• The President of CEPES, Juan Antonio Pedreño, requests a central role of the Social Economy in the Executive's strategies for recovery, as well as promoting and consolidating CEPES 'participation in the elaboration of the National Reform Plans.
• Nadia Calviño reiterated the Government's commitment to the Social Economy as a key actor, given the convergence that exists between this business model and the measures to overcome the crisis that Spain and the European Union are adopting.
• Juan Antonio Pedreño, highlighted the importance of this meeting because a wide list of topics that affect Social Economy companies have been addressed, such as the situation of the European recovery funds that are being negotiated in Brussels and that the impact will have for the recovery of our country.
Madrid, May 20, 2020.- The Board of Directors of the Spanish Business Confederation of Social Economy (CEPES) has exposed, during a meeting with the third vice-president of the Government and Minister of Economy and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño , the priorities of Social Economy companies in social and economic reconstruction plans to face the consequences of COVID-19.
In this first meeting of the vice president with CEPES, the head of the Executive's Economy has reiterated the commitment of the Government of Spain to the Social Economy as a key actor at the moment, given the convergence that exists between this business model and the measures to get out of the crisis that Spain and the European Union are adopting.
CEPES President Juan Antonio Pedreño highlighted the importance of this meeting because “we have addressed a wide list of issues that affect Social Economy companies, such as the situation of European recovery funds that are being negotiated in Brussels and that so much impact they are going to have for the recovery of our country ”. In this sense, Pedreño has claimed for the Social Economy a central role in the workspaces, plans and reconstruction funds, for the role that our companies are playing in the economy, in jobs, in maintaining them, generating inclusive economic growth.
Calviño has informed the CEPES Board of Directors that, although the Commission's proposal will be known in detail next week, everything indicates that the European Reconstruction Fund will be used to support strategies that the States will adopt in their National Reform Plans. to modernize their economies, accelerate digitization, strengthen their social systems and accompany the green transition processes. These National Plans must be presented by the different states to Brussels to coordinate their economic, social and budget stability strategies at the European level.
National Reform Plans
Pedreño has transferred to the Minister CEPES 'total willingness to increase their participation in the design of future National Reform Plans in Spain and ensure that the Social Economy contributes to the success of the initiatives , as well as grant added value to our productive system and social to face the deficiencies that the Pandemic has highlighted.
Vice President Calviño has been receptive to this request and has been in favor of finding a way to channel CEPES 'participation in coordination with other government departments, especially with the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy.
The vice president has also confirmed that the Government of Spain is ensuring that the economysocial is one of the priorities of future Structural Funds , especially the European Social Fund Plus. The Government is betting, added Calviño, to reinforce the social dimension of Europe through the instruments that will be launched in the new period of the future multi-annual budgetary framework of the European Union 2021-2027, which are currently being negotiated and where the Social Economy must also have a special role. Calviño also pointed out that, along with social cohesion policies, the government's position is to reinforce the budget allocation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the negotiations of the future European budget, especially taking into account the vital role of the Spanish agri-food sector.
Pedreño highlighted the strong interest that the vice president has shown in the European Action Plan that the European Commission will approve in 2021 and her willingness to incorporate it in the work agenda that she will maintain with the Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs.
The President of CEPES added that "it is essential to incorporate the European Action Plan for the Social Economy as a pillar of the business and industrial recovery strategy, as it is the way to ensure that this fabric of 3 million companies and 14 million of jobs contributes to the economic and social progress of the EU ”. "This European dimension", he added, "is a priority because the decisions taken in Brussels have a very great impact on how we are going to overcome this crisis. With this objective we are working with the entire European Social Economy from CEPES 'presidency of SOCIAL ECONOMY EUROPE, the European organization that represents the sector before the European Institutions ”.
During the meeting, the CEPES delegation also shared their concerns to improve the operation of the company guarantee system. The vice president reported that the guarantee system is fully operational and that the Government is expanding the range of programs to improve access to financing for companies, with a reinforcement of CERSA, the Spanish company of reinforcement among other measures. All this, added Calviño, to ensure that the total available resources are capitalized through the Spanish financial system as a whole, in which he highlighted the important role played by the financial institutions of the Social Economy, such as credit cooperatives, for that the aid reaches all companies, especially the smallest ones.
CEPES also conveyed to the vice president the need to generate mechanisms to facilitate and support the mobility abroad of companies to resume their actions in third markets. Various issues related to the sustainability of the pension system were also addressed through measures to support the supplementary pension systems promoted by the Social Economy through 223 Social Security mutuals, which manage assets of 46,000 million Euros for 2,000 .000 of mutualists. The vice president took good note of both issues, with a view to discussing the first with the Foreign Ministry and agreed on the importance of addressing the role of these complementary systems within the reforms that must be debated in the Toledo Pact .
The vice president also thanked the proposals that CEPES has transmitted to the government through the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy since the beginning of the crisis, and that have become part of the package of measures that the executive has been adopting to respond to the crisis. Pedreño has responded to this thanks, showing CEPES 'willingness to reinforce the dialogue with the Vice President's team to make them aware of the challenges facing the fabric of the Social Economy.
The President of CEPES has declared that "this meeting confirms the need andopportunity that Spain and Europe represents the Social Economy as a lever of change for a sustainable reactivation of our environment ”.
