On 21 June COCETA organised workshops to explore good practices and case studies from across Spain.
During the first workshop, delegates heard how some of Spain’s autonomous regions are supporting and promoting the cooperative sector.
Josep Vidal i Fàbrega, Director General of Social Economy, the Third Sector and Cooperatives in the Catalonian Government, said his administration supports a network of more than 300 cooperatives, providing €16m in funding to over three years, which has helped to create 1,000 new co-operatives and 5,000 jobs.
It also adopted a policy to foster collaboration among co-operatives, backed by €25m in project funding this year.
In the Basque Country, cooperation is part of the local culture, said Elena Pérez Barredo, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Security for the regional government.
“We cannot understand Euskadi (Basque Country) without cooperativism and cooperativism without Euskadi,” she said, adding that the government has a very good relationship with a strong regional cooperative sector that includes cooperatives, academics and government representatives. “All that we do we do in agreement with the sector,” she said.
In 2019 Catalonia adopted a new co-operative law, which was amended in 2021 to include pandemic measures, such as permitting online AGMs.
Cooperatives also play a key role in the government-wide Strategic Social Economy Plan, which puts cooperatives on the agenda of all ministries, economic development and jobs to education.
“All this we do to have more and better co-ops because it is a source of jobs and local growth,” added Ms Barredo.
Similarly, in Valencia, a Cooperative Council brings together representatives from cooperatives and the government to foster bottom-up policies. Rafael Climent González, Minister of Sustainable Economy, Productive Sectors, Commerce and Employment, said regional government initiatives include a plan to support and grow cooperatives. Adopted in 2019, the Fent Cooperatives programme encourages public-private partnerships with a social and environmental impact; promotes housing co-ops – with seven new ones launched in 2021 alone – and supports cooperative conversions for failing businesses – with six firms rescued in 2021. The government is also working with the local registry to make it easier for groups to set up as cooperatives.
Susana Romero Román, General Directorate of Self-Employment and Social Economy, Assembly de Andalucía, shared details of her region’s €79m strategic plan to support the social economy and cooperatives, including awareness-raising initiatives.
Covadonga Toca Carús, Secretary General for Self-Employment and Social Economy, Assembly de Galicia, discussed the Galician network of cooperatives, which brings together sector and government representatives.
The government is supporting alternative models such as co-ops as part of its positive discrimination policies to support women, disadvantaged people and rural citizens.
Participants also highlighted the important role of cooperatives during the pandemic, adding that the crisis had shown the model’s potential to improve social cohesion, address inequalities and provide real solutions.
Watch the full recording from 21 June here.
