By Giuseppe Guerini

As the title of the Letta Report suggests, the European Union and its economic and business system is much more than a market. This is because, from the outset, the European Union chose to be a social market economy, where economic prosperity entails not only the accumulation of wealth but also the ability to ensure that the wealth which is traded and built up in the market benefits everyone.

In this way, social economy enterprises form an ecosystem which ensures solidarity through business, a useful model for private organisations which nonetheless act in the general interest.

The Letta Report identifies this feature which had already been taken up by the action plan and the recommendation on the social economy. The report calls on the European institutions to recognise the specific characteristics of social economy enterprises, adapting the rules governing the internal market and competition and improving the legal framework for State aid in order to ensure that social economy enterprises have readier access to loans and financing.

The EESC has contributed significantly to ensuring that the European and international institutions recognise the purpose and role of social economy enterprises. It has participated in many initiatives and adopted many opinions in line with the work which led to the adoption of the Social Economy Action Plan in 2021 and the Recommendation to Member States in 2023. Furthermore, by issuing opinions on competition policy and State aid relating to services of general economic interest, we have shone a light on the need to raise the thresholds for granting de minimis State aid, and secured changes to the regulation which were approved in late 2023. The requests, set out in the Letta Report, to adapt the General Block Exemption Regulation and improve financing are in line with the EESC’s calls in various opinions issued in 2022 and 2023. We are therefore encouraged to keep working on promoting this opinion in order to boost recognition of the social economy. We want to make more people aware of the benefits of effective regulation on competition and State aid for both social economy enterprises and the entire system of services of general interest.