#TogetherWeStand – Il messaggio di speranza e solidarietà del Social Economy

We are collectively facing a difficult time. This is why SEE members have raised their voices to send a message of solidarity and hope to all social economy enterprises and organisations, their members and workers and to all citizens. Filipa Farelo (CASES), Sarah Goddard (AMICE), Sergiu Gurau (ENSIE), Aurora Prospero (FEBEA), Peru Sasia (FEBEA), Luigi Martignetti (REVES), Jérôme Saddier (ESS-France), Oscar Verlinden (EMN), Patrizia Bussi (ENSIE), Aurélie Chompret (IPSE) and Juan Antonio Pedreño (SEE and CEPES) are part of this video. Discover their messages, activities and proposals to support social economy actors and build a more democratic, sustainable, fair and resilient future.

On Friday 23 April, Commissioner Nicolas Schmit (Jobs and Social Rights)  sent a letter to Member States’ Ministers of Labour/Employment urging them to ensure that social economy enterprises and organisations are well equipped and supported, so they can keep playing their crucial role to manage and overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

On 29 April SEE and its members had an exchange with Commissioner Schmit during the meeting of the European Commission Expert Group on Social Economy and social enterprises (GECES). Schmit confirmed that the European Action Plan for the Social Economy will be published by the European Commission in the second semester of 2021. He called on social economy actors to actively contribute to shape this policy to ensure that social economy is at the heart of the economic and social recovery that Europe needs and showed his intention to connect the Social Economy Action Plan with other EU policy areas such as the Green Deal, the Social Pillar or the Industrial and SME strategies. He also referred to the importance of mobilising EU funds and investments for the social economy in the framework of the recovery plan, which the Commission is currently working on, as agreed by the European Council, and of a strengthened EU budget (MFF).

Over 90 participants joined the GECES meeting, including representatives of various Member States such as Spain (represented by Director-General for Social Economy Maravillas Espín and deputy DG Juan Manuel Sánchez Teheran), France (represented by Sarah Robin, diplomatic counsellor to the High Commissioner for Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation), Ireland (represented by Andrew Forde, Head of Rural Strategy & Social Enterprise at Department of Rural & Community Development), Belgium and the Netherlands among others.

07/05 Commission’s webinar: Social Economy, sustainable tourism and COVID19

A European Commission webinar on Social Economy and sustainable  tourism in the context of COVID-19, organised in cooperation with SEE, will take place on Thursday 7 May 2020 from 10:30 to 12:30 pm. 

Two social economy actors active in the tourism industry: ILUNION Hotels (with 26 hotels in Spain) and a social economy company from West Pomeranian Voivodeship  in Poland, will exchange on how they are living the crisis and contributing to the fight against the pandemic. They will also analyse the future of the tourism industry, including the role of social economy actors to offer sustainable and accessible options. 

The programme and the link to participate in the webinar will be uploaded here in the coming days