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Περισσότερα...The centralized nature of fossil fuels and the distributed nature of renewable energy sources;
New jobs in the energy sector
The acceleration of the energy transition and new jobs
The energy communities – energy cooperatives
Low energy costs and local energy self-sufficiency
The energy sector is the most critical in the economy and can lead to the energy war that Europe is currently experiencing, but also the most promising as the prospect of renewable energy sources can liberate us energetically, from the scarcity of fossil fuels, with energy source the abundance of the sun.
The centralized nature of fossil fuels that defined the first and second industrial revolutions is the main cause of the rapid growth in the last two centuries, but also the cause of the global inequality between wealth and poverty. It is clear that energy poverty, in large regions of globalization, also leads to an increase in unemployment, which is not only addressed by vocational training seminars.
On the other hand, the new technologies in energy and the distributed character of renewable energy sources, as a technological possibility, of decentralized production, by local businesses and consumers is coming to change the paradigmatic model and from centralized to make it horizontally participatory. This process in the end means a huge reduction in energy costs for businesses and households, as they generate their own energy for themselves. But according to experts, it will take at least 30 years for the energy transition to reach production from renewable energy sources above 50%, as it is currently between 20% and 30% in Europe.
But the transition is not only in the hands of the financial elites, the big companies of energy producers and traders, but also in the hands of the decentralized societies that can take initiatives of local energy production, from the open sources of access and accelerate the transition processes. The institutional tool in this process is the social cooperatives, (energy communities).
It is about the democratization of energy and at the same time the involvement and employment of larger sections of the population in the entire production process. Securing more jobs.
New job positions
According to a report by the IMF, energy efficiency from a transition to renewable energy sources is projected to increase by about 2% of global GDP and create 30 million new jobs due to the greater labor intensity of renewables than fossil fuels. A fact that is also recognized by other international organizations.
There is a theoretical and practical foundation that the decentralized model of production process that yields more jobs than the centralized model of production. At the expense of global competitiveness while decentralization and local self-sufficiency lends itself to work intensity. This is not in the interest of large profit-making companies that want to keep labor costs down, but in the interests of the wider social strata that seek first and foremost a livelihood income. It also benefits society and the economy as a whole as there are no unemployed members and they are able to consume and in this way contribute to the general well-being.
Decentralized energy production does not mean that one is against robotics and artificial intelligence that save jobs for centralized industrial production, among other things, reducing costs for consumers. It means that it is also desirable to have self-production capabilities in the critical areas of livelihood which are energy, nutrition and health services, to balance the economic system and democratize the distribution of resources.
The self-production of energy is somewhat similar to the process like in the feudal era when everyone, usually a peasant, took care of cutting and transporting from the forest alone the firewood to his house for the energy he needed. At that time, of course, the population of the earth did not exceed one billion. Today with the population that the Earth has, if we were to go back to the feudal era, everything would freeze. However, new technologies also in the field of energy allow us to receive unlimited energy from the sun and distribute it equally for all. The transformation of this energy into electricity and liquid fuels such as hydrogen also creates the additional jobs that are necessary.
What is preventing the acceleration of the energy transition?
Cheap natural gas, the low cost of its production due to the minimal labor costs needed to produce it, and the super profits of the big companies monopolizing its distribution, was the incentive for these companies to invest in natural gas and fossil fuels and the disincentive and not to invest more in renewables. But now that their price has increased tenfold with the energy war and the short-sighted and one-sided investment in fossil fuels, whose only rationale was unbridled speculation, has been revealed, the facts have changed.
It was revealed that the government energy subsidies, which are huge, were not directed sufficiently towards renewables and the distributed energy of small producers and Cooperatives, resulting in the delay of the transition.
Where there are exceptions there are also miraculous results through energy cooperatives. Thousands of electricity and green energy cooperatives are springing up in communities around the world, laying the foundation for a community benefit and sharing of electricity through regional and local distribution networks.
Electricity consumers instead of investing in the stock market with completely uncertain results, invest in energy cooperatives ensuring a very low cost of the energy they consume.
