Social enterprises and the next EU policy agenda

Last week our President, Heather Roy, was invited to speak at the EESC's conference "EU policy agenda for Social Enterprise: what next?". She highlighted the positive dynamic on social enterprises triggered by the Commission with the Single Market Act and the Social Business Initiative. Those measures recognised social enterprises as key actors in implementing Europe 2020 and in contributing to achieving the EU objective of a “social market economy”. We also appreciate the emphasis given to social economy by the Italian Presidency, as social economy was one of the themes of the Informal EPSCO Council in Milan.

In our view, the next EU policy agenda for social enterprise should:

  • Unlock the employment potential, not only of social enterprises, but also of social economy as a whole
  • Continue the work launched with the Social Business Initiative, with an integrated approach within the Commission (among DG Markt, DG Enterprise and DG Employment and in cooperation with DG Research, DG Regio and DG Education)
  • Develop the "ecosystem", which in this context is not only about the legal framework but refers to all regulatory, financial and operational tools necessary to support the development of social enterprises (for example, making the best use of the new public procurement directive, developing an European action plan for its development, creation of national legal and regulatory frameworks and exploiting full potential of EU funding instruments).

Heather Roy also stated that it is very important not to use in an interchangeable way the concepts of social economy / social enterprises, and corporate social responsibility. In fact, an ordinary business that carries out a corporate social responsibility policy should be clearly distinguished from a social enterprise and more broadly from social economy actors, because they have different aims and characteristics. Indeed, social economy and social enterprises are a school of thought which integrates the constraints of the economy, the internal market and social considerations. For this reason, we hope that this human-centred approach, which puts people and the environment before profits, could serve as a model for mainstream businesses and could also be brought into the centre of EU governance principles.

During the conference a lot of attention was given to definitions. In the discussions with the audience, some participants remarked that there was confusion in the terms used. So the first clear distinction has to be done between "social economy" / "social enterprises" and "corporate social responsibility". Secondly, we need to keep in mind that social economy and social enterprises are not the same thing. Social enterprises are part of the social economy, while the latter is broader. We use the concept of "social enterprise" / "social business" as defined by the Commission in the Social Business Initiative. If social enterprise and social business can be used as synonyms, social economy actors are economic and social players active in all sectors of society. They are characterised principally by their aims and their methods: a different way of doing business which continuously associates the general interest, economic performance and democratic operation. Traditionally, the main families of social economy  are cooperatives, associations, foundations and mutual societies, whose activities go beyond the social policy's remit.

If you want to learn more about these concepts and Social Platform's recommendations for the next EU policy agenda on social enterprises and social economy, you can read our contribution to the Informal EPSCO Council in Milan. You can also view Heather Roy's presentation.