On February 14, 2012, MGEN (France) and Mutualité Socialiste – Solidaris (Belgium) announced the conclusion of a partnership. This affiliation is both political and economic in nature.

These two social protection organizations are similar in size (MGEN insures 3.5 million people, and Mutualité Socialiste – Solidaris insures 3.1 million) and values (solidarity, democracy, etc.) and both have a non-profit economic model. They also demonstrate their shared ambition for universal access to health care and the comprehensive role they play in the field, particularly by managing compulsory and supplementary health insurance schemes.

With this partnership, MGEN and Mutualité Socialiste – Solidaris intend to implement various cooperation initiatives, e.g., the creation of a mutual watchdog institution to monitor the French and Belgian social systems, speaking with common voice to European authorities and sharing information systems between the two mutuals to help them each in their development. They are also looking to expand in Europe by offering mutualist services in a third European country.

This is not the first European partnership for MGEN and Mutualité Socialiste – Solidaris: in 2007, the latter concluded a partnership with the French student mutual LMDE to make information available to students who move from one country to another. Likewise, MGEN already offers supplementary health insurance in Portugal under the Europamut brand, jointly owned by the French Union mutualiste retraite and Intégrale, a Belgian pension institution.

These two mutual social protection organizations continue to advocate for the creation of a statute for European mutuals, but they did not wait for the statute to move beyond national borders.