Marlène Schiappa, France’s Secretary of State for SSE, speaks at the Mont Blanc Meetings on 19 October in Cartagena, Colombia. 

The 10th edition of the Mont Blanc Meetings took place for the first time on the American continent from 18th to 19th October 2022 at the Cartagena de Indias Convention Centre in Colombia. The main leaders of the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) in the world as well as delegates from the 4 continents were gathered on this occasion. The event was organised by ESS Forum International, and brought together 31 SSE entities, companies, organisations and stakeholders to reflect and strategise on the promotion and development of SSE at all levels of governance. The general theme of the event was « Social and Solidarity Economy, from local to international solutions in a changing world » and the 8 sub-themes chosen and the six self-managed sessions made this edition an important step for the promotion of Social and Solidarity Economy in Colombia, on the American continent and on the international scale.

The French Secretary of State in charge of SSE, Marlène Schiappa, was able to speak by video conference at the closing ceremony of the event, in order to give her support to the initiatives that are working towards greater recognition of SSE at the international level.

She began by praising the involvement of the actors during the event and congratulating ESS Forum International for the organisation of the event and the work carried out. She also recalled and thanked the European Commission for the adoption of the SSE Action Plan, the OECD Recommendation on SSE and social innovation and the ILO Resolution on decent work and SSE.

This intervention was also an opportunity to recall the major challenges of SSE at international level. Indeed, Marlène Schiappa insisted on the importance of building a collective and sustainable model based on the economy of cooperation rather than the economy of competition thanks to SSE.

Beyond being a vision of the economy, I believe that the SSE is a global vision of society, of humanity and that it is up to us to take it to the international level (…)

She also insisted on the need to go further at the diplomatic level to involve a maximum number of governments and civil society actors, particularly in the draft resolution on SSE at the UN.

In this perspective, the Secretary of State recalled France’s leading role on SSE, particularly through the mobilisation of civil society. Welcoming the work carried out by the Pact for Impact alliance on the draft resolution, Marlène Schiappa insisted on the need to strengthen the alliance and to amplify the global dynamic by taking advantage of the momentum on the subject. Indeed, she stressed the need to ensure that France contributes strongly to this SSE diplomacy and plays its full role in the search for « solidarity, social and sustainable impact ».

France strongly believes that the combination of SSE practices, principles and values is a driver of economic and social progress.

This intervention was closed by a call to collectively and globally carry an ambitious definition of SSE and work towards the adoption of the draft Resolution at the UN in March 2023.

Let’s work together so that the SSE changes scale and that our successes and efforts inspire tomorrow’s.