Madrid, 13 September 2021 - The Spanish Confederation for Social Economy Enterprises (CEPES) has led an international seminar to identify and analyse legislative areas that, while not specific to the Social Economy, are strategic for its development and are key to understand how these enterprises should be taken into account when regulating and facilitating the operation of all businesses in the market.
This was the central issue of the third seminar of the international project “Legal Ecosystems for Social Economy- Peer Learning Partnership” PL4SE – PLP" coordinated by CEPES which aims to promote legal frameworks favourable to the Social Economy with the support of the OECD and funding from the European Union.
The seminar was attended by 35 experts from the 25 partner organisations supporting the project, including public and ministerial departments responsible for the Social Economy from six countries (Brazil, Canada, Korea, Italy, Mexico and Spain).
The debate focused on how the public procurement policies applied by local, regional or national public administrations in the three continents involve Social Economy to achieve economic, social, sustainability or social inclusion goals.
On the other hand, it was also discussed how different legal frameworks take into account the particularities of this enterprise model in terms of their specific tax treatment, transferring experiences to other countries that seek to adopt legislative measures in line with the characteristics of Social Economy companies.
Financial instruments were another of the topics discussed. Thus, the existence of innovative financing mechanisms directly promoted by the Administrations for the Social Economy, but also by these enterprise and organisations themselves, because they are better adapted to the demands of a more responsible and transparent financial market, has been addressed.
The participants also presented some public programmes to support and foster the Social Economy. The experts agreed on the importance of having not only funding, but also programmes to support entrepreneurship and decent job creation from the Social Economy and its visibility.
CEPES President, Juan Antonio Pedreño, has pointed out that "the specific experiences presented today by public authorities from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Korea, France, Italy and Spain confirm that public authorities at all levels and all regulatory frameworks governing socio-economic policies, must take into account Social Economy models. It is key not only to regulate the operation of these enterprises in the market, but also to promote a business model that is key to ensuring a fair exit and a sustainable transformation after the COVID crisis". In this sense, Pedreño pointed out that the European Action Plan for the Social Economy, which the European Commission is expected to approve in early December, "is the cornerstone of a future European policy to promote the Social Economy not only at EU level but above all in the Member States and at local level through specific plans and strategies, as it is the case in Spain, which is a world reference in legislative frameworks and policies to promote the Social Economy".
Further information on the project
The project “Legal Ecosystems for Social Economy- Peer Learning Partnership (PL4SE – PLP)”, which started in April and will run until October, was selected by the OECD along with five other projects on account of the way it combines experience in the Social Economy with a consortium involving stakeholders that are key to generating a global ecosystem that will encourage the Social Economy.
The international consortium led by CEPES is made up of a total of 25 partners including public national and ministerial departments from Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Korea, France, Italy, Mexico and Spain, together with CEPES, Social Economy organisations from Canada, the United States and the European Union, as well as the ILO, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), CIRIEC-INTERNACIONAL, AIM, SSE-IF and the Global Forum of the Social Economy.
All project information is available at LEGAL ECOSYSTEMS FOR SOCIAL ECONOMY- OECD PROJECT (cepes.es)
