Social Economy Europe welcomes the outcome of the informal Council of EU Ministers dedicated to the social economy under the French Presidency of the EU.
Social Economy Europe and its French member ESS France welcome the participation, on the 17th of Februrary, of 23 Member States in this meeting.. This should be seen as a strong sign of the growing interest in the social economy, its associations, cooperatives, mutuals, foundations and social enterprises which bring together more than 13.6 million employees in Europe (2.5 in France) and nearly 2.8 million enterpruses and organisations (250,000 in France) . This mobilisation success owes a lot to the commitment of the French government, and especially of the Secretary of State for the Social and Solidarity Economy, Olivia Grégoire.
Social Economy Europe and ESS France call on all Member States to engage in the work aimed at preparing a Council Recommendation on the framework conditions for the Social Economy.
Next steps:
- Sven Giegold, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Germany, announces the preparation of a Strategy on Social Economy and enterprises oriented towards the common good. A tool to support the further development of cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations and social enterprises in Germany.
- The European Parliament’s Social Economy Intergroup organises the online public hearing Towards a Council Recommendation on Social Economy: Boosting the convergence of social economy enabling frameworks, to be held on Friday 4 March from 14:00 to 16:00 CET, as a zoom webinar, registrations are open here.
- Consultation on Scenarios towards co-creation of a transition pathway for a resilient, innovative, sustainable and digital proximity and social economy ecosystem open until February 28. Have you Say!
- French Presidency Conference on The Social Economy: the Future of Europe to be held on 5 and 6 May in person, in Strasbourg.
- European Parliament’s own initiative report on The EU Action plan for the social economy, led by rapporteur Jordi Cañas MEP. In this framework, 11 MEPs will travel on 21-22-23/02 to Madrid for a study visit on Social Economy.