EESC - European Economic and Social Committee - Various Interests Group (Group III)

Various Interests Group (Group III) - Categories: Social Economy

The Social economy category brings together 39 members (38 of whom belong to Group III and 1 to Group I) from cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations and social NGOs. Their spokesperson is Mr Miguel Ángel Cabra de Luna.

Although the legal nature of social economy organisations differ from one Member State to the next, they are inspired by common values such as solidarity, social cohesion, social responsibility, freedom of membership, democratic management, participation and autonomy. Social economy enterprises represented 8% of all enterprises and employed over 9 million people in the EU before its enlargement on 1 May 2004, affecting 25% of the population of Europe. The day-to-day operation of these enterprises proves that it is possible to reconcile the economic, social and environmental dimensions.

The various social economy enterprises combine job creation, quality of employment, economic growth, social link, competitiveness, development of territories and the creation of social capital.

Group III´s Social economy category represents a significant proportion of civil society and, together with other members and categories, works towards a more democratic, social and competitive Europe.

Members of the "Social Economy Category"

List of Members

Past Events

Joint Social Economy Category and ECO Section Seminar

“Getting to the end of the tunnel: creating the right environment for the Social Economy”

Thursday, 22 October 2009
Room JDE 62, 6th Floor, rue Belliard 99

Participants in the seminar will discuss and share experiences on how Social Economy Enterprises are facing the challenges of the current economic and financial crisis, as well as identify concrete examples of good practice at operational, political and regulatory level. The seminar will focus on topics such as cross-border integration of social economy enterprises, the framework in which SEEs operate and the role of the financial Social Economy.

Documents

Programme

Presentations (pdf format)

Adrian Celaya, Secretary-General of Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (199 kb)
Luc Roger, Director of European and international studies, Harmonie Mutuelles (French version, 120 kb)
Rainer Schlüter, Director-General of Cooperatives Europe (French version, 137 kb)
Gil Ramos Masjuan, Deputy Director-General for the Social Economy, the Self-employed and Corporate Social Responsibility, Spanish Ministry for Employment and
Immigration (Spanish version, 575 kb)
Sigitas Bubnys, Chief Executive Officer of the Lithuanian Banking Cooperatives (111 kb)
Eva Johansson, Programme Manager, Tillvaxtverket, Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (199 kb)

Documents

Meeting of the Social Economy category held on 29 April 2009

"The Social Economy in the European Union", Summary of the Report drawn up for the European Economic and Social Committee by CIRIEC (International Centre of Research and Information on the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy):