• The agreements were adopted yesterday in Paris at the first informal ministerial conference dedicated to this issue, organized by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
• Through this commitment, those responsible for the social economy portfolios of 23 EU countries intend to promote, among other aspects, a joint definition of the social economy model, promote its knowledge, generate national legal frameworks favorable to the model and improve its financing.
• The purpose of this meeting was to "demonstrate the continent's shared desire to develop the social economy to face the climate challenge and create jobs with high added social value."
• The President of CEPES and of Social Economy Europe, Juan Antonio Pedreño, "values this meeting as another great institutional and political milestone that demonstrates the firm commitment of practically all the countries of the European Union to place social economy companies in the heart of the political agenda.
Madrid, February 18, 2022.- The Spanish Business Confederation of the Social Economy (CEPES) celebrates the commitment reached yesterday by 23 EU ministers who support the social economy portfolios to promote the business model of social economy in Europe.
Held in Paris and chaired by the French Secretary of State for the Social Economy, Olivia Grégoire , this is the first informal ministerial conference dedicated to this topic, organized by the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This meeting was also attended by the European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, who has promoted the European Action Plan for the Social Economy, presented on December 9 by the European Commission, and which will be implemented in the next 9 years.
As stated by the French Presidency of the Council of the EU in a press release , this meeting had the purpose of "demonstrating the shared desire of the continent to develop the social economy to face the climate challenge and create jobs with high added social value”.
The President of CEPES and of Social Economy Europe, Juan Antonio Pedreño , values this meeting as "another great institutional and political milestone that demonstrates the firm commitment of practically all the countries of the European Union to place social economy companies at the heart of the political agenda, for the demonstrated and consolidated contribution of this business model to the challenges of Europe that involve developing emerging sectors, promoting digitization, local development, social cohesion and the green and digital transition”.
“We have been working for years with governments, community institutions and with representative organizations of the social economy from all over Europe to create a European social economy ecosystem, and events such as today's meeting fill us with pride and enthusiasm to continue working on promoting this business model and develop the European Action Plan for the social economy and, above all, ensure that during the validity of this `plan, the social economy goes from representing 8% of European GDP to 15%”, added Pedreño.
During the meeting, the counterpart ministers committed themselves to various points, among which is respect for the diversity of national traditions in the field of social economy and the formulation of the firstbases for a common definition in the Action Plan that takes this diversity into account. They have also recognized the importance of making this business model known in the different countries, as well as of creating specific national legal frameworks to favor the social economy business model.
On the other hand, they have agreed on the need to ensure the financing of the social economy and to better inform the structures of this sector about said financing possibilities.
Finally, the 23 ministers have agreed to cooperate to measure the social impact of social economy companies in order to achieve greater transparency and legitimize public policies applied to the social economy, as well as to develop innovative alliances with administrations and large companies that contribute to meeting social and climate challenges. In fact, the European Commission is going to carry out a mapping project of the different national methodologies to measure their social impact.
MEETING WITH ENTREPRENEURS OF THE SOCIAL ECONOMY
This Thursday a virtual meeting was also held in which Commissioner Schmit and the French Secretary of State Grégoire participated to respond to different social economy entrepreneurs on various issues related to the implementation of the European Social Economy Action Plan .
"The social economy is one of the pillars of the European Union's agenda and the European Action Plan is a good example of this," Schmit pointed out. He also noted very positively the fact that the French presidency of the EU Council begins with an informal meeting of social economy ministers to exchange views on this plan.
The participants in the webinar were able to raise their concerns both with the commissioner and with Grégorie, in a meeting in which the entrepreneurs insisted on the need to access financing in order to develop social economy companies. Thus, "invest, test and evaluate" were the main premises that, according to the participants, are necessary for the plan to be successful. In this sense, Schmit pointed out that "the plan is based on the commitment to innovation, the green economy and the digital transition".
The opportunities generated by the social economy for young people was another topic that occupied the debate. For Schmit, the new forms of entrepreneurship offered by the social economy favor young people, since they promote employability. Thus, during his speeches, the Commissioner pointed out that this business model "has demonstrated its enormous contribution to economic and social recovery".
THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL ECONOMY ACTION PLAN
The European Action Plan for the Social Economy was born from a need identified within the European Union, thanks to the collaboration of the representative entities of this model, which understood that the potential of the social economy in terms of job creation and added social value was not being fully exploited and there were various disparities between European countries.
For this reason, ten years after the Social Business Initiative - the first Action Plan of the European Commission to support social economy companies in Europe, which has considerably increased its visibility - the European Commission presented on December 9, 2021 an Action Plan to "stimulate a new development dynamic and unlock its potential for job creation and social ties."
Europe has 2.8 million social economy entities that employ 13.6 million people. In some countries, this business model represents more than 10% of their GDP, such as in France, Spain or Italy. Therefore, it hasbeen identified by the European Commission as one of the 14 industrial ecosystems to strengthen Europe's resilience, being a forward-looking response to current climate and social challenges.
