Pedro Sánchez indicates that social economy is key ally in economic recovery

Circle of Fine Arts, Madrid

Pedro Sánchez considers that the social economy is a key ally in Spain's economic recovery strategy.

During the closing event, the President of the Government indicated that as the vaccination process advances, the recovery will advance more quickly. "The figures we have seen in the Labour Force Survey show indicators that, despite the situation, the recovery continues to develop". In this regard, he highlighted that unemployment has fallen in the first quarter, there are 80,000 fewer workers on a Temporary Lay-off Plan (Spanish acronym: ERTE) and that 600,000 jobs have been recovered since the worst point of the pandemic.

Pedro Sánchez stressed that "a tremendous opportunity awaits" in the wake of the vaccination process "to recover our economy and our society, correcting many of its historical defects". To date, the regional authorities have administered a total of 15 million vaccines - 85% of the doses distributed - and the percentage of the population to have received the full dose stands at almost 9%.

2030 Agenda

The 19th General Assembly of CEPES was held this year under the slogan "Social Economy - a key business partner for the Social and Economic Transformation that Spain and Europe need". In this context, Pedro Sánchez underlined that those companies that find a way to apply the 2030 Agenda in their business models are the ones that will head up the transformation that Spain needs in response to the health, economic and social emergency. "Companies that appreciate that their future will depend on the interaction of business profits with social, regional and environmental impacts".

Pedro Sánchez called for an ethical obligation from economic agents towards citizens; he also stressed that the economy can no longer be classified with traditional indicators. "GDP by itself does not measure everything. If we destroy the planet, if we raise the levels of social and territorial inequalities, if we do not create opportunities for our young people and if we do not further enhance gender equality, the wealth of a country will be at stake".

The President of the Government recalled that the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan will be applied following four pillars of transformation and also includes the CEPES programme: the ecological transition, the digital transformation, social and territorial cohesion and real equality between men and women. Pedro Sánchez undertook to ensure that the social economy plays a leading role in the Plan.

Non official translation