In Germany, Green Energy cooperatives are growing rapidly and contribute to renewable energy sources approaching 30%. Apparently Germany today could have overcome the energy crisis if the supply from renewable sources was closer to 50%. Denmark is at the forefront of renewable energy and co-production and is much less affected by the energy crisis.
The United States, which has a strong tradition of rural electric cooperatives, has set a goal of producing 25% of its members’ electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
Is this enough to avoid the energy crisis? Obviously not as fossil fuel and electricity prices are skyrocketing there as well even though America is considered fossil fuel self sufficient.
Soft forms of energy from the sun and wind are not yet developed to such an extent that they could replace the energy deficit. Experts say it will take at least another decade of transition from fossil fuels to green energy to tackle the problem.
Therefore, the global energy crisis teaches us practically that it is necessary to accelerate the processes of the energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources through the mobilization of businesses and consumers for energy cooperatives to fight energy poverty.
The energy communities – energy cooperatives
Energy communities are exclusive purpose local urban cooperatives through which primarily citizens (either as natural or legal persons) can be active in the energy sector, exploiting clean energy sources. The new institutional framework ensures favorable conditions for the establishment and operation of energy communities, with the aim of strengthening not only individual / family incomes, but also local entrepreneurship, the solidarity economy and the promotion of energy democracy.
The social economy as a system is a necessary condition in order to realize this goal with citizen synergies to ensure a sustainable energy system for all social groups inclusively and to tackle energy poverty.
Municipalities, their legal entities and citizens can participate in these Cooperatives jointly or separately.
The installation of photovoltaics can be done on roofs as well as photovoltaic parks.
From information we gathered for Greece, the investment for each household varies between 2,000 and 3,000 E. and the return benefit is around 15% per year. So capital payback in less than 5 years.
Practically, a related investment can ensure energy self-sufficiency in municipal buildings and schools, but also become a living example to organize citizens in cooperative energy production to save significant resources for each household.
Civil Society, ecological, cultural, consumer and humanitarian organizations can play an important and decisive role in mobilizing citizens as they have the
The mobilization of processes from below for the production of energy from alternative sources is offered for the first time in history as the large multinational companies (oil companies) become a brake on the spread of new technologies of energy sharing and knowledge. They obviously don’t want to lose their super profits from a new cost-minimizing energy industry. Therefore, a political issue arises for local communities to defend the social benefit against those who prevent the diffusion of technological innovations and distributed energy. Energy is too serious a business for the future of society and the Planet due to climate change to be left in the hands of the big multinationals who insist on holding humanity hostage to fossil fuels.
Low energy costs and local energy self-sufficiency
In the long term, the outlook for renewable energy sources remains positive and is characterized by steady growth across all sectors and a reduction in energy costs. Between now and 2040, research and analysis show that:
• Total demand will increase by over 30%.
• By 2050, Renewable Energy Sources will constitute approximately 56% of the total energy potential.
• “Developing” countries will build 3 times more Renewables capacity than “Developed” countries.
• Penetration of Renewable Energy Sources will double reaching 46% of total electricity production.
• The cost of Wind energy will decrease by 32% while that of Solar energy by 48%.
• Solar energy will account for more than 1/3 of the global increase in Energy potential.
A general campaign is needed by civil society organizations and consumer organizations, and cooperatives in collaboration with local government to accelerate participation in energy cooperatives with Tools¨:
One (1) Technical Study which will determine the technical procedures, tasks and methodology of implementing the plan with specific dimensions and measurements, conditions and distribution of the project, for the service of each member. The procedures for the supply of installation materials. The amount of energy that will be produced and distributed to the beneficiaries.
One (1) Manual, based on the exemplary model (PV Park) that will be formed, will function as a tool for the use and dissemination of the practical implementation of the Energy Communities. It will also function as a communication tool of the incentives and advantages that exist for Energy Cooperatives. And finally to function as a mechanism for the implementation and application of the exemplary model, for the creation of businesses by organized consumers, by collectives.
When the financial leverage of the market is objectively absent, as is the case after the prolonged crisis, at least a policy of leveraging inactive resources and social capital is required, as well as synergies with large social collectives and Local Government. This role of leveraging institutional demand can be played by large Consumer organizations, trade unions, ecological and cultural Associations. The distinct and distinguished role of social enterprises supported by social collectives is to transform inactive material and human resources into energy of productivity and economic action.
