The European Parliament has officially renewed the Social Economy Intergroup, which in this legislature will be called the Intergroup on Social Economy and Services of General Interest (IG 10-23). The final approval comes after an intense campaign by Social Economy Europe (SEE) following the last European Elections.
An intergroup is an unofficial grouping of MEPs interested in a particular subject that is not necessarily on the European Parliament’s regular agenda, but is nevertheless of interest to society as a whole. Intergroups promote exchanges between MEPs and civil society, and encourage improvements in the sectors in which they are active.
For SEE, given that the social economy is an ecosystem active in all sectors and is affected by many cross-cutting policies, it is crucial to have this space for dialogue with MEPs from different groupings and committees of the European Parliament.
Active since 1990, the Social Economy Intergroup has been instrumental in major recent achievements at European level, including the adoption of the European Social Economy Action Plan, approved in December 2021; the EU Council Recommendation to Member States on the development of legal frameworks for the social economy; or the Transition Pathway for the Proximity and Social Economy Ecosystem.
Social Economy Europe has held the Secretariat of the Social Economy Intergroup since the beginning, being a key mobilising force to ensure its continuity. The aim for this mandate is to continue supporting the implementation of the Social Economy Action Plan and to ensure that the social economy is a key actor in addressing major EU challenges such as housing, energy, reindustrialisation, economic sovereignty, green transition, training and job reorientation, care and health, strengthening democracy and gender equality.
In this mandate, the European Parliament has reserved space for 28 intergroups, with a very tight competition. According to SEE, in order to ensure the renewal of the Social Economy Intergroup, it was decided to join forces with the Services of General Interest Intergroup, given that many of the policies to be addressed during the current legislature will relate to these services and to areas such as public procurement, state aid and taxation.
Renewing this intergroup was no easy task. The mobilisation of many actors, especially MEPs and members of the social economy ecosystem, was crucial. SEE is particularly grateful for their support to MEPs Maravillas Abadía Jover (EPP), Irene Tinagli (S&D), Ignazio Marino (Greens), Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew) and Lii Andersson (The Left), as well as their teams.
Along with the renewal of the Intergroup, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, entrusted the Commission’s Executive Vice-President, Roxana Mînzatu, with the mission of promoting the social economy. With this, SEE has achieved its main objectives linked to the European Elections, laying the foundations for ensuring the promotion of the social economy at the highest European political level (Commission and Parliament) in the years to come.
