The objective of the conference is to redefine a European agenda for the social economy. A public consultation was organised in order to gather opinions and suggestions among various stakeholders CECOP's position within the framework of the consultation attempts to define various concepts which are often the object of confusion such as the social economy and social enterprises and to explain the specific characteristic of worker and social cooperatives as a key component of the social economy. It then looks into the funding of the social economy and examines a series of relevant policy areas such as employment, competition, public procurement, tax policy or statistics. It finally probes into the issues of innovation and social impact measurement.
 During the conference, high level national policy makers together with European institutions, social economy stakeholders and researchers will discuss major issues for the future of the social economy in the EU. CECOP's President, Secretary General and Policy Officer will take place in the debate during different workshops along with many several CECOP national members from Italy, France, Spain and Sweden.

The conference is organised at a very crucial moment for the EU agenda, at a time when the new European Parliament has recently been elected, the new European Commission is starting its 5 years term, the EU 2020 strategy is currently being revised. It is the right moment for social economy actors, including industrial and service cooperatives represented by CECOP, to demonstrate their contribution to a sustainable, smart and inclusive growth and ask for adequate support measures and policies. More information about the event and about registration are available here: http://socialeconomyrome.it/