Conference on Social Economy

Dear Mr Commissioner,

Dear Mr Chairman,

I would like to bid a hearty welcome to you at the European Conference on Social Economy and Enterprise, which is being held within the framework of the Czech Presidency in Prague. We meet to discus this topic at the time of economic crisis the duration and consequences of which we are not able to anticipate yet. In the beginning let me, please, outline the situation in the Czech Republic by quoting recent data: the unemployment rate according to the methodology we use increased in March, in comparison with the last year by one third (from 336 000 unemployed to 449 000). The unemployment among women reaches nearly 10%. In March 2009 there were 70 000 new registrations from among the ranks of the unemployed, the Labour Offices could not help twenty thousand job applicants in finding jobs for them, and so this number increased the ranks of the long-term unemployed. The situation has severely worsened for persons more than 50 years old and for disabled persons, who are being excluded from the job market on a long-term basis. The alarming fact is that until 31 March 2009 the Labour Offices registered only 55,412 job openings. That is almost one hundred thousand less jobs than in March 2008. Currently approximately 8 job seekers apply for one job position. As of the same date the Labour Offices recorded 2,484 job openings for the persons with disabilities, i.e. one job position for 26 job seekers with a disability. At the same time, according to Eurostat, the Czech “harmonised unemployment rate (HUR)” remains the third lowest among the EU Member States in the long run. (HUR reached 5.1% in the Czech Republic in February 2009. In other EU countries it reached the following levels: EU27 8.4%, Belgium 7.2%, Bulgaria 5.8%, Denmark 5.4%, Germany 8.2%, Estonia 9.9%, Ireland 9.9%, Greece 8.0% (December 2008), Spain 16.1%, France 9.1%, Italy 7.1% (December 2008), Cyprus 5.4%, Latvia 15.8%, Lithuania 14.8%, Luxembourg 6.6%, Hungary 9.1%, Malta 6.8%, The Netherlands 3.1%, Austria 4.9%, Poland 8.0%, Portugal 8.5%, Romania 5.8% (December 2008), Slovenia 5.1%, Slovakia 10.3%, Finland 7.6%, Sweden 8.0%, Great Britain 6.3% (December 2008).

Looking at these and other statistics I must ask what are the priorities in terms of the job market getting to the forefront nowadays. How many people can live without work on a long-term basis and what would constitute the unbearable burden for our society and living of the people and nations of Europe together. I must also ask to what extent is the assistance offered to the needy, unemployed, unqualified, to young parents, to graduates without any work experience and to other people facing limitations on the job market still socially and economically manageable and when such assistance would begin to compromise the competitiveness of our economy.

The topic of today’s conference (social economy and enterprise) directly touches upon these questions.

A social firm is a new model of employing people who may experience, due to their health or social disadvantage, a difficult entry to the open job market and who may have difficulties in keeping themselves in the market.

A social firm is a competitive enterprise operating on a regular market, whose purpose is to create job opportunities for people who would otherwise be disadvantaged on the job market, and to provide them with reasonable employment and psychosocial support.

A social firm is intended for the disabled people (for the people with physical and mental disabilities, persons with combined disabilities, for the mentally ill) and for the socially disadvantaged (such as persons returning from imprisonment, the homeless, people who stopped using habit-forming drugs, persons over 50 years of age, the long-term unemployed, graduates without work experience, etc.)

They are intended especially for those who would otherwise have a difficult access to the job market and who are in need of long-term or repeated employment and psychosocial support during their employment. In terms of the persons with physical disabilities, any social entrepreneur must also take into account the accessibility of other social and health services and the provision of standard accommodation.

As of this time, we do not have in the EU a legal standard which would address the status and operation of organisations designated for the purposes of carrying out this kind of social enterprise. We do not have such legislation in Czech Republic either. However, the Act on Public Benefit Organisations, which I am currently in the process of negotiating with other departments, would greatly help the municipalities and regions in their search for strategic partners in the social enterprise sector. The Act should serve to differentiate various interest-driven and mutually beneficial associations from those companies and entrepreneurs who really want to help and carry out activities and provide services that would benefit everyone.

It is a difficult job to look for and cooperate with subjects, which are involved in socially accented enterprises. On the other hand, this is an important assignment for a regional politician. The Regions Committee of the Government Council for Non-Governmental Organisations, which I chair, besides the matters of partnership between on non-governmental organisations, municipalities and regions, has also been involved for two years with the topics pertaining to the social economy and social enterprise. We are aware that social economy needs, besides the support from the central national administration, also the support of the individual regions and to this end we train the regional officers and discuss the topics related to the social economy in regions with them. It is the very purpose of social economy to bring the communities together and to bring about social cohesion.

My office, i.e. the Government Council for Non-Governmental Organisations will organise, before the end of the Czech Presidency term, the 5th conference on the sustainability of non-profit sector entitled “Europe of Engaged Citizens – Resources and Sustainability.” This conference will take place on the 4-5 May 2009 in Brno, at the seat of the Czech Ombudsman and at the Masaryk University. I do hope that we shall meet there again and that we will discuss whether Europe is able to promote the development of civic society, whether it sufficiently develops the strategic partnership between the public administration and the non-governmental sector, and whether it facilitates the financing of these organisations from its own resources, for instance by offering publicly beneficial services and by carrying out such activities that assist the public and its interests and needs.

The goals of our conference are:

- To present, during Czech Presidency, the most successful measures which proved themselves in the EU countries in terms of ensuring long-term strategic support of the non-governmental sector and its complementary role in the development of democratic Europe.

- To compare the advantages and feasibility of the best practice mechanisms within the broader extent of the EU.

- To recommend to the Commission, European Parliament and to the governments of the Member States the application of such successful models on a larger scale.

- And specifically for the Czech environment, to encourage the politicians and social partners by these foreign models and their potential use in the framework of the tax reform, the amendments of the Civil Code and in other reforms.

I would like to informally invite all of you to Brno, the conference will take place under the auspices of the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, the Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, and mine.

Ladies and gentlemen, finally, I would like to mention one important prerequisite for good decision-making in business and politics, and that is the effort to maintain the democratic and cultural values of the European way of life while taking into account the continuous strengthening of its human rights aspects. It is my opinion that we must bear this in our minds in terms of all public activities of ours and in terms of the development of socially considerate enterprises.

Thank you for you attention.