· The event, held this Wednesday in Madrid, had more than 150 attendees from the field of social economy, personalities from politics, the economy and civil society
· It was attended by the second vice president and Ministerof Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, who participated via telematics; the General Director of Autonomous Work, Social Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility, Maravillas Espín; and the President of the Economic and Social Council (ESC), Antón Costas
· During the event, four factors that will mark the contextof the social economy in Spain in the coming years were highlighted: the Action Plan of the European Social Economy, the Structural Funds 2021-2027, the Spanish Strategy of the Social Economy and the PERTE of the Social Economy and Care. The latter will be presented this Friday by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez
· The president of CEPES, Juan Antonio Pedreño, valued access to the Structural Funds, and to the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Funds through the PERTE ofthe Social Economy and Care Economy as "opportunities to present innovativeprojects that improve the competitiveness of our companies". He also claimed the need to accompany the different policies to promote this business model with budgets at both the national and European level.
· Yolanda Díaz reviewed the different policies and programs of the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy that "will contribute to promoting a qualitative leap in the sector" such as the new Spanish Strategy for Social Economy, the increase in the amount in the call for annual subsidies of the General Directorate of Autonomous Work of the Social Economy and Social Responsibility of Companies or the PERTE of the Social Economy and Economy of Care
· Maravillas Espín stressed that the social economy will be present at the twelfth International Conference of the ILO and insisted on the need for permanent dialogue based on partnership and cooperation
· The president of the ESC stressed that "thechallenge of our country is to create good jobs for more women and young peoplein small and medium-sized cities and in the rural world, and the social economy plays a very important role in this."
Madrid, May 26, 2022.-The Spanish Business Confederation ofthe Social Economy (CEPES) showed on Wednesday the strength of thisbusiness model during the celebration of its XXX General Assembly.
This was evident during this event, which was held at theBeatriz Auditorium in Madrid with morethan 150 attendees from the field of social economy, personalities frompolitics, the economy and civil society.
The day included the interventions, in addition to the president of the entity,Juan Antonio Pedreño; the second vice president and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, who participated via telematics; the general director of Autonomous Work, the Social Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility, Maravillas Espín; and the president of the Economic and Social Council (CES), Antón Costas.
During theevent, four factors that will mark the context of the social economy in Spain in the coming years were highlighted: the Action Plan of the European Social Economy, the Structural Funds2021-2027, the Spanish Strategy of the Social Economy and the PERTE of the Social Economy and Care. The latter will be presented this Friday by thePresident of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
Juan Antonio Pedreño valued access to the Structural Funds, both ESF and soon ESF+, for which CEPES has already been appointed intermediate body; as well as access tothe Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Funds through the PERTE of the Social Economy and Care Economy as "opportunities to present innovative projects that improve the competitiveness of our companies and that allow for the Social Economy to change its scale".
In relation to this PERTE, which will be presented this Friday by thePresident of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, Pedreño estimated that it couldlead to the growth of 1% of the weight of the social economy in GDP.
The president of CEPES especially underlined the capacity of the socialeconomy to fix population and the convergence of the objectives of thisbusiness model with those of the European Union and with the recently approved European Action Plan for the Social Economy,with social and territorial cohesion, green economy and digitalization beingkey "to build a fairer society, democratic and sustainable".
Pedreño also addressed the challenges facing the social economy in the coming years. One of them is visibility and the establishment of alliances with the rest of the social agents, something that has already been strengthened, but that will be reinforced in the future with the aim of placing the Social Economy in the Social Dialogue.
Another of the challenges highlighted was the greater growth in all territories, following the example of some autonomous communities that have developed their own regulations and specific public policies for the social economy. In this sense, he appealed to governments and public administrations that wish to develop policies to promote the social economy to count on CEPES and the families that the entity represents to meet this objective.
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Finally, he recalled the need to develop policies and measures that improve the qualifications of workers,"fundamental" in the Plan for the Modernization of VocationalTraining; as well as measures that promote industrial transformation and strengthen local communities. In addition, he claimed the need for thesepolicies to be accompanied by budgets atboth the state and European level and opportunities to invest.
On the other hand, the second vice president and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, said that "one ofthe most powerful weapons to combat inequality is the social economy, the coreof a sustainable, fair and inclusive business ecosystem."
During her speech, the minister reviewed the different policies and programs of the Ministry that "willcontribute to promoting a qualitative leap in the sector." On the onehand, he pointed to the elaboration and implementation of the new Spanish Social Economy Strategy, which "will allow us to face challenges such as generational and gender renewal, green and digital transformation or the reduction of regional disparities".