The Manual and the Technical study will be distributed to all Municipalities that have not yet started relevant procedures and initiatives for this purpose will be supported.
The social impact of this action is expected to be very significant as a pan-European mobilization is necessary.
Footnote: The vigilance of society on the issue of energy is of capital importance. Starting the mental journey from the Promethean fire, reaching electromagnetism and the infinite satellite radio frequencies in our mobiles, we must reflect.
“Energy” in all its forms is a source of life originating from the life-giving Sun. Energy is food and every movement, energy and knowledge. That is why it must be distributed to everyone.Einstein, at the level of physics with his well-known equation E=mc2, proved that everything in nature is energy. Correspondingly, at the level of the economy, energy determines all development. New technologies and forms of energy had a decisive effect on all phases of the first, second and third industrial revolutions.
Livelihood and local employment
The revitalization of Cooperatives
Socially supported agriculture
Supporting local self-sufficiency
The food sector is one of the three main sectors, on which the livelihood of the economically weak depends, in the most necessary goods needed for living. For many also, small agricultural crops and animal husbandry are a supplementary income, supporting the low-wage earners as well as offering additional jobs for the social needs.
For a significant part of society, the minimum wage is barely enough for basic needs and only covers survival, such as energy, food and housing, while it does not cover the needs for education and health. Thus, the participation of these citizens in agricultural or consumer cooperatives can provide additional income or even reduce the cost of living. In addition, it can create opportunities to boost local employment, where economies of scale are needed to benefit smallholder farmers. And this makes it necessary to promote the social economy in the agricultural sector in the form of productive and consumer cooperatives.
More generally, in Europe it is observed that there is a tendency for the revival of cooperatives. And as we emphasized in previous chapters the inactive resources both in the Local Government and in the small landowners. These conditions are challenging for the utilization of inactive resources through cooperatives.
The food crisis and the precision in agricultural products that threatens, among others, Europe, is an additional reason to consider local agro-food self-sufficiency as well as dealing with the effects of increased energy costs and the energy crisis affecting agricultural production.
The revitalization of Cooperatives and the viability of small producers
In Europe, the renaissance of cooperatives in the last decade is a remarkable event for economic trends. The number of cooperative enterprises that operate in Europe, having 123 million members and offering work to 5.4 million people. In fact, in countries such as Germany, Italy, France or Spain, appear to have relatively higher performance, while emerging more stable in periods of crisis.
These are mentioned, among other things, in an opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on “Cooperatives and restructuring”, in which it is characteristically pointed out that “the evidence shows that in times of crisis cooperatives aremore durable and stable than other forms of business and are able to develop initiatives”.
At an organizational institutional level there are over 3,800 large secondary producer associations that have been recognized by national authorities in 25 different member states. Germany, Spain, France and Italy are the four Member States with the most Producer Groups or Associations of Producer Groups. The Commission recognizes the positive effects of Producer Organizations in the primary sector.
More than 50% of recognized producer organizations operate in the fruit and vegetable sector (1,851). Over 100 recognized organisations, active in seven other sectors, milk and milk products (334), olive oil and table olives (254), wine (222), beef (210), cereals (177) and pork (101).
In the UK co-operatives are booming for everyone the sectors and it is typical that after 2009 the turnover them increased by 10% when the British economy contracted by 4.9%. In 2010 the cooperative sector continued to growing by 4.4% compared to growth rate on of the entire UK economy of its class 1.9%.
In Italy, employment in cooperatives increased by 3% in 2010, while total employment in the private sector saw a decline in class of 1%. The crisis in the field of social welfare has a resulting in the multiplication of the number of social cooperatives at a rapid pace. Cooperatives have a larger life expectancy. One third of the cooperatives established between 1970 and 1989 they still operate against one fourth in the case of other businesses.
