Yolanda Díaz: "The social economy has to be an undisputed priority on the European political agenda"

The Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, during her speech at the closing act of the General Assembly of Social Economy Europe

The Second Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister for Work and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, has pledged to continue to strengthen the promotion of the social economy at European and international levels at the closing of the General Assembly of Social Economy Europe, the organisation that represents all entities in this productive model, which accounts for 8% of the GDP of the European Union (EU).

"The social economy is the evidence that it is possible to build a fairer, more egalitarian, sustainable and democratic world and we must place it at the centre of European legislative activity", said the vice-president.

The social economy, a cross-cutting vector of European policies

In addition to promoting the appointment of a European Commissioner responsible for the social economy for the next European legislature, an initiative already endorsed by several Member States, Díaz has assured that she will work to renew the Intergroup on the Social Economy in the European Parliament, which has the support of more than a hundred MEPs from different political groups.

As she explained to the European representatives of this business model, which in Spain represents cooperatives, mutual societies, labour companies, social initiative employment centres, non-profit foundations and fishermen's guilds, among others, the aim is to make the social economy the focus of European legislative activity by promoting its incorporation into the EU's industrial, economic and social policies.

Roll out of the first Recommendation on social economy

Along these lines, Díaz has assured that she will promote the development of the first European Recommendation on the social economy, which was approved during the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU last year, by means of a greater financial allocation and a timetable for the European Action Plan for the Social Economy.

"We will do everything in our power to set up new programmes that adequately finance the development of the sector at a European level, and we will push for the creation of an academy to promote cooperatives at a European level", said the vice-president, aware of the leadership that Spain is exercising in this area both at European and international levels.

In the 27 countries that make up the European Union as a whole, the Social Economy has more than 2.8 million entities and generates 13.6 million jobs. In Spain alone it accounts for 10% of GDP. Positioning this economic model as a strategic axis of the EU's budgetary, economic and social policies "has to be a priority on the European political agenda".

Non official translation