Cooperative Europe welcomes the European Council’s conclusions on the promotion of social economy. The document, which was adopted by European Ministers on 7 December, recognises the role of co-operatives and other social enterprises to achieving key EU objectives.
The conclusions highlight the contribution of co-operatives and social economy actors in attaining smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, high-quality employment, social cohesion, social innovation, local and regional development and environmental protection. The text also addresses many issues raised in the report of the co-operative working group “Fostering co-operatives’ potential to generate smart growth and jobs” published by the European Commission in March 2015, particularly in the area of education and access to finance.
However, the Alliance’s regional office for Europe warns that some confusion in the approach to social enterprise and social economy still persists in the conclusions. Cooperatives Europe believes the lack of clarity might be reflected in different interpretations of these concepts at member state level, jeopardising the potential of the text.
The EU Council recognises the role of social economy enterprises in tackling unemployment especially among young people and expresses support for co-operation between social economy enterprises and profit-oriented firms.
While in the text the Council invites EU Commission to promote and support social economy in Europe, Cooperatives Europe recommends transforming this promotion and support into concrete actions, namely in policy strategies such as Capital Markets Union and Single Market Strategy.
Commenting on the Council Conclusions, Ms Agnès Mathis, Deputy Director at Cooperatives Europe, said: “We are satisfied with this text, which invites member states and the EU Commission to fully exploit the potential of co-operatives and other social economy enterprises to achieve key EU objectives. On our side, we are ready to provide our contribution and to become actively involved in the development of Europe-wide policies and strategies promoting our sector of activities. Our networks of co-operative business support structures and of young co-operators will certainly be key assets in this process”.
Photo: Council of the EU and European Council, Institutional affairs
