The Deputy Minister of Labour offers the Department's boost for the establishment of a cutting-edge HUB on the Social Economy

• Pérez Barredo affirms that it will be a benchmark for Europe in new models of collective entrepreneurship

The Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Security, Elena Pérez Barredo, today offered a boost from the Department of Labour and Employment to the establishment of a cutting-edge HUB on the Social Economy that is “a benchmark for Europe in the identification of inclusive, sustainable, solidarity, participatory and collaborative economic strategies,” and which offers “new models of collective entrepreneurship.”

Pérez Barredo took part in the inauguration of the European Conference on the Social Economy which, under the title ‘People, planet, action’, is being held between today and tomorrow in Donostia within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and on the occasion of the role of the Social Economy that the Gipuzkoa capital holds this year. A meeting that, in her opinion: “Allows us to offer our best version, that of a region that wants to advance and progress rooted in its land, but looking out into the world, which wants to continue creating wealth and distribute it better in its environment.”

Within this framework, she acknowledged the pride of knowing that “Spain is a world leader in Social Economy, and the Basque Country with its associated work,” pride that the Department led by Vice President Idoia Mendia translates into “unprecedented public support”. Measures such as the Law on Cooperatives approved unanimously in the Basque Parliament; the accompaniment of the last World Congress of Cooperatives; the first Interdepartmental Strategic Plan for the Social Economy and the immediate response to emergencies such as the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and that will culminate in 2024 “with the greatest economic support for the Social Economy in the history of the Basque Government”.

A reference space for Europe

However, the Deputy Minister added: “Our eyes are on the future,” which is why she offered the Department's drive for the establishment of a cutting-edge HUB that the Government of Spain will adapt through the Social Economy and Care Department. “A space that is a benchmark for Europe in the identification of inclusive, sustainable, solidarity, participatory and collaborative economic strategies, and that offers new models of collective entrepreneurship for digital, environmental and demographic transformations,” she said.

“The Basque Country is going to contribute everything, and we are going to do it on a path that we are already on, because our 2030 Employment Strategy already identifies the Social Economy as one of our competitive strengths, and places it as a key to promote collective entrepreneurship; because we are already looking for formulas to advance on that path in new jobs, those derived from the digital economy; and because, precisely with the help of a cooperative, the Integrated Social Services Group, we have made a leap towards professionalising and dignifying those who work in care,” she said.

Pérez Barredo recalled that the work promoted by the Department of Labour and Employment in the field of care is “a form of training in skills and competences, and an open door to that collective entrepreneurship that adds to the new profiles to guarantee the care of older people both in their greater autonomy and in their dependence”. This project, which the Department will present in Brussels this week, is an example of “how we are taking steps forward, and that will have its own innovation ecosystem next year”.

During her speech, the Deputy Minister of Labour wanted to recognise each and every one of the families of the Social Economy in the Basque Country, who “have been weaving a network of wealth and cohesion for three centuries of our history” and which, not only employs some 87,000 people, but crosses all economic sectors “and is absorbed into society, which translates into cohesion”.

“These are our references, from the past and for the future, with which the Basque Country wants to contribute to making Spain, also in the Social Economy, a benchmark of progress and cohesion. Of the best investment to transform European society from the values that inspire the Union,” she concluded.