA and Fundosa; Ángel Sánchez, General Manager of ONCE; José Luis Martínez Donoso, General Manager of the ONCE Foundation and Chief Executive of Fundosa; and Enrique Servando Sánchez, Chief Executive of CEOSA and tutor in this Companies-Members of Parliament Programme for ONCE and its Foundation, as the Círculo de Empresarios liaison. During the visit, the delegation observed the weekly Government control session from the visitors’ gallery, and were later received by the President, José Bono, in the Congress Conference Room.

The Programme
The first session of the Programme took place in April, at the headquarters of the General Council of the ONCE, whose President, Miguel Carballeda, welcomed the MPs, giving them a brief history of the entity and placing it in the  social and economic context of our country, after almost 73 years of its existence. They were accompanied by the Secretary General of the Council, Rafael de Lorenzo, as well as Ángel Sánchez, Alberto Durán and Enrique Servando Sánchez. In the afternoon, the MPs were received by the Deputy General Manager for Gaming and the Director of Gaming Operations, who explained ONCE’s role as the operator of the lottery to the MPs and the visit was rounded off  with a full tour of the Coupon Printing facilities. 
On the second day, on 26th May, the MPs visited the ONCE Educational Resource Centre in Madrid and the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation (FOPG). Accompanied at all times by Deputy General Manager for Social Services, Patricia Sanz, they toured the facilities and services that the educational centre in Madrid provides to over 2,400 blind children and, later of the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation’s centre in Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) for the for the breeding and training of these dogs which are increasingly important for the autonomy and mobility of hundreds of blind people.
At the end of June, the Members of Parliament learnt about the main economic and social aspects of the CEOSA and Fundosa Groups of companies for which the President of both Groups, Alberto Durán, and their Chief Executives, Enrique S. Sánchez and José Luis Martínez Donoso, respectively, provided data and all kinds of explanations.  They were accompanied by the management of Alentis, Confortel and Viajes 2000 (part of the CEOSA Group) and Technosite and Flisa –belonging to Fundosa-, visiting several of their facilities and obtaining an in-sight into their main projects and activities.
On the fourth and last day of the Programme, Monday 18th July, the First Executive Vice-President of the ONCE Foundation, Alberto Durán, and his management team gave the MPs an in-depth explanation of the ONCE Foundation’s philosophy and actions for the cooperation and social integration of individuals with a disability.  They discussed questions such as the Inserta Programme for employment integration; actions to improve physical and global accessibility, including accessibility to the technologies, as well as the ONCE Foundation’s efforts to promote responsible public hiring in relation to disabilities. Finally, and accompanied by the President of the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (CERMI), Luis Cayo Pérez, they discussed the topic of disability as an active agent in social movements and the social economy. 

Companies - Members of Parliament
The Companies-Members of Parliament Programme (or PEP, after its acronym in Spanish) is one of the most relevant activities of the Círculo de Empresarios (www.circulodeempresarios.org). The first group of MPs interested in a “placement”, as these Members of Parliament initiatives with companies and institutions of ONCE and its Foundation are formally known, included two PSOE Member of Parliament for Badajoz and Barcelona, Marisol Pérez and José Vicente Muñoz, respectively, and a further two PP Members of Parliament, Celinda Sánchez (MP for Zamora) and Francisco Vañó (Toledo).

Since its creation, the PEP has served a dual goal: provide MPs with real knowledge of companies (their principles, goals, organisation, strategies, etc.  and their technological and human approaches) and on the other hand, offer business executives a general picture of parliamentary activities in Spain, ranging from the law-making process and the challenges that MPs face at the local, regional, national, and European levels when they discuss matters related to the business sphere.

The Círculo de Empresarios has been organising this type of placements, study trips and visits to companies for deputies, senators, and members of the European Parliament; seminars with regional MPs; traditional workshops like “Inside Companies;” and numerous debates fostering mutual awareness between Members of Parliament and companies since 1987. The Círculo de Empresarios is a national non-profit organisation made up of people holding executive positions in companies (it currently has over 230 members) who share an interest in the socio-economic environment and self-finance their activities.