A summary of the current status of SSE entities in Greece 2023

 

*Stelios Katomeris 

 

A summary of the current status of SSE entities in Greece 2023

Twelve years after the institutionalization of the SE sector in Greece, the social goals of its organizations have not been achieved, while most of them are not financially viable. The two laws 4019/2011 and 4430/2016 were not implemented or their implementation was defective and fragmented, in particular the articles that provided for support for the start-up and sustainable operation of SSE bodies.

According to a published report from Ministry of Labour (2020), approximately 1,800 Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) entities had been subscribed in Greek SSE registry. The majority from those almost 95%, are Social Cooperative limited liability Enterprises (Koin.S.Ep and Koi.S.P.E) as well as the Workers’ Cooperatives, though the rest is numerically represented by various non-profit volunteer bodies, e.g. Civil Non-Profit Associations (AmKE) and various foundations or associations (Law 4430/2016). As overviewed in a relevant field research and a qualitative study carried out in 2019 (S. Katomeris, 2022)^[1], Koin.S.Ep and Koi.S.P.E, in particular, are established and operate with a view to the labour and social integration of their vulnerable members (persons with moving, sensory and mental disabilities) and/or special groups (long-term unemployed, single-parent families, middle-aged and young unemployed persons, abused persons, etc.). 

As for their financial results in particular, the aforementioned report points out that SSE entities appear to be weak, with poor labour integration results (2020:67-8). According to same report, in the fiscal year 2018, just 643 entities of the registered ones were financially active. It was presented that in that year, over half (56.9%) of the total active entities, i.e. 366 out of 643, declared zero turnover or very low financial results (0 to €10,000), while only 14% (92 of them) declared a turnover exceeding €50,000^[2]. The total turnover of the sector in fiscal year 2018 seemed to remain as low as € 33.805.518 barely approaches the 0,016% of the Greek GDP. It is noticeable that despite the adoption of two laws since 2011, the majority of SSE entities are facing operational and viability problems, in contrast to the progress achieved by the Social Enterprises in the rest of Europe. (Table 1).

 

Table 1
Financial Achievements 2018	Entities		Year 2018
Active entities’ per statutory type	Nr	%	Turnover €	%
SCEs for Collective and Social Interest	579	90,0	13,054.111	38.6
SCEs for Vulnerable Groups’ work Integration	13	2,00	599,184	1.77
SCEs for Disadvantage Groups’ work Integration	4	1,00	42,783	0.1
SCEs Workers (employees) Cooperatives	10	0,60	621,322	1.83
SCEs Mentally Vulnerable Groups Integration	18	2,80	6,976,418	20
Total Social Cooperative Enterprises	624	97	21,290,818	62.97
No Profit Civil Entities Art. 741 Civil Code	12	1,86	11,465,083	33.91
Urban Cooperatives L. 1667/1986	4	0,62	995,381	2.94
Other entities (Agriculture coops, Institutions)	1	0,15	-
Various Clubs (art 78 Civil Code)	2	0,30	51,236	0.1
Total others SSE Entities	19	13	12,511,700	37
General Total	643	100	33,805,518	100

Source: SSE Ministry of labour 2020

 

The most recent (March 2023) registration records for SSE bodies by the Ministry of Labor discloses that there is not significant growth, while also its economic and social efficiency is not expected to have changed for the better. Specifically, there are 1,839 registered organizations and 93% of them are Social Cooperative Enterprises while the remaining 7% are non-profit and voluntary organizations (Table 2).

 

Table 2
Entities’ statutory type	Per category	% of general total
SCEs for Collective and Social Interest	1606	87.33
SCEs for Vulnerable Groups’ work Integration	37	2.00
SCEs for Disadvantage Groups’ work Integration	19	1.00
SCEs Workers (employees) Cooperatives	21	1.14
SCEs for Mentally Vulnerable Groups Integration	30	1.63
Total Social Cooperative Enterprises	1713	93.14
No Profit Civil Entities Art. 741 Civil Code	85	4.62
Urban Cooperatives L. 1667/1986	8	0.43
Other entities (Agriculture coops, Institutions)	9	0.48
Various Clubs (art 78 Civil Code)	24	1.3
Total other SSE Entities	126	6,85
General Total	1839	100

Source: SSE Ministry of labour (SSE registry 2023)

The professional identity of the SSE bodies, summarized in services of all kinds (90%), while the remaining 10% is divided into manufacturing (6%), the primary sector (3.5%) and energy (0.5%) (Table 3). The direction of SSE entities in services hides in a way their financial inadequacy and their impossibility of investing in fixed assets and machinery due to low initial capital.