In the case of Spain, which has been seriously affected by the crisis, the decrease in employment in 2008 and 2009 was of order of 4.5% in the cooperative sector compared to 8% in conventional ones businesses. The European Economic and Social Committee estimates that the cooperatives should be considered in all policies of the EU that contribute to smart, sustainable and inclusive development, noting at the same time that safeguarding is required equal conditions of competition between cooperatives and other forms businesses. He also emphasizes that the programs and funds that are foreseen for the upcoming fiscal period 2014-2020, should be useful tools to support themcooperatives.
Greece has a limited extent of cooperative activity in the context of the social economy. Only 0.4% of the total economy is the participation of agricultural cooperatives. However, there are several qualitatively good examples that show us that, where Cooperative entrepreneurship is properly implemented, it has a catalytic effect on local society and local employment.
To what do cooperatives owe their economic viability?
Cooperatives owe their resilience to the fact that they emphasize cooperative growth, not shareholder profits. That is why 40% of the profits are reinvested in the common cooperative “bank”. The corresponding percentage in conventional businesses is only 5%. The majority of cooperatives are self-financing and do not rely on the state. Cooperatives appear where small and medium enterprises leave due to low profitability whereas cooperatives operate even with very low profit.
Given the conditions of low profitability in the agri-food sector, the only realistic way to achieve economies of scale is to massively increase the degree of cooperation within the cooperative organization, at all levels and in all ways.
Traditionally, we know that cooperatives have been a way of survival for small and medium-sized enterprises, pooling cash to buy raw materials and products at discounts, reducing their operating costs and maintaining common departments with economies of scale. In their development, however, many of them became normal joint-stock profit-making companies and were cut off from their original purpose. Of course, any form of entrepreneurship is acceptable and can contribute to the sustainable well-being of society, but it does not have the same social impact or the same social benefit to be sponsored by the state and the community.
First, the gradual shrinking and withdrawal of the welfare state which increases the needs of social solidarity.
And second is the growing technological unemployment.
When the state began to withdraw, private philanthropy tried to fill the gap by funding non-profit initiatives, but the funds available to communities were small compared to state revenues. Caught between an increased social burden but with reduced revenue to address critical community needs, nonprofits began to look for new business models that could match their primary mission and provide a supplemental source of income. income for the operation and expansion of their services.
The prospect of a paradigmatic model that can reduce marginal cost to near zero makes private enterprise less efficient because its survival depends on profit maximization. Cooperatives are therefore the only business model that will be able to work in a sector where the competitiveness of large monocultures has dramatically reduced the income of small farmers.
The key to small farms therefore lies in investing in social enterprises that do not aim at profit, but offer work and additional income to the local community and, on the other hand, reduced costs of social services.
With this approach we foresee a growing demand for social, energy and consumer cooperatives with the aim of reducing transaction costs and supplementing household incomes.
Socially supported agriculture
Organizational innovation in the agri-food sector is socially supported agriculture. The consortium of producers and consumers.
This means direct cooperation between an organized group of Consumers with one or more producers of food products, where the benefits and losses of Agricultural activities are shared jointly by producers and consumers without Commercial mediation. It is a more advanced stage of cooperation than producer cooperatives.
Organizational communication today between consumers and producers is facilitated by the internet.
“Community Supported Agriculture” was born in Europe and Japan in the 1960s and spread to America and Canada in the mid-90s today it is spreading throughout Europe.
“Socially Supported Agriculture” in process and design is similar to Contract Agriculture but differs in social goal. In Contract Agriculture, producers cooperate with large traders of agricultural products, while in Socially Supported Agriculture, small producers cooperate with consumers.
Today, these communities of Producers and Consumers in the agri-food sector, together with the energy communities are the catalysts for the development of the social economy.
But how does this cooperative relationship of consumer producers work in practice?
In essence, consumers become partners-shareholders in the production process in order to secure the products they consume from specific farms.
Consumers, usually living in cities, pay a fixed amount of money to cover the farmers’ annual expenses. In return, they receive a share of the harvest. Typically, the share consists of a box of fruit and vegetables delivered to their doorstep (or a pre-arranged pick-up point) immediately after they are harvested, resulting in a steady flow of fresh local produce to consumers.
