(Madrid, August 5, 2013). - The Spanish Bussines Confederation in Social Economy (CEPES) cooperate with the European Commission with the aim of promoting the cooperative movement in the countries of the Union, following evidence that this sector has not only stood the crisis, but has also managed to maintain and create jobs.
The European Commission Vice President and Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani Italian, invited the president of CEPES, Juan Antonio Pedreño, The formation of the Working Group "Promotion potential of cooperatives to generate smart growth".
This Group is to develop a roadmap to establish measures to promote collective entrepreneurship and strengthening the cooperative movement, as well as serving as a platform for dialogue between the Committee on Industry, Entrepreneurship and Social Economy and the European cooperative movement.
The EU institutions have called for greater consideration for cooperatives and the social economy in economic recovery policies, following evidence that generate and maintain employment, while showing higher levels of growth (In number of companies, jobs and maintenance activity) than other business models.
Tajani said that "cooperatives are crucial and want to work with their organizations, not just today, but in an action plan and a roadmap of the strategy for the next Commission."
In the EU, according to the European Parliament, there are about 160,000 enterprises Cooperatives, which belong to 123 million members and provide employment to 5.4 million people, generating 5% of average GDP of member states. In Spain there are over 22,000 cooperatives employing more than 290,000 people.
The meeting established priorities for the development of policies that strengthen the cooperative movement in Europe: the need for specific support services, access to finance and funding, the need to include the cooperative business model in education programs and the need to ensure that the legal frames in Europe do not discriminate to cooperatives.
Juan Antonio Pedreño also highlighted also the importance of cooperatives in job creation, especially among the young, in the promotion of entrepreneurship in the local and regional development or innovation (in sectors such as renewable energy) , among others.
Members of the Working Group
The meeting and the establishment of the Working Group participated, apart from CEPES and members of the EU institutions, representatives of the social economy and the cooperative movement in Germany, France, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Bulgaria.
In addition, leaders were also present Cooperatives Europe,
European Association of Cooperative Banks (EACB), the European Association of Housing Cooperatives (Cecodhas Housing Europe), the European Association of worker cooperatives (CEPA), the European Association of Consumer Cooperatives (Eurocoop), the European Association Agrifood Cooperatives (Cogecas) and the AssociationPharmacy European Cooperative (LIFO).
Report of the Parliament
The meeting was also Patrizia Toia MEP, who presented the report 'On the contribution of cooperatives to the crisis', recently approved by the European Parliament in which he asks enhance Cooperatives and other social economy enterprises "as tools to exit the crisis. "
The report emphasizes that cooperatives, along with other companies in the social economy, "play an essential role in the European economy Especially in times of crisis, to combine profitability with solidarity, creating quality jobs, strengthen social cohesion, regional and generate economic and social capital ".
To download the report: https://www.cepes.es/documentacion=DOCUMENTACION-PUBLICA.Union-Europea-ES.PARLAMENTO-EUROPEO.Informe-sobre-contribucion-de-las-Cooperativas-a-la-salida-de-la-crisis