 

Table 3
Business type	Greece
Services	81.29
Commerce	8.82
Processing – Manufacturing	5.97
Agriculture	3.58
Energy	0.34
Σύνολο	100.00

Source: SSE Ministry of labour (SSE registry 2023)

However, in the case of Social Cooperatives of Limited Liability it is evident according to the published data that the average initial capital is very weak and varies of ~€ 200 with the exception of the 21 worker cooperatives which raise an average of € 876 initial capital although also very low for a sustainable start. The bodies consist of small-member schemes, most of them bordering on the minimum requirements of the law for their establishment (Table 4).

 

Table 4
Initial capital per entity	Total Greece
Entities’ statutory type	Share € avg	Members avg
SCEs for Collective and Social Interest	226	7
SCEs for Vulnerable Groups’ work Integration	139	11
SCEs for Disadvantage Groups’ work Integration	200	9
SCEs Workers (employees) Cooperatives	876	5

Source: SSE Ministry of labour (SSE registry 2023)

In conclusion, there is a lag in the operation of the institutional framework due to the dysfunctionality of the recent law and in some cases the non-observance and implementation of the provisions, especially in very important articles for the operation of the SSE bodies. The support arrangements of SSE bodies as provided for in Law 4430/16 were not implemented. For example: 1) article 6 on programmatic contracts with public bodies and OTAs, while 2) the establishment of a Social Economy fund (art. 10), 3) the establishment of a National Committee (art. 12) and 4) the establishment of a coordinating committee for the Social and Solidarity Economy (art. 13) ^[3].

The new political governance of July 2019 was completely indifferent to the course of the sector and made its operation even more difficult since not only did it not solve the aforementioned problems but with the decision to downgrade the special Secretariat of SSE in a SSE Direction, further worsened its course (Strategic Plan, Katomeris, S. Tsilikis, X., 2022)^[4].

The often met obstacles the SSE entities face to their sustainable operation are the law 4430/2016 implementation inconsistency. Thus, the course of SSE in Greece worsens as law provisions have not been materialized since its passing in 2016 until today. The most important delinquencies are described below: 

·       The Law 4430/2016 contains contradictions and ambiguities across the whole legislative text, while the 3rd chapter "Supportive measures" important for the viability of SSE bodies, is not implemented by public and local – governments (LGs).

·       In all relevant articles of synergy of the LGs and the public sector with the SSE entities the "possibility" is mentioned and not the obligation (e.g. quotas), so the indifference of the application of the law prevails.

·       There is lack of dissemination actions planned for local government officials and public organizations. Thus the Social Economy remains a ballast of various interpretations and distorted beliefs.

·       No definition for "Social impact" and how the collective and social benefit is generated by the activity of Social and Solidarity Economy entities. No social impact measurement standards have been implemented yet.

According to the request come from grassroots of SSE sector, described widely on the study "S.S.E. Strategic Plan: A request from Greek Social Enterprises'' (Katomeris, Tsilikis, 2022)[5], there are eight pillars proposed by the sector to designate the obstacles of SSE effective track. Precisely the bodies asked: 1) Dissemination of philosophy and importance of SSE, 2) Amendment of the legal framework for the SSE and rewording parts of paragraphs of laws 4430/2016 and 4412/2016, 3) Founding of a central financial support body of the SSE sector, 4) Institutional planning and operation of an educational framework for SSE, 5) Re-publication of the call for the establishment of the Support Centers for SSE, 6) SSE administrative reorganisation, 7) Measuring SSE Social Impact and 8) Design of targeted employment policies for SSE entities

                                                                         *Dr Stelios katomeris holds PhD in Social Economy

References:

[1] Katomeris. S. (2019), Social economy and employment: The case of Greece in the period of crisis, https://www.didaktorika.gr/eadd/handle/10442/51993 

[2] 2019-2020 Annual SSE Report: https://kalo.gov.gr/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/ΕΤΗΣΙΑ-ΕΚΘΕΣΗ-ΚΑΛΟ-2019-2020-TELIKO-docx.pdf

[3] Katomeris, S (2023), Social Economy and Employment, https://republic.gr/futureofwork/social-economy-and-employment-2/?fbclid=IwAR01SwZ9Z39IO7Mqdwd4aHhVsX0eGwILvmeFiH2fkgyqu5KFIHltAEVgYC0#_ftn1

[4] Katomeris, S. Tsilikis, C. 2022, Strategic Plan for Social Economy in Greece. A request from Social Enterprises https://thesocialeconomyreview.blogspot.com/2022/07/2022.html

[5] Katomeris, S., Tsilikis C. (2022) S.S.E. Strategic Plan: A request from Greek Social Enterprises'' https://www.socialeconomy.eu.org/2022/04/22/sse-strategic-plan-2022-a-request-from-greek-social-economy-enterprises/