Ana Jaureguizar, born in California in 1976, has since July been L'Oréal’s president for Spain and Portugal. Twenty years in the group. She replaced Juan Alonso de Lomas, 28 years in the firm. El Mundo published the interview on Sunday. The line that travels: “I miss Spain raising its voice in Brussels to defend our industry.” It is not a law. It is a subsidiary’s wish. She says she sees other European countries braking rules that need work, and that Madrid should be more vocal. Second exporter of perfumes after France, she said. Beauty a key industry for the country. A leadership role in Europe — her, not a government brief.

She will not give Spain market figures. She says Spain and Portugal are among the fastest-growing subsidiaries, Portugal above its weight, comparable with countries in Latin America or Asia. Two factories: Burgos and Alcalá. Burgos, one of the group’s main plants. The group has 21 factories in the world. Burgos exports to more than 50 countries. 80% of output leaves. Talent: one of the subsidiaries the group draws people from, recruiting the young.

European regulation, she said, gives quality and therefore an edge. It has a limit. She wants fair law, science-based, with time to react. Almost 70% of the R&D budget now goes on adapting to rules. It can become a brake. Competition from outside. A moment when it puts them behind other continents. That is her figure, from the interview, not a public audit. Five of the seven world-leading beauty firms are in Europe, she said. Production, largely, still here. Perfume exports have held, despite chains and geopolitics. Research and production centres in 21 countries — Europe, Latin America, Asia, the United States.

On 14 October, at Foro CREO, Cinco Días quoted her: Spain exports more beauty than oil or wine, and it is never talked about. Same message, another stage. Her priority, in El Mundo: take the change before it starts, the house line. The subsidiary’s health, she said, is good. She wants, when she leaves, Spain’s image as one of the group’s best subsidiaries to hold. Her stamp: transforming teams. AI, new channels, bought brands. From Paris, the mandate: work like an entrepreneurial firm, 115 years of fast adaptation.

Schueller, 1935, Ambre Solaire, ahead of the Popular Front’s paid holidays. The interview starts there. Now, instead of the beach, they have to read artificial intelligence and the rule. Jaureguizar does not announce investments with a number. She announces a line: less regulatory brake, more Spanish voice in Brussels. Competitors — Shein, Amazon, TikTok — do not, she says, make it harder to build a brand. New channels take the place.

It is an interview with a country president, not a vote in the Council. Brussels has not moved on her sentence. Madrid did not answer in the piece. What remains: 70% of R&D on rules, two factories, Burgos exporting 80%, and a request that Spain speak louder. Until it speaks, it is only her.

Image: Jardoz, a view towards Burgos, 13 June 2011, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The photograph shows the city of the main factory, not a lab.

Sources consulted: Ana Jaureguizar, presidenta de L'Oréal: Echo de menos que España alce la voz en Bruselas — El Mundo; España exporta más belleza que aceite o vino — Cinco Días.