Brussels, 17/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The two days of participatory debates dedicated to social enterprise resulted in a “Strasbourg Declaration” taking up the principles of change addressed by entrepreneurs to the European institutions and to the national and local authorities for a new social economy model. Social enterprise is gaining more and more ground. One new enterprise out of four looks less to shareholder profit than to making a collective benefit to society. Two thousand such enterprises took the floor in Strasbourg on 16 and 17 January to brief the European commissioners for the internal market, industry and social affairs on their viewpoints, and also to address their message to the chair of the economic and social committee.
Commenting on this participatory dialogue and declaration, European Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said that the document was the reflection of this new approach for the collective construction of public policies. He assured that, at a time when growth must be more sober, more equitable and greener, the social economy sector is now right at the heart of the challenges and policies.
In their declaration, social entrepreneurs hope there will be a greater involvement at European level, as well as at national, regional and local level towards their community via the joint creation of new policies supporting their enterprises, depending on the local context. The European Commission should ensure that this approach is reflected in all its policies. The member states and local and regional authorities should, for their part, support the growth of social enterprise, via the legislative framework as well as access to funding, development aid for start-ups, training and public procurement. There should also be cooperation between the social enterprises, but also between the public authorities supporting them. The declaration recommends that both public and private players should develop a full range of suitable financial instruments to support social enterprises throughout their life cycle. Nonetheless, in order to provide this ad hoc support, the declaration calls for further research on national statistical data for a better understanding of the sector.
The declaration is accompanied by a more exhaustive text of suggestions established on the basis of contributions made by stakeholders on the ground, such as innovative funding, a European code of conduct, a European status for mutual enterprises, or a suitable tax regime. According to Barnier, such ideas do not always gain consensus. He plans to study them carefully and objectively with his commissioner colleagues and the president of the European Commission. He underlines that all these strong convictions set out in the declaration and these players on the ground should play a bigger role in the future of Europe, being a source of inspiration for European institutions, states and local authorities in order to create partnerships at the service of more sustainable and inclusive growth in the years to come. He spoke of the idea of renewing this interactive debate, which was also carried out on the internet, at a later date in order to push the debate still further. (MD/transl.jl)