(Madrid, July 24, 2013). - Mediterranean countries should enhance the Social Economy companies to contribute to its development and reduce youth unemployment. This is one of the conclusions that reflects the 'Joint Report on youth and employment in the euromediterranean region, approved today by the Economic and Social Council (ESC) and which has been actively working CEPES.
CEPES President and Chief CES, Juan Antonio Pedreño, stresses "that one of the common concerns of the entire Mediterranean region is the problem of the shortage of jobs for young people." It contends that enhance "Social Economy formulas, such as cooperatives, because they contribute to the development of the spiritbusiness and generating productive, especially in rural areas and in areas less attractive to foreign investment. "
The Social Economy is an alternative that encourages entrepreneurship and job creation youth in the Euro-Mediterranean region, where the average rate of youth unemployment is 25.2%. A significant example is Egypt, because, according to Cooperative Union, 75% of the seven million people who work in them are under 40 years.
In Spain the situation is similar, since about half (47.2%) of workers in cooperatives and labor is less than 40 years.
Cohesion and Local Development
Apart from the benefits of job creation, the report adopted by the ESC also highlights the benefits of the social economy in territorial cohesion in Mediterranean countries. These forms of enterprise, says the study, "may, also, be creating associative lattices and social services, also contributing in this way to setting people on the land and, ultimately, local development ".
The report also calls promote education and equal opportunities, reduce school failure, create training plans and encourage entrepreneurship (In which formulas include Social Economy) "as a real alternative for the new generation of young people with higher qualifications in the Southern Mediterranean countries, compared to the traditional and almost exclusively via insertion in employment and public sector employees "something especially after the Arab Spring claimed.
In this sense, Social Economy enterprises are becoming increasingly an instrument used by the authorities to facilitate access of young people to the labor market. For example, in Morocco, the total of 10,000 existing cooperatives, 300 are newly created for young graduates.
Pedreño values "?"?"very positively this report adopted by the ESC as it reflects the important role that social economy enterprises are acquiring as an agent of socio-economic development in the Mediterranean region".
Red ESMED: CEPES priority in the Mediterranean
CEPES president stressed that "the findings of this report reinforce CES working lines Euro-Mediterranean Network of Social Economy (ESMED) is developing in the Mediterranean".
ESMED Network, which since its creation in 2000 is being led by CEPES, is the institutional reference of the Social Economy in the Euro. This network, working with the European institutions, the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and the countries of the Region aims to promote measures for the EconomySocial.
ESMED brings together the main organizations of the social economy of Algeria, Egypt, Spain, Italy, France, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia and Turkey. In these nine countries account for more than 500,000 Social Economy companies that generate more than 7 million jobs and associated with more than 155 million people.
"The CES report," Pedreño added, "corroborates further the importance of the social economy in the relations between Europe and the Mediterranean to create jobs and a factor that offers solutions to youth. Their findings are a benchmark for governments in the region at the time of launch youth employment policies,something very urgent in all Mediterranean countries. "
Spanish-Moroccan relations
Pedreño also recalled that the Governments of Spain and Morocco have been found in the Social Economy a new collaborative space in their bilateral relations.
The signing of a cooperation agreement in the field of social economy between the two countries are currently studying two Governments, is according to the president of CEPES, "a very positive that would reinforce the role of the social economy in the implementation of projects with shared benefits, especially in creatingjobs for the youth. "
The 'Joint Report on youth and employment in the euromeditarranean region' has been prepared by the Commission of Labor Relations, Employment and Social Security of the ESC of Spain, in collaboration with their counterparts in Jordan, Morocco, Greece, France and Lebanon and the European Economic and Social Committee.
