On January 19^th, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Spanish counterpart Predro Sánchez visited Barcelona together for a Franco-Spanish Summit that resulted in the signing of a friendship treaty aimed at strengthening cooperation between their two countries.

The numerous bilateral meetings between ministers that marked this Summit allowed Yolanda Díaz, Spanish Vice President of Labor and Social Economy, and Catherine Colonna, French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, to sign a « Declaration of Intent to cooperate and provide technical assistance in the field of SSE » making the social and solidarity economy a priority at the European level. The two ministries have thus committed to the development of joint actions to support the development of SSE in Europe and internationally, in particular with the Council of the European Union, the OECD, the UN and the ILO.

« A fairer, more resilient, more sustainable world. »

The agreement provides for the implementation of cooperation actions, exchanges of good practices and impact measures, by intensifying « exchanges of experiences of the different actors at the national, regional, local, entrepreneurial and civil society levels in both countries ». No specific budget has been allocated, so achieving these objectives will depend on the availability of resources from each of the signatories.

Emmanuel Macron and Predro Sánchez announced that this new cooperation aims to « promote decent jobs of high quality » and « adequate minimum wages » in Europe. Ultimately, this commitment must fight « against social discrepancies within the European Union » and promote « the construction of a fairer, more resilient, more sustainable world. »

Notable commitment, France and Spain have declared to work jointly for the adoption of the first UN General Assembly resolution on SSE, a project on which many SSE actors have been advocating for several years now, including Pact for Impact. At the European level, this treaty will also take advantage of the Spanish presidency of the EU Council in the second half of this year to have a recommendation on SSE adopted.