France: Paris appeal from European third sector leaders

Just before the forthcoming 50th celebration of the Rome Treaty, 130 leading organisations from 24 European countries decided to join their forces to embed the third sector/the social economy in the heart of the true economy, defined as more linked with people and place. The signing of the March euclid manifesto intends to act as a signal for the revival of the European Union. In the Paris European House, third sector leaders shared their common values, but stressed mainly the importance to be more visible in order to influence the EU agenda. ?The desire to connect and to support our members?, said Stephen Bubb, CEO of acevo, means that ?we are not in competition with each other?. After having paid tribute to the Banca Intesa for its support, the acevo leader quoted as well the UK Minister for the Third sector, Ed Miliband MP who praised ?the power to work together?. Although the euclid incubation stage was born thanks to French and swedish relationships, and also to Italian active diaspora efforts, the network ambition aims to cover all the European continent.

The UK print
If this project sounds a little bit UK-oriented, it?s not by accident. Matthew Taylor, former Chief Advisor on Political Strategy to the First Minister Tony Blair, emphasized the ideological strength of the Third Sector, as ?a questioning process on the right and on the left?, as a way of mobilizing the citizens themselves on different topics like ?public health, public education?. According to him, ?the limitation of the central State provider is an opportunity to talk about collectivism?. However, the lessons drawn recently by the UK government seemed to illuminate Taylor?s thoughts on the future: ? be careful with the interest of the politicians, avoid to be embraced by them and to loose independence?. His conclusions dealt with the necessity to reach ?citizen?s driven change?, and to find a ?more participative model within democracy?.

?Leadership has to be learnt?
?To get excellence, the third sector, the first in reality in the history, needs to be well governed?. With these words, the swedish touch emblematized by Marianne af Malmborg, from the partnership Ideel ? linking 16 non profit organisations -, put a strong emphasis on the mission of euclid. The motto – learning across borders could help to work for the Europe future ? was stated by all participants whose concern nevertherless was much more on how to design common principles about governance. For istance, the concept of leadership needs still to be defined as far as it sounds for the French, too linked to economics and not enough to empowerment.

Social entrepreneurship : a move forward
Hugues Sibille, vice-President of the Crédit coopératif bank and former higher civil servant, expressed his great support for giving to euclid a strong basis around the concept of social entrepreneurship. The French representatives of the so-called social economy ? a semantic distinction ?, argued about the entrepreneurial soul of the sector. Mary Marsh from a children charity from the UK got the final buzz sentence : ?we are driven to maximize benefits for the society as a whole?. But the social economy is just emerging in some European countries. What is crucial, claimed Stojan Zagorc from Slovenia and member of Vita Europe, is to get knowledge and cooperation. ?We have no ethical banks, no social entreprises … and we have to help governments to create new tools?.

Adding value further
The ways of strengthening connections are of paramount importance to structure euclid and to make the network inclusive. Great expectations came from the assistance during the day. The next stage will be to prepare a general assembly in order to elect a new board and to create a legal entity ?which will be based in the UK. In the meantime, the campaign for membership is open. Jean-Philippe Poulnot, research director for the SCOP Chèque Déjeuner Group and French social economy leader, will assist this building process together with Marianne, Stephen and possibly with new volunteers and founders. Within the framework of the entusiastic exchanges of this forum, Vita Europe journalists network indicated its availability to act as a priviledged media partner.

For further information, please contact Filippo Addarii, www.acevo.org.uk, member of Vita Europe network.