ERGO Network responds to the European Commission call for evidence on framework conditions for the social economy
As announced in the Social Economy Action Plan published on 9 December 2021 by the European Commission, a Council Recommendation on framework conditions for social economy is planned to be released in 2023, aimed at supporting Member States to better adapt their policies and laws to the specific needs of the social economy and unlock its untapped potential. A call for evidence was launched, in order to gather stakeholder views, and ERGO Network responded to it based on our own position paper on social economy, as well as our original response to the Social Economy Action Plan.
We welcome the recognition of a holistic approach required for social economy, spanning social and employment policies, education, taxation, public procurement, competition, industry and SMEs, circular economy, and local development. However, while harnessing the potential of the social economy is deemed key to meeting a number of challenges, several elements are missing: combatting poverty, ensuring community-based services, providing goods and services in an affordable way, and contributing to active citizenship and stronger democracies. Social economy is a substantive, integral part of economic activity, not a charitable, short-term intervention. Sustainability is not the same as commercial viability, as it is connected instead to the wellbeing of beneficiaries and the positive social impact.
We further support the explicit objective of adapting policy, legal, and regulatory social economy frameworks. However, the positive social and societal objectives of social economy must be sufficiently emphasised when these frameworks are defined. It is imperative that the Council Recommendation also calls for the close involvement of beneficiaries and their civil society organisations. A partnership approach needs to be embedded when legal, regulatory, and funding frameworks are built or revised, involving key stakeholders, including Roma communities and their representatives. The role and potential of these communities must be acknowledged and supported, through enshrining a broad bottom-up approach, based on real community needs and grassroot input, giving the Roma a voice in the process.
It is essential that non-Roma-led social enterprises work alongside Roma people or Roma organisations, to make use of the full pool of skills and talents already present in the communities. Correcting a staggering oversight in the Action Plan, we hope to see the Roma (and other minority-led social enterprises and racialised beneficiaries) explicitly catered for in the Council Recommendation. If Roma inclusion is not spelled out as an objective, mainstream approaches will leave them behind. Clear indicators that monitor Roma participation in social economy, the level of ownership, number of Roma staff etc are needed. Social economy actors (including the central and local authorities supporting them) must be mindful of deeply rooted discrimination and antigypsyism and make conscious efforts to combat any such tendencies.
Roma are drivers and beneficiaries of change, but more targeted support is needed to build the capacity of Roma to become social entrepreneurs themselves. The existence and potential of social enterprises need to be better promoted in Roma communities, alongside specific training and capacity-building, social enterprise hubs, mentoring, peer learning, financial and in-kind support. The Council Recommendation must also recognise that marginalised and racialised communities face additional barriers in accessing mainstream funding. Dedicated public funding schemes and private funding should support minority-led social enterprises regardless of their market performance, given their public utility. Other useful tools included soft loan conditions, state-provided guarantees for bank loans, free premises, free expert support, tax deductions, fiscal incentives.
Social economy offers great potential to address Roma poverty, employment, health, education, accommodation, nutrition, and to keep alive Roma culture and crafts. It is encouraging that contributions received in the run-up to the Social Economy Action Plan will be used in the elaboration of the Council Recommendation, as significant input was left out of the Action Plan. We hope the upcoming Council Recommendation tackles these oversights and creates fruitful synergies with the EU Roma Strategic Framework and with the European Pillar of Social Rights in a comprehensive way.
- Read our full response to the consultation here!
For more information about ERGO Network’s work on social economy, please contact Amana Ferro, Senior Policy Adviser in the ERGO Network Brussels team.