The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, presented this Friday a new PERTE (Strategic Projects for Economic Recovery and Transformation), on this occasion the one for the social economy and the care sectorwhich will be equipped with €800 million and that will be approved next Tuesday by the Council of Ministers.
The public investment, coming from the European ‘Next Generation’ funds, will involve 12 ministries, so it is a “transversal commitment”, which has a double objective: on the one hand, “to develop the full potential of the social economy “, which is the one made up of companies that, associate and cooperative, are intended for the production, distribution, circulation and consumption of goods and services; and on the other, “strengthen the services in the field of care.
According to Sánchez, the pandemic has highlighted “the importance” of caring for minors, elderly and dependents, but also the “vulnerabilities” of the sector. To correct its deficits, the Ministry of Social Rights is embarking on a negotiation with the communities, employers and unions aimed at transforming the sector of residences and that these spaces are smaller, more welcoming and have more staff. Likewise, the Ministry of Equality has launched the Corresponsables Plan, a seed policy aimed at facilitating conciliation and care of minors and which represents the first step towards the state care system that the Government wants to create, similar to the system of dependence.
lines of action
In addition to these two projects already underway, PERTE is expected to promote the training and qualification of workers from the care sector; promote projects of collaborative housing and improve patient care minors in charge of administrationsas detailed by the President of the Government.
Regarding the social economy, public investment will be used primarily to facilitate the conversion of companies in crisis into cooperatives or other formulas that allow the survival of the activity and the maintenance of jobs and to improve competitiveness and cooperation between SMEs of the third sector.
43,000 companies
“Oddly enough, the third sector is the 10% of the GDP -and tourism 12%-, employs 2.5 million people and is made up of more than 43,000 companies”, highlighted the Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, also at the presentation ceremony. In this context , has highlighted that it is an economy “that moves away from the conventional, it does not compete, it is horizontal, inclusive, cooperative, feministclose to the local and environmentally fair”. “With this PERTE, we are democratizing the economy”, he concluded.
In turn, Juan Antonio Pedreño, president of the Spanish Business Confederation of the Social Economy (CEPES) has pointed out that PERTE “is going to allow the structural changes for the sector to consolidate and grow” and turn Spain “into a reference country in an exciting moment.”