Social Economy: “from words to actions”. |
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On Wednesday 13th October a joint meeting organised by the socialist (S&D) and christian-democrat (EPP) group in the European Parliament gathered MEPS, Commissioners and different stakeholders in order to discuss how to move from “words to actions” in support to the social economy sector.
Patrizia Toïa MEP opened the discussion by proclaiming that time is ripe for changes in the state aids legislation, social innovation and economic support which could strengthen social economy. With reference especially to social innovation, she recalled that social economy enterprises devise solutions to different local problems. It is for these reasons that leading academics from different European countries addressed an open letter to the European institutions calling on them to act in support of social economy enterprises.
Carlo Borzaga, Professor of Economic Policy, Università degli Studi di Trento (Italy), entered into more details on the content of the letter. The Universities participating in this initiative put forward the following main messages:
José Luis Monzón Campos, Professor of Applied Economics, Universidad de Valencia (Spain), stressed that social economy enterprises represent a part of the economy putting people before profit. Due to their specific way of doing business which associates economic performance, democratic operation and solidarity amongst members, they also contribute to the implementation of important Community objectives, particularly in the fields of employment, social cohesion, regional and rural development, environmental protection, consumer protection, and social security policies.
Social economy enterprises represent two million enterprises (i.e. 10% of all European businesses) and employ over 11 million paid employees (the equivalent of 6% of the working population of the EU). Despite their important role in the economy, there is not a legislative framework supporting them adequately. Only in some countries, a law on social economy is in place or will be adopted soon, such as Spain.
Social economy enterprises represent 2 million enterprises (i.e. 10% of all European businesses) and employ over 11 million paid employees (the equivalent of 6% of the working population of the EU). Despite their important role in the economy, there is no legislative framework supporting them adequately. Only in some countries, a law on social economy is in place or will be adopted soon, such as Spain.
Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, in his intervention, was keen to emphasize that the new proposal from the Commission for completing the internal market will focus on the improvement of the different aspects of citizens life (such as workers, consumers and social economy actors). He stressed the importance of working together with other stakeholders and to gain the support from civil society as a whole. He then announced that after the 27th October the EC will publish the Single Market Act in order to receive remarks from different stakeholders and stimulate a bottom-up process. The social economy reality will be one of the focuses of the debate which will be opened. He claimed that the work of the EP and SEE on this topic is essential in order to move forward and make significant progress on this issue.
Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the EC; Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, pointed out that the Single Market Act and the Small Business Act have to be seen as complementary. The actions foreseen in the Small Business Act for Europe are designed to support all SMEs, and also benefit social economy enterprises to face the challenges arising out of globalisation, rapid technological change and global economic downturn. Social economy enterprises have proven to resist well to the crisis and they can make a significant contribution to objectives such as growth, employment and innovation. There is the need to further support their role and to remedy their weaknesses.
Patrick De Bucquois, CEDAG President,also present at the meeting, drew attention to the fact that when the Single European Act was launched in 1986, it was also when the project of a statute for foundations, cooperatives and associations started. Mario Monti in his report aimed at relaunching the internal market, talks about citizens’ “market fatigue”, that is to say a reduced confidence in the positive power and effects of markets to resolve social, environmental and political problems.
The problem lies in the fact that material production and profit have long been considered as sole objectives of the internal market. In this respect, the social economy can play an important role, helping to find a balance between material production and social considerations.
However, it is important to make a distinction between social enterprises and social economy enterprises. The question is if they are or not on the market. It is not possible to buy social economy enterprises such as cooperatives, foundations, mutual societies, associations therefore it is not possible to have shareholders.
Keeping this distinction is important in order to protect enterprises that have an historic legitimacy. |