The European Commission for this 2019-2024 term was elected by the European Parliament last week and took office on the 1st of December.

The Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, former Employment and Social Economy Minister of Luxembourg, Nicolas Schmit received an updated mission letter on the 2nd of December where his missions are further developed.

With worker and social cooperatives being at the core of social economy development and opportunities in Europe, CECOP welcomes the Action Plan for the Social Economy and looks forward to working in partnership with Social Economy Europe and other actors, as well as Commissioner Schmit in order to translate it into concrete measures in favour of worker ownership, entrepreneurial diversity and quality employment.

CECOP’s President Giuseppe Guerini said “the Action Plan for the Social Economy is a very good news for social economy actors and a first step towards a more comprehensive approach to social economy policies in Europe. Social economy is an important actor of job creation and social inclusion. We welcome this decision by President von der Leyen, while at the same time we hope there will be a structured coordination between him and Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton on this matter”.

CECOP hopes this decision will inspire more MEPs to support the renewal of the Social Economy Intergroup in the European Parliament, which is the relevant forum where such an action plan should be discussed and developed in partnership with all the concerned actors.