RIPESS EU attended on april 22nd the public hearing organised in Brussels by EU Parliament\u2019s social economy intergroup, dedicated to \u201cIntegrating social economy into the EU policy program\u201d.\u00a0 Hosted by the European Social and Economic Committee, this meeting allowed a panel of social economy stakeholders and policy makers at European level to update the way EU institutions are \u201cpromoting the spread and strengthening of the social economy as key driver of economic and social development in the European Union\u201d, online with the EU 2020 strategy. To quote the SE intergroup, \u201csocial economy is able to bring innovative solutions for social cohesion and inclusion, job creation, entrepreneurial spirit, growth and the promotion of active citizenship\u00a0\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Although some work has been made during the last Parliament\u2019s and Commission\u2019s mandate, like the \u201cSocial business initiative\u201d, or a proposal for European statutes for foundations and cooperatives, a lot still has to be done, e.g. like implementing these proposals at first, and further integrating social economy in the European structural and investment funds, as well as in EU\u2019s policy towards SMEs. The diversity of social economy initiatives on the European territory should also be assessed, through research on the topic and specific calls and regulations. Luxembourg\u2019s Ministry of employment representative at the meeting pointed the issue of financing social economy enterprise; this will specifically be tackled during the Conference on Social economy that will be organised on December 3rd and 4th in Luxembourg, under Luxembourg\u2019s presidency of the EU Council starting in July.<\/p>\n
For more informatio: info@ripess.eu<\/p>\n