Towards a European action plan for the social economy
The European Commission will present its new Action Plan to support the social economy on 16 December 2021. With this Action Plan, the Commission will propose a coherent set of measures to create the right conditions for the social economy to realise its full potential to contribute to fair, sustainable and inclusive growth.
Background to the European Action Plan on the Social Economy
The new European action plan for social economy take place ten year after Social Business Initiative (SBI) (2011) a first initiative that was the starting point for many actions by both the European Union and the Member States (Spanish action plan, the French law on social economy, etc.) to support the development of the social economy. A potential that the social economy has prooven through both the economic crisis of 2008 and the current health crisis. In fact, social economy actors have proven their resilience, superior to the classical economy.
The proposals that will be presented is the result of an active consultation process initiated after the GECES report ‘Social Enterprises and the Social Economy’ published in October 2016. Going forward the process involved an inter-directorate process as well as an active consultation process with the social economy stakeholders, notably Social Economy Europe.
A European Action Plan for the social economy, with a proposed duration of 5 years (2021-2026), could be a key tool to systematically incorporate the social economy into the different socio-economic policies of the European Union, as well as into its actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. POUR LA SOLIDARITE-PLS defend an action plan that ensure a greater link with the priority of the European union, such as the Green deal, the legislation on cooperative platform and ensure the following objectives:
- Recognise the social economy as a transversal actor in the main socio-economic policies and priorities of the European Union (Green Deal, legislation on cooperative platforms, etc.).
- Foster an ecosystem conducive to the growth of the social economy, improving its contribution to the main EU objectives and enabling social economy enterprises to take full advantage of the EU single market, funds and financial instruments
- Strengthen the visibility of social economy enterprises and organisations.
- Promote the social economy in both EU and national legislation.