·
This document will guide the recommendations expected to be adopted by the
European Council on this 2023 Plan. It was approved by a large majority of the plenary, with 493 votes in
favor, 75 against and 69 abstentions.
·
The policy of this Programmeincludes more than 50 measures to be
implemented over the next nine years in key areas such as state aid, legal and
policy frameworks, socially responsible public procurement, business support
and youth entrepreneurship, access to finance, contribution of the social
economy to the green and digital transitions, social innovation and
recognition, among others
·
The resident of CEPES, Juan Antonio Pedreño: "We are facing a unique
moment for the business model of social economy that we had not experienced
before. This support implies that the European institutions consider the social
economy a lever of change in the EU and that it must necessarily be part of all
EU policies to respond to the challenges facing Europe."
Madrid, 0July 8, 2021.- The Spanish Business Confederation of the Social Economy (CEPES) celebrates
the approval, this Wednesday in Strasbourg, of the report promoted by the
Social Economy Intergroup,headed by the MEP and spokesman for Employment and
Social Affairs, Jordi Cañas, to implement the European Social Economy Action
Plan.
The report was approved by a large majority of the plenary, with 493 votes
in favour, 75 against and 69 abstentions, which means, for CEPES, "absolute
support for the promotion
of the social economy in Europe"
through the European Action Plan for the Social Economy.
TheF UE Planpresented by the European Commission last December and the
proposal approved yesterday by Parliament makes several contributions to it.
This report will guide the recommendations expected to be adopted by the
European Council next year.
"We are facing a unique moment for the business model of social
economy that we had not experienced before. This support implies that the
European institutions consider the social economy a lever of change in the EU
and that, necessarily, it must be part of all COMMUNITY policies to
respond to the challenges facing Europe, "says the president of CEPES,
Juan Antonio Pedreño. "This
approval means that the European Parliament urges the Commission, member states
and social economy actors to go further in boosting the social economy in
Europe, with the aim of increasing the shareof the social economy in European
employment from 6.3% to 10% by 2030."
The European Social Economy Action Plan began to take shape in 2014 with
the request of the Social Economy Intergroup
of the European Parliament, which is made up of more than 80 MEPs from
different parties committed to this business model as an engine of
sustainable development and opportunities
for all.
The MEP for Citizens, Jordi Cañas, pointed out that with this report
"the European Parliament has shown its commitment to raising the social
economy and its values, such as social inclusion, solidarity and justice, to
the place they deserve within EU policies. In addition, it puts on the table various
proposals to pave the way and accompany the important transformation and
consolidation that the social economy is experiencing".
MEP Katrin
Langensiepen (Greens/EFA, Germany) stressed that this report "underlines the importance
of the social economy for the green transition and the future of work". He
also recognizes the gender perspective of the document, although he points out
that his party advocates a more ambitious document in terms of establishing a
common definition of social economy.
For her part,
Patrizia Toia (Democratic Party, Italy)
has pointedout the need to implement the objectives set out in this Plan "withconcrete
measures and funding from the various
European programmes", while Monica
Semedo (Democratic Party, Luxembourg) stressed the contribution to society of social economy
companies and has been satisfied to "see innovative ideas and entrepreneurship as instruments for a more
inclusive society".
Claude Gruffat (Greens/EFA, France) said that "thesocial economy
should become ´the´ economy. This report is a key step towards further
achievements such as large-scale financing of the development of the social
economy in Europe."
On the other hand, Eugen Tomac (EPP, Romania) stressed that "we
are going through difficult times and we need more solidarity with the people
who have greater difficulties. The ocial
knowledge, focused on the person, and not only on profit, is becoming
increasingly important in our society, andthis Plan opens the way to this
economy, which has enormous potential."
Polish MEP Krzysztof HETMAN
(EPP) stressed that this business model "contributes to the European
Pillar of Social Rights, equal
opportunities, quality employment and social dialogue" and insisted on the
need to improve access to finance, as well as to create a portal of single access that facilitates the
possibility for European social economy entities to easily access
the different existing policies aroundthe model in the different countries and allows
the consultation of other experiences in the Member States.
The policy of this plan includes more
than 50 concrete actions to be implemented until 2030, in key areas such as
state aid, legal and political frameworks, socially responsible public
procurement and market access, promotion of the social economy at local,
regional and international level; support for enterprises, skills, youth
entrepreneurship, access to European funding; contribution of the social
economy to green transitions and
digital, social innovation and recognition, among others.
LEGISLATIVE AND FINANCIAL FRAMEWORK
The text that has received the support of the European Parliament calls for
a legislative and financial framework that promotes the business model of
social economy throughout the EU.
Thus, it urges the different states to provide a common definition of
social economy according to the main characteristics of the model, to facilitate
the creation of social economy entities in all countries. Spain is one of the most advanced countries in
this regard, being a pioneer in approving
Law 5/2011 on Social Economy eleven years ago.
In addition, the proposal calls for
harnessing the funding potential that the EU has put in place through
national recovery, transformation and resilience plans to investin social
economy projects that drive the right
green and digital transitions. It also
calls for the promotion of funding for this model through various European
programmes such as InvestEU; ESF+, ERDF; Horizonte Europa; Citizens,
Equality, Rights and Values Program; o Single Market Programme.
NETWORKING AND ONE-STOP SHOP
The proposal also calls for a timetable for the implementation of
the Action Plan and the horizontal
mainstreaming of the social economy into
all relevant EU policies, programmes and practices.
Also, to give greater visibility to the sector, governments are called upon
to appoint coordinators for the social economy and create contact points
to facilitate access to financing and all support tools. It is a service
similar to a one-stop shop where entrepreneurs and entities that want to grow
under this business model can
go.
GREATER PRESENCE OF WOMEN AND JÓVENES
The report also proposes specific training for young people, such as the Youth
Entrepreneurship Policy Academy, greater use of Erasmus Plus and Erasmus
opportunities for Young Entrepreneurs and the integration of this model at all
educational levels.
On the other hand, it points out that women represent more than 60% of employees
in the social economy, and the wage and
leadership gaps are smaller than in other models, and therefore calls on the
Commission and the Member States to remove all barriers for women to achieve
gender equality; calls for the strengthening of the perspective gender in policies and access to finance for
women participating in social economy entities.