On the other hand, Díaz stressed that the landing of the ´Next Generation´ funds for the social economy through the PERTE of the Social Economy and Care Economy, as well as the development of the Comprehensive Plan to Promote the Social Economy will contribute to the greater visibility of the sector and its presence in the ministerial departments.
The minister also pointed to the regulatory amendment projects that the Ministry is working on. In the first instance,the Law on Cooperatives and the Law on Insertion Companies; and in the second instance, the Social Economy Law, which will allow adjusting the regulation"to modernize structures and boost the sector".
Finally, he highlighted the position of the social economy as one of the axes of the Spanish presidency of the EUin the second half of 2023, as well as the efforts of the Ministry and the Government´s external action "to promote a UN resolution for the socialand solidarity economy and sustainable development".
In addition, he pointed out that these opportunities must be addressed in a "comprehensive and complementary" manner with other actions of the Government, such as those proposed in the 2030 Sustainable Development Strategyor the Plan of Measures against the Demographic Challenge.
"In short," he said, "I believe that we are in a good momentfor the social economy and for the deployment of its transformative potential through committed companies and their organizations represented almost unanimously by CEPES."
On the other hand, the General Director of Autonomous Work, Social Economy and Corporate Social Responsibility, Maravillas Espín, who closed the event, recognized the workof CEPES and Social Economy Europe so that the European Social Economy Action Plan saw the light in 2021 and recalled some significant milestones achieved, such as the Monitoring Committee of the Luxembourg Declarationand theToledo Declaration, and referred to the Spanish capital of the Social Economy, which materialized in 2021 in Teruel and in 2022 in Santiago de Compostela.
He also said that the challenge facing the Council for the Promotion of the Social Economy, recently renewed, is "to fight the presence of the social economy in all regulations until it is as natural as that of any other company."
Espín added that the social economy will be present at the twelfth International Conference of the ILO, which recognizes decent work and the social and solidarity economy as a central theme in one of its points.
He also explained that the Comprehensive Plan to Promote the Social Economy is end owed with more than 100 millioneuros to face challenges such as the recovery of companies, digitalization and the transfer of knowledge, "all on the basis of alliances".
In relation to the PERTE of SocialEconomy and Care Economy, Espín said that "it places social economy companies as agents that must receive the necessary stimuli to intervene in the care economy" and insisted on theneed for permanent dialogue based on alliance and cooperation. , "with which we will achieve that all this work has the fruits that this society needs to achieve greater well-being in the medium and long term".
The Assembly also had the intervention of the President of the Economic and Social Council, Anton Costas, who reflected on the challenges of the country and the values of the social economy when facing these challenges. "The unrest and resentment in democracies isdue to the loss of prosperity that has taken place in recent years in small and medium-sized cities and in the rural world, as well as fear of the future and digitalization."
Costas said that "the challenge of our country is to create good jobs for more women and young people in these places and the social economy plays avery important role in this." He also pointed out that this business model is a "very active" element of the life of the CES and, in addition, "innovative" in introducing issues to be addressed at the CES. "I am hopeful that the ESC will also beimportant to you as an instrument through which objectives can be driven," he concluded.
The Assembly was also attended by the Director-General of the ILO in Spain, Félix Peinado; the general director of the Fundae, Antonio de Luis; representatives of UPTA, ATA, CIRIEC, Bequal Foundation and Juan Vicente Ferrer Foundation, La Bolsa Social, Lares Mayores and SpainNAB among others; as well as the directors of Social Economy in Andalusia, Extremadura, Castilla y León, Madrid and Murcia.
TWO NEW VICE-PRESIDENCIES
During the event, the two new vice presidents of CEPES were presented to the attendees after being elected this Tuesday in the Electoral Assembly. Jerónima Bonafé, of Cooperativas Agroalimentarias de España, becomes the first vice-presidency; and Leire Mugerza, of Mondragon, the fourth vice-presidency. Likewise, are cognition was made to the two outgoing vice presidents: JavierGoienetxea and José Montes.
In this way, the Board of Directors is composed of the president of the entity, Juan Antonio Pedreño; the first vice president, Jerónima Bonafé; the second vice president, Rafael de Lorenzo; the third vicepresident, Enrique Sanz Fernández; the fourth vice president, Leire Muguerza,and 25 representatives of thedifferent entities of the social economy in Spain, business groups and autonomous entities representing the Social Economy.
STRATEGICPLAN 2022-2025
The XXX Assembly of CEPES also served as a framework to present the main lines of the Strategic Plan of the entity for the period 2022-2025, which is very focused on responding to the main challenges faced by social economy companies today, such as facilitating innovation, the ecological and digital transition of social economy organizations and companies, contribute to the strengthening of the sector in all territories or promote regulatory legalaction to promote this business model.
