Presidencies
for the Luxembourg Declaration
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The presidency of the monitoring committee is held for a period of one year, decided by consensus of member states.
The operating rules indicate that the committee will hold an ordinary meeting at least once a year and, up to now, two annual meetings have been held. Extraordinary meetings are also possible at the behest of the presidency or by request in writing, addressed to the committee secretariat, of any of the signatory states.
The following member states have held the presidency:
The constitutive meeting of the monitoring committee took place on March 15, 2017, where the operating rules of the committee were approved.
During the Spanish presidency, the European Conference on Social Economy was also held in Madrid under the title "The social economy, a business model for the future of the European Union", culminating on May 23, 2017 with the so-called Madrid declaration in support of the social economy, signed by 11 member states. The declaration emphasizes the importance of the social economy sector for the European Union, with some 2 million companies employing more than 14.5 million people and accounting for 8% of European gross domestic product.
The second meeting of the monitoring committee was held on November 16, 2017, within the framework of an event organized by the EU Commission, through DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) on the role of the social economy in economic growth and in the generation of quality employment, which took place at the Gothenburg Business School, an event parallel to the EU Social Summit.
The first meeting of the monitoring committee under the Slovenian presidency was held on April 14, 2018, in Sofia, Bulgaria, as a parallel event to a summit held under the Bulgarian presidency of the EU Council.
The city chosen as the European Capital of Social Economy 2018 was Maribor. The activities launched during the Slovenian mandate of the monitoring committee were led by the Technical Secretariat of the President of Slovenia and developed by the National Association for the Social Economy of Slovenia, with a focus on the development of social entrepreneurship.
The first meeting of the monitoring committee under the French presidency took place on April 2, 2019 in Strasbourg, a city chosen as the European Capital of the Social Economy 2019.
Under the French presidency, a great event, called “Pact for Impact”, was organized with the aim of promoting the Social and Solidarity Economy at a global level, on July 15 in Paris. On November 27, 2019, the second meeting of the monitoring committee was held in Strasbourg, together with the European Day of the Social Economy Enterprises promoted by the European Economic and Social Committee.
The first meeting of the Spanish presidency took place on May 28, 2020, held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was chaired by the Labour and Social Economy Minister Yolanda Díaz and attended by representatives of 16 EU member states, European institutions (European Parliament, European Commission), international organizations (OECD, ILO), European organizations (the European Economic and Social Committee) European and national organizations representing the sector (Social Economy Europe, ESS France, CEPES).
At this meeting it was decided, among other issues, that Toledo would be the European capital of Social Economy 2020 and that the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy would prepare a web page on the monitoring committee of the Luxembourg declaration.
Portugal will hold the presidency of the monitoring committee in 2021, within the framework of its rotating presidency of the EU Council during the first semester.
