• They agreed to bet, in these exceptional moments, on a model of sustainable growth that reduces inequalities, promoting a fair ecological and digital transition, promoting an economy focused on industrial resilience with companies that do not relocate, strengthening the structure of the territories and boost the care economy.
• The President of CEPES, Juan Antonio Pedreño, points out that the Social Economy is at the forefront of the green transition that Europe is promoting, since it provides sustainable solutions in areas such as housing, the production and distribution of renewable energy, the agri-food sector and the circular economy, in addition to contributing decisively to the 2030 Agenda and the fight against climate change.
• CEPES will send the minister a battery of proposals in the coming days to advance recovery, which will take into account the important impact that the Social Economy has on the areas of competence of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.
Madrid, May 7, 2020.- The Board of Directors of the Spanish Business Confederation of Social Economy (CEPES), in a virtual meeting with the fourth vice-president of the Government of Spain and Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera , addressed the Participation of Social Economy companies in the recovery process that Spain is currently facing, as well as the role that this business model plays in the demographic challenge and the structuring of the territory, in the new production model and in the Green Pact that affects to numerous public policies.
CEPES President, Juan Antonio Pedreño , highly valued this meeting because “we have had the opportunity to personally explain to the Vice President how Social Economy companies are an essential actor in the response to the crisis, which is at the forefront of action against the potentially destructive consequences of Covid-19, with resilient companies, that put people and the social object before benefits, and that we will surely be a key agent in the economic and social recovery that Spain needs. ”
In addition, the successful experiences of the Social Economy in fields such as renewable energies , the energy efficiency of buildings , the preservation of the diversity of waters and rivers, as well as many sustainable business models in its three dimensions: were transferred to the vice president. , economic and environmental.
At this meeting, which is the first held by Vice President Ribera with CEPES, Pedreño presented the economic reality of this business fabric, both at the state and European level, and stressed that Spain is a European benchmark in Social Economy and that, in addition, CEPES chairs Social Economy Europe, an entity that represents almost 3 million companies and almost 13 million jobs in the Social Economy. From SEE, a battery of measures for the social and economic reconstruction of Europe was transferred to the Community Institutions.
Vice President Ribera thanked the meeting with CEPES, which brings together a variety of very important actors that operate in strategic economic sectors that are key to the implementation of the Green Pact and other policies that are the responsibility of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge .
"You are dynamic and transversal business actors of great value to contribute to the economic recovery," said Ribera, who stressed that "at this time it is important to enhance theirma, union, cooperation and above all listening. There is an important challenge at European level and that is to fight inequalities and guide the production model and care for young people ”.
The vice-president and the Board of Directors of CEPES agreed to bet on these exceptional moments for a growth model that reduces inequalities and is environmentally sustainable , for a commitment to digitization , for an economy focused on industrial resilience with companies that do not relocate. , for promoting the Care Economy and for strengthening the structure of the territories and promoting a just ecological and digital transition . All of them are essential keys to the future.
Local development and Social Economy: an essential pairing to tackle the demographic challenge of Spain
One of the main topics of the meeting revolved around the central role that the Social Economy must play in a strategy against the demographic challenge. CEPES recalled that the Social Economy is an essential ally of this future strategy, since it fights the effects of "Depopulated Spain" by constituting the main business network of small-sized populations in which the population sets through agri-food cooperatives, associated work, credit or consumption, and other actors in the Social Economy who are service providers in rural areas.
From CEPES, measures were proposed to favor the creation of companies in rural areas through fiscal incentives and to enhance instruments provided for in the Contracts Law, such as contract reserves, or to reinforce the transformation of mercantile companies into Social Economy companies with the objective of saving companies and jobs. The educational sector also stood out, where the Social Economy has a strong fabric and is a great ally to attract young people to the territory and offer them enough tools to generate their educational, business and life project.
The Social Economy on the agenda of the European Green Pact
Pedreño reminded the vice president that the Social Economy is at the forefront of the green transition that Europe is promoting . "Our business model is providing sustainable solutions in areas such as housing, the production and distribution of renewable energy or in the agri-food sector and leads the circular economy, contributing decisively to the 2030 Agenda and the fight against climate change", pointed out the president of CEPES.
In this sense, the employers in the Social Economy showed their willingness to actively contribute to the implementation of the Green Pact and asked to speed up the transposition of European regulations to make companies world leaders in clean products and technologies, given that the Social Economy provides sustainable consumption and business models.
The vice president valued the role of the Social Economy not only because of the demonstrated experience, but because it can offer an excellent diagnosis of the situation in the territories and is a dynamic business actor of great value to contribute to economic recovery.
The president of CEPES took advantage of the meeting to invite the vice president to the hearing of the Intergroup on Social Economy of the European Parliament, which will deal with the Green Pact and the contribution of the Social Economy in areas such as the sustainable transition in production, in the distribution of renewable energy, urban mobility or digitization, among others.
Pedreño thanked the vice president for the willingness and willingness to dialogue, to which CEPES will transfer in the pr & oacute, last days a battery of proposals to reinforce Social Economy companies as a "lever of change" for a sustainable reactivation. CEPES President added that "this meeting with Vice President Ribera demonstrates the transversality of the Social Economy and the need to have this business model in the necessary and urgent economic revival of the country that must accompany the overcoming of the latent health crisis that follows being a priority right now ”.
