mr president the commission welcomes parliament's initiative to formulate an own-initiative opinion on the social economy
especially in the context of the present financial and economic crisis this important sector deserves to be promoted more
social economy enterprises have a unique way of doing business since they combine economic performance mutually between members and often also the achievement of social and societal objectives as a business purpose
thus they are well placed to contribute to community policies and objectives particularly in the field of employment social cohesion regional and rural development environmental protection consumer protection and social security
social economy enterprises are an integral part of the commission's enterprise policy
since in the majority they are micro small or medium-sized enterprises they already benefit from the small business act and all actions targeting small enterprises
with regard to the social economy our objective is to create a legal and administrative environment at european level and in every member state in which social economy enterprises of whatever form and size can thrive and meet the challenges posed by globalisation and the economic downturn
more specifically the commission's policy aims to guarantee that social economy enterprises can grow and prosper alongside other forms of company
to this end the commission pays particular attention to ensuring that all other community policies in areas such as competition accounting company law public procurement health social affairs agriculture fisheries banking insurance public and private partnerships and regional development do take into account the specific needs particular goals efforts and working style of this kind of enterprise
to conclude the commission services are currently working on a document which will take stock of the progress made since two thousand and four on the promotion of cooperatives
it will also assess the situation of other social economy enterprises and propose new actions if necessary