Most of these farms use ecological practices and organic farming methods. As Community Supported Agriculture is a cooperative venture, based on the sharing of risk between consumers and farmers, consumers benefit when the harvest is good and suffer the consequences of a bad harvest. If the crop is damaged by bad weather or some other accident, consumers absorb the losses by reducing the food items they deliver on a weekly basis. This kind of sharing of risk and reward unites consumers and farmers in a common enterprise.
The Internet plays a decisive role in the contact between farmers and consumers, as it enables the distributed and cooperative organization of the food chain. Thus, within a few years, Community Supported Agriculture has expanded internationally from a dragon of pilot consortia to nearly three thousand businesses supplying tens of thousands of consumers.
The “Community Supported Agriculture” model particularly appeals to the younger generation, who are familiar with the idea of collaboration in digital social spaces and extends to the agri-food sector. In addition, the growing appeal of Community Supported Agriculture reflects both growing consumer consciousness and interest in the need to reduce the ecological footprint. By helping to eliminate petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides, carbon dioxide emissions, and packaging, advertising and promotion costs associated with the existing food production and distribution chain, consumers participating in the Community Supported Agriculture model enjoy a more sustainable way of life.
More and more farmers participating in the Community Supported Agriculture model have started to convert their farmhouses into small power plants, using solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy and biomass, thereby reducing energy costs. Consumers also benefit from this saving, as the amount of money they pay as a subscription is reduced.
In all of these new collaborative business practices spanning the entire spectrum of the economy, the horizontal structure trumps the vertical structure of traditional corporate giants that hierarchically organize economic activity.
.As a consequence, the movement of products from door to door creates needs for the employment of human resources, and in fact without particularly technical qualifications.
Supporting local self-sufficiency
The problem of local self-sufficiency in nutrition is imperative after energy and food precision in Europe. At the same time that the globalization of the economy is becoming expensive in basic items such as energy and nutrition. At the same time that the monoculture model of large farms is becoming problematic due to the high cost of energy and transport. These effects also reflect in the agricultural sector with a limitation in employment.
We know that globalization has promoted large monocultures at the expense of what was once local agro-food self-sufficiency.
Dominate markets in terms of competitiveness by finding cheaper labor costs and energy costs. This resulted in the demographic abandonment of the rural area since the industrialization of agriculture required fewer hands.
However, the globalization model of Georgia is currently showing cracks due to the unemployment it causes. But also for the effects on the cultural issue of internal migration from the village to the city (urbanization) causing the demographic desolation of the countryside and consequently the reduction of employment in the rural area where there are many fragmented resources.
After a century of petrochemical-based agriculture that made family farms an endangered species and gave birth to agribusiness giants like Cargill and ADM, a new generation of farmers is tipping the scales by selling their produce directly to consumers .
Indeed, since globalization for a number of reasons is becoming more expensive as “cheap labor costs” increase in developing countries, the question of local self-sufficiency as an alternative attitude to sustainability in the local economy is naturally raised.
The problem cannot be addressed only in the context of the globalization of the market but by reducing production costs at the local level as well.
Thus we observe that in the agri-food sector there is a demand for employment for workers but there is no corresponding supply because the unemployed are in the urban centers and it is difficult to relocate to the in villages without social infrastructure.
How could this problem be addressed through strengthening the collaborative culture?
The economic goal for local self-sufficiency requires a change in the paradigmatic model and institutional and organizational infrastructures for the development of cooperation and the social economy which is a necessary condition for local self-sufficiency.
The issue of material and social infrastructure is of fundamental importance and requires intervention by the State and Local Government.
Social housing programs are needed to relocate young farmers. Allotment of prime lands for social farms with tree crops and forests to cooperatives. Infrastructure for natural parks and agritourism infrastructure.
Empowering energy communities to drastically reduce energy costs.
Water reservoirs to support animal husbandry and agriculture with cheap animal feed with the aim of the sustainability of agricultural and livestock holdings but also the strengthening of local employment.
Finally, there is a need for intervention by the Local Government in the local social economy and a program with an annual budget to strengthen the infrastructure of social entrepreneurship.Footnote: “Today, over a billion people are members of cooperatