President Emmanuel Macron and other government members met with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his cohort for a one-day summit in Barcelona on Thursday. Like the cooperation treaties France already concluded with Germany and Italy, the two leaders agreed to a friendship agreement that aims to reinforce cooperation on defence, migration and justice matters, among others.The summit meeting also allowed France’s Secretary of State for Social Economy Marlène Schiappa, the country’s Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, and Spanish Labour and Social Economy Minister Yolanda Diaz to sign an agreement that aims to promote actors in the so-called “social and solidarity economy and their financing tools”.
According to the agreement, France and Spain say they will commit to supporting joint initiatives and texts for the development of SSE across European and international bodies like the Council of the EU, the OECD, the UN and the International Labour Organisation, ILO. Sharing of good practices, training activities and travel will be organised jointly, always with the aim of promoting the development of SSE in both countries, but also “in the Euro-Mediterranean context”. The two sides will also aim to intensify the exchange of experiences between “the different actors at national, regional, local, entrepreneurial and civil society levels”. In a joint statement, Macron and Sanchez also said that SSE must contribute to improving skills, and the working conditions of employees, and promote decent, high-quality jobs.
France, Spain want ‘social entrepreneurship’ to become an EU priority
