Debate: EU action plan for the social economy
Date: TUESDAY, 5 JULY 2022
Speaker: Nicolas Schmit
Language: EN

In this particular context, the social economy has a key role to play to make our society fairer and more inclusive. The social economy represents a strong social and economic reality in several Member States providing quality jobs, contributing to the overall economic activity, particularly at local and regional level, and to the provision of care and social services. In fact, more than a third of the estimated 13.8 million paid jobs in the social economy is in the sector of social services.  Social economy organisations also contribute to social and labour market inclusion of disadvantaged groups like people with disabilities or migrants. They help to improve gender equality and integrate young people. They also drive sustainable economic and industrial development, promoting the active participation of citizens in our societies, and revitalise Europe’s rural and depopulated areas. However, the social economy potential is not fully tapped as its business model is not evenly spread across the European Union. While in a number of EU Member States, it is still largely underdeveloped and the action plan put forward by the Commission aims to allow all relevant public authorities and stakeholders to act jointly and fully use the potential of the social economy using also and benefiting from the European dimension, be it financial but also the European internal market.  The action plan presents more than 60 measures to unlock this potential with three key objectives. First, the development of an enabling framework for the social economy. Policy and legal frameworks need to be adapted to this specific business model, including in specific areas such as state aid, public procurement and taxation. And in this regard, the proposal for a council recommendation will be key. It will set out guidelines on the policies and legal frameworks. Member States need to put in place to support the development of the social economy, providing targeted guidance while taking into account the different traditions, scope and denomination of the social economy in the different Member States. Secondly, the opening of opportunities through enhanced support to capacity building and skills, as well as improved access to funding. Thirdly, enhancing the recognition of the social economy and its potential by promoting a better understanding of its specificities to all relevant stakeholders.  I want to thank the rapporteur and the shadows for your important report. Parliament is fully supporting the ambition of the action plan and the Commission is very grateful for that. In particular, you share the Commission’s view that policymakers and stakeholders need to work on improving all aspects of the social economy ecosystem jointly. Your report also includes several concrete suggestions on the way we should implement the action plan. These are very valuable to us as we are busy preparing several key initiatives. Please be assured that we will duly take those suggestions into account. Your ideas on the scope of the Future Council recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions; your call for the role of the social economy to be fully recognised in the context of other policies and future initiatives, such as the care strategy we discussed this morning; your suggestions on our future study to collect qualitative and quantitative information on the social economy across all Member States; your consideration for the transition pathway for the proximity and social economy industrial ecosystem which is under preparation; and your call for new initiatives to support the development of worker buy outs.  We also recall the European Parliament’s recent legislative own initiative resolution on the statute for European cross-border associations and non-profit organisations. The Commission committed in its reply to the Parliament of May 22 to come up with a package of legislative and non-legislative measures to address the Parliament’s objectives. We will continue engaging with you on this important matter.  Dear President, your ideas and support are very valuable to us in our work on the implementation of the action plan. But they are also valuable to the millions of people working every day in social enterprises, social entities and making our society function a bit better. Social economy can play a decisive role to support the shift to a sustainable and resilient growth model, as proposed by the Conference on the Future of Europe.