The first SECON regional stakeholders meeting

The first SECON regional stakeholders meeting was held on 28 August 2023in the ‘Beverbeekhuis’ in Diest (a location realised with European funding for rural development).  Various agenda items were discussed. The meeting started with an introduction of partners present, Febecoop (The Belgian Federation of the Social and Cooperative Economy), People Made, Leader+, Social economy directors, the department of Economics and the representatives of Doeners.be.  Followed by a presentation of the SECON partners. The planned actions for each semester were the last item on the agenda.

It was noted that the SECON partners also have active Leader areas, where rural development is central, amongst others with digital services. It was discussed that these groups could work together and offer services on a shared platform.

A central question was the definition of "social economy" (SE) in the European context and within the participating countries. The aim is to find a common definition, starting with the European definition from the SE action plan from the end of 2021.

There was also a discussion about what would happen with the SECON final report. Although there are a lot of obstacles, the RSG stressed that especially the incentive approaches to SE should be included, and the Interreg portal can serve as a means of sharing good examples in this regard.

Semester 2 will focus on increasing the visibility of SE, with for Flemish Brabant involvement of the platform 'www.DOENERS'

There was interest among RSG members in SE activities in other participating countries, although clarity on this will grow during the project.

The possibility of extending the project to inactive population was discussed, as this is an important labour market issue.

Various legal issues, such as the interpretation of legislation around 'reserved contracts' in the area of public procurement and definition of SE, were discussed.

Fiscal aspects were highlighted, with suggestions being made to explore tax benefits, such as 6% VAT on People Made products.

It was suggested to contact Karel Vanderpoorten of DG GROW (EC) for insight into the SE Action Plan.

For the Belgian EU Presidency in Semester 1, 2024, Pieter Geladé of WSE will be contacted for related actions.

Finally, Peter Bosmans advised to start preparing the even in Flemish Brabant in Semester 5 well  in advance, given the in-depth and complex nature of the topic.