Social Economy Europe (SEE) held its general assembly in Rome on 24 June, where it elected a new executive board.
Delegates were welcomed to by Mauricio Gardini, president of the Italian Co-operative Alliance (Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane), which hosted the event.
“This morning, an important general assembly is being held to give Social Economy Europe a renewed and more articulated governance that will allow it to consolidate the action in Europe in a particularly delicate phase to protect the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the social economy,” he said. “Together, we have realised that we add up.
“And as we have said on some occasions, if we are alone, we are invisible, but together we can be invincible. And today, thanks to this joint work of all the organisations, we have an action plan for the social economy [European Social Economy Action Plan] approved in December 2021 with more than 60 to promote measures in favour of the social economy throughout Europe.”
Gardini highlighted other recent achievements, such as the OECD’s Policy Guide on Legal Frameworks for the Social and Solidarity Economy, the ILO’s Resolution concerning decent work and the social and solidarity economy; and the UN Resolution on Promoting the Social and Solidarity Economy for Sustainable Development. The social economy was also on the agenda at the 2023 Davos Forum, with a side event exploring how to unlock the social economy. However, Gardini pointed out that the most important achievement for the sector is the European Council’s Recommendation On Developing Social Economy Framework Conditions, which calls on all EU member states to have regulations and measures to promote the social economy within two years.
With European elections taking place last month, SEE will continue to campaign for the sector at national, regional and local levels.
“We want the action plan to be developed, we want a [European] commissioner for the social economy, we want to renew the Intergroup of Social Economy”, he said. “We want the social economy to be in all the transversal policies of the European Union. The social economy democratises the economy.”
In 2023 SEE members adopted a set of governance changes during an extraordinary GA. As such, throughout 2024 the SEE’s governance working group translated these byelaw changes into the internal rules of the association.
Presenting the changes, the coordinator of SEE’s governance working group, Carlos Lozano, said the new rules would ensure “an inclusive model of governance” for the organisation.
“This is enabled by the active participation of members in various working groups, by maintaining transparency and dialogue between the SEE executive board and members of the GA,” he said.
The new SEE internal rules were voted on and approved unanimously. The new executive board will consist of the president along with a minimum of three other persons and a maximum number of twelve people to be calculated based on: one representative per CMAF member with two votes per organisation; up to four members from national federations representing the social economy, with one vote per organisation; and up to four members from European network organisations participating in the promotion of the social economy with one vote per organisation.
Members also re-elected Pedreño unanimously as president. In addition to Pedreño, the new executive board comprises Alain Coheur (AIM), Sarah Goddard (AMICE), Mathieu de Poorter (CEDAG), Lourdes Marquez (Philea), Diana Dovgan (CECOP), Luca Pastorelli (DIESIS), Patrizia Bussi (ENSIE), Daniel Sorrosal (FEBEA), Giuseppe Guerini (Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane), Pascale Zoetaert (ConcertES), Antoine Détourné (ESS-France) and Paul O´Sullivan (The Wheel). This new executive board replaces SEE’s former board of directors.
Related: EU reveals new action plan to boost the social economy
The GA featured keynote presentations by government officials, including Yolanda Díaz, 2ndvice-president Spain and minister of labour and social economy.
“I believe that you are the best example of what Europe needs today, this way of doing economy, this way of socially structuring Europe, this way that has to do with solidarity, that has to do with human values, that has to do with feminism, it is the most favourable economy for the participation of women and we have to turn it into the favuorable economy for young European men and women,” she said. “We have to take one more challenge, one more step so that young people enter the social economy. I insist, based on the conviction that this is a profoundly resilient economy.
“I believe that Commissioner Schmit has shown that we want a Europe in which the social economy plays in the first division and that it is certainly like that transversal umbrella that changes a Europe that has to be better. The European project has to do with human rights, it has to do with democracy and it has to do with economies that are not exclusive. And if there is an inclusive economy, it is called the social economy.”
Similar remarks were made by Maria Teresa Belluci, deputy minister of labour and social policies of Italy. “We are aware of the importance of the social economy because it leaves no one behind,” she said. “We need to continue promoting the social economy in Italy and we need a European framework in the area of taxation.”
Also addressing the GA, Giovanni Schiavone, the president of AGCI and vice president of Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane, said Italy is on track for the social economy to account for 10% of national employment by 2023.
“In Italy, we have a favourable context for the social economy to achieve the 10% of the employment in 2030”, he said.
During the meeting, SEE members also welcomed three new members: the Alliance for Social Economy in Slovakia (ASES); Coompanion, the national umbrella organisation for co-ops in Sweden; and Microfinance centre: (MFC), a social finance network.
The first SEE executive board meeting will be held in Strasbourg on 18 July.
