On the 24th of October, the Employment and Social Affairs Ministers of the EU (EPSCO Council) adopted Council Conclusions on the Economy of Well-Being. The Economy of Well-Being has been put forward by the Finnish Presidency of the European Union as a policy orientation aiming at putting people’s well-being at the core of European policymaking using a horizontal approach based on cross-sectoral collaboration between different policy areas.

As cooperatives in industry and services, putting people first is CECOP’s core business; for this reason, we welcome the Council Conclusions and are satisfied that the role that social economy enterprises, such as cooperatives, play to provide social inclusion and create quality jobs is recognised at the highest level.

Result of a coordinated effort, CECOP cannot but salute the fruitful collaboration with the Social Platform (our umbrella organisation) on the topic of well-being and quality jobs, as demonstrated in several advocacy moments, such as the Helsinki conference on Economy of Well-Being where, together with Solidar, we insisted on the added value of social economy enterprises and cooperatives to put people before profits.