Position on EU Action Plan on Social Economy

31.03.2022

Following the publication of the Commission’s Action Plan for Social Economy (SEAP) Cooperatives Europe provides comments through its European Union Coordination Committee.

Our position highlights the following priorities which should be addressed:

1. The Commission must work on better defining social economy in order to build a common understanding across Member States and ensure an implementation that is consistent, and time-bound. High hopes lie in the Council Recommendation expected for 2023 to create the right policy and legal framework.
2. It must promote a level playing field among all enterprises and therefore consider all forms of cooperatives, in all sectors of the economy, all regions and areas and involve all EU policies.
3. Providing opportunities for SE entities requires removing barriers, especially for cooperatives in terms of access to funding, visibility, youth entrepreneurship, and worker buyouts.
4. The cooperative movement is not immune from cross-cutting issues such as gender inequality and the twin transition. These need to be addressed through a comprehensive set of initiatives covering finance, capacity-building, skills, taxation, sustainable public procurement, as well as public-private partnerships

Download the the document below. Find also Cooperatives Europe’s response to the EU survey on transition pathway for a resilient, innovative, sustainable, and digital proximity and social economy ecosystem.