An international conference held in Rome explored the key issues affecting the development of the social economy in Europe. The event, which brought together more than 190 speakers from 25 European countries, aimed to highlight potential ways of unlocking the potential of social economy actors, including co-operatives.
The co-operative movement was represented at the conference by delegates from a number of co-operative organisations, such as the Alliance of Italian Co-operatives, Cooperatives Europe, CECOP and Cooperative Europe.
On the first day of the conference, Italian undersecretary Luigi Bobba talked about the importance of social economy enterprises, including co-operatives. He said: “This conference aims to bring in the spotlight an important sector. The government has developed a wide reform in collaboration with the Chamber [of Deputies] with regards to the voluntary sector, associations and social co-operation.
“The services offered by the public sector are no longer able to solve problems or provide answers to the new needs: only social organisations can ensure that. We must adopt a medium and long term strategy.”
The conference resulted in the Rome Strategy, a set of final documents summarising the debate. The declaration recommends implementing the statutes of the various social economy organisations, including co-operatives and mutuals. It also calls for further support for forms of capital investment schemes such as those of co-op mutual investment funds where a share of members’ earnings is invested to finance co-op start-ups of new members.
To promote the social economy and unlock the potential of social enterprises, the declaration suggests designing a label and launching a pan-European website dedicated to the various legal statutes of Social Economy organisations, with information about starting up and running these. The Rome Strategy also calls for the establishment of a promoting agency at European level and a media network to support and promote the social economy. Another measure proposed is creating an inter-service social economy unit across the different Directorates General of the European Commission.
Mauro Lusetti, president of Legacoop and the Alliance of Italian Co-operatives, argued that all social economy organisations should join forces to become a more influential player. The Alliance of Italian Co-operatives comprises of the three Italian cooperative confederations namely AGCI, Confcooperative and Legacoop.
“The Alliance of Italian Co-operatives is indispensable, but not sufficient”, said Mr Lusetti. “The various components of the social economy must find a common design in order to gain more space, power and visibility also in discussions with European institutions. The Alliance is a great project that aims to transform the society, a starting point, but we need to find a consensus between all the forces of the social economy.”
The conference was organised by the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, with financial help from the European Commission and the support of ISFOL, the Institute for the Development of Vocational Training for Workers (ISFOL).
Photo: Mauro Lusetti, president of Legacoop and the Alliance of Italian Co-operatives (c) Legacoop
