CECOP, the European Confederation of Industrial and Service Cooperatives, welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback to the European Commission in developing its new Action Plan for the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR).

The EPSR is a crucial initiative with the potential to ensure a strong social Europe. At the same time, Europe is experiencing worsening inequality, an ageing society, political polarisation, the climate crisis and geopolitical uncertainty. It is now more important than ever to build a robust Action Plan to recognise the importance of a solid social foundation necessary to tackle the crises faced by the EU.

Industrial and service cooperatives are resilient enterprises upholding core values, such as sustainability and inclusion, and their contribution to the principles of the EPSR is considerable. These cooperatives provide inclusive, meaningful and quality jobs even to those furthest from the labour market; cultivate a culture of life-long learning within the enterprise; provide services of general interest, including in the areas of long-term care, transport, and energy; and operate with a concern for the environment and the local community.

The EPSR Action Plan of 2021 was welcomed by CECOP as a step in the right direction to ensure reaching the headline targets regarding employment, training and the reduction of poverty, however, it is now clear that these initiatives were not enough to tackle these challenges. Labour shortages persist, often brought on by poor working conditions, such as in the care sector; youth unemployment is three times higher than for the rest of the population; digitalisation and new ways of working, e.g., platform work, have brought a shit towards more on-demand work and have normalised precarious jobs and the concept of the “working poor”; barriers to quality employment for persons with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups remains; and essential services and social services of general interest remain systematically underfunded.

As the EU faces new crises, it is imperative that the new Action Plan is more ambitious, takes into account all 20 principles of the Pillar, and puts social policy back on the EU agenda. To this end, CECOP calls on the European Commission to consider the following recommendations for the new Action Plan:

  1. Recognise and promote cooperatives as providers of quality jobs and services
  2. Improve access to finance for cooperatives committed to implement the EPSR
  3. Maintain the Social Economy Action Plan as a core priority for the implementation of the new EPSR Action Plan
  4. Promote workers’ buyouts as a way to protect jobs
  5. Ensure policy coherence with other EU initiatives

Read our full contribution to the call for evidence here.