The Social Economy Intergroup of the European Parliament (SEIG) held its last meeting of the legislature on April 16th in Brussels with a high level of participation and proposals. More than a hundred people attended the meeting, titled ‘The Social Economy in the 2024 European Elections.’
According to Social Economy Europe (SEE), the meeting, which was also followed online, was an important milestone for the social economy ahead of the upcoming EU elections in June. SEE was able to convey its proposals, which are reflected in the following Memorandum. These proposals primarily include the renewal of the Social Economy Intergroup, the appointment of a EU Commissioner for Social Economy, and the continuation of the implementation of the European Action Plan for Social Economy, approved at the end of 2021.
The meeting featured the intervention of high-level representatives and key figures for the social economy. First, European Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, promoter of the Action Plan for the Social Economy, stated: “I am proud that our actions have given momentum to this business model.”
Three representatives from member states strongly committed to the social economy also participated: the Spanish government, with Vice President and Minister Yolanda Díaz, who led the UN Resolution on Social and Solidarity Economy and greatly supported the Social Economy during the recent Spanish Presidency of the EU Council; the Belgian government, with Minister Christie Morreale, who represented the current Presidency of the EU Council that promoted the recently signed Liège Roadmap, as well as the Polish government, with Deputy Minister Katarzyna Nowakowska.
The meeting was also a new opportunity to present the perspective of various actors in the social economy working in diverse sectors of activity and who explained the contribution of the social economy to many current challenges facing the EU. Examples of solutions applied in the fields of green transition (Neva Nathigal, RREUSE), renewable energies (Dirk Vansintjan, Rescoop), housing (Anne Lise Barberon, Groupe VYV), inclusion of vulnerable groups (Chris Gordon, ISEN), employment (Giuseppe Guerini, CECOP), and digitization (Jeanne Bretécher, SOGA) were showcased.
Although many political groups have explicitly mentioned their support for the renewal of the Social Economy Intergroup, and all were invited to participate in the event, the meeting welcomed members of the current Intergroup representing three coalitions. From the S&D side, there were Brando Benifei and Patrizia Toia, as co-chairs of the SEIG and hosts of the event. From the Renew side, Monica Semedo (co-chair of the SEIG) and Jordi Cañas (vice-chair of the SEIG) participated. Claude Gruffat (co-chair of the SEIG) represented the Greens/EFA side. They all supported the renewal of the SEIG, highlighting the achievements so far and the need to continue supporting the European ecosystem of the social economy.
SEE President, Juan Antonio Pedreño, closed the event by recalling the main points included in SEE’s memorandum for the EU elections. He thanked the work of the members of the SEIG and also emphasized the importance of maintaining the connection between social economy actors and EU institutions such as the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee (through the key work of social economy actors in Group III), and the European Commission.
Appendix: Memorandum of Social Economy Europe for the 2024 EU elections.
Other memorandums from European social economy families:
AIM: https://www.aim-mutual.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Memorandum2024_EN_FINAL.pdf
CECOP: https://www.cecop.coop/uploads/file/EN_CECOP_Manifesto_EU.pdf
COPA-COGECA: https://copa-cogeca.eu/Flexpage/DownloadFile/?id=13505031
