The French organization Center of resources for social economy, also called Atelier, organized on 20 November a day of conferences and workshops on the means the European Union could use to develop social economy. A wide range of representatives of social economy, from the European, national and local levels, gathered in Paris to “re-enchant” Europe with social economy. Among them, Jan Olsson, co-president of the European Network of Regions and Cities for the Social Economy (REVES) and Denis Stokkink, president of Pour La Solidarité (PLS), both members of the Orientation council of Ipse. The Institute was also represented by Pietro Romano, who attended the event.

Social economy represents around 11 million jobs in Europe and is one of the pillars of the European social model. During the economic crisis, social economy has been resilient and in some domains it has substituted the role of the State in providing social services. There are no longer doubts about the crucial role of social economy in building a democratic society based on sustainable economy and social inclusion.

However, social economy does not yet enjoy enough visibility and recognition, especially at the European level. According to Jens Nilsson, Swedish MEP of the Socialist group and co-president of the Intergroup “Social economy” within the European Parliament, the economic crisis has questioned the global capitalist model and we are looking for alternative models. Social economy is one of the answers to this quest, and it is necessary to seize the moment and take concrete actions. The Luxembourg presidency of the Council of the European Union, EU body that gathers Members States, is very active on this topic. Nicolas Schmit, Luxembourg labour minister, recalled the initiatives of the presidency, notably the conclusions on the promotion of social economy that will be adopted on 7 December by the Employment and Social Policy Council.

Schmit also welcomed the European Parliament as the best ally of the presidency and regretted the lack of dynamism of the European Commission after former commissioner Michel Barnier left his job.

For his part, Michel Catinat, Head of unit “Clusters, social economy and entrepreneurship” at the European Commission, confirmed the commitment of his institution in favour of the social economy, notably through the work carried out by the Group of experts of the Commission on social economy (GECES). The Commission has an “operational” and very large definition of social economy and considers that giving a more precise legal definition would mean opening the Pandora’s box.

As a matter of fact, the social economy culture varies from one country to another, even if half of the member states have a shared definition and in some of them there is a specific legislation. Instead of focusing on the words, it seems more important to develop concrete initiatives not only vertically, between the different institutional levels (European, national and local) but also horizontally, between social economy players in different European countries. As pointed out by Jean-Luc Chataugnat, from the cooperative Oxalis, the area is no longer limited to the “historical” countries (France, Italy, Spain), because there are interesting initiatives also in Bulgaria, the United Kingdom or Slovenia. Chataugnat also invited social entrepreneurs to “go outside their countries and move towards a peer-to-peer attitude – the goal being not to export their own model but to pool key strenghts existing in different countries, in a genuine cooperative spirit”.

This event made clear that the players of social economy need to further cooperate, not only with the institutions but also with partners coming from other EU member states. Ipse will attend the important conference on social economy that will take place in Luxembourg on 3 and 4 December, which represents another opportunity to “re-enchant” Europe with social economy, as well as to exchange best practices and develop partnership between players of the social economy.