RIPESS EU attended on april 22nd the public hearing organised in Brussels by EU Parliament’s social economy intergroup, dedicated to “Integrating social economy into the EU policy program”. Hosted by the European Social and Economic Committee, this meeting allowed a panel of social economy stakeholders and policy makers at European level to update the way EU institutions are “promoting the spread and strengthening of the social economy as key driver of economic and social development in the European Union”, online with the EU 2020 strategy. To quote the SE intergroup, “social economy is able to bring innovative solutions for social cohesion and inclusion, job creation, entrepreneurial spirit, growth and the promotion of active citizenship ».
Although some work has been made during the last Parliament’s and Commission’s mandate, like the “Social business initiative”, or a proposal for European statutes for foundations and cooperatives, a lot still has to be done, e.g. like implementing these proposals at first, and further integrating social economy in the European structural and investment funds, as well as in EU’s policy towards SMEs. The diversity of social economy initiatives on the European territory should also be assessed, through research on the topic and specific calls and regulations. Luxembourg’s Ministry of employment representative at the meeting pointed the issue of financing social economy enterprise; this will specifically be tackled during the Conference on Social economy that will be organised on December 3rd and 4th in Luxembourg, under Luxembourg’s presidency of the EU Council starting in July.
For more informatio: info@ripess.eu
Meeting program : [click here]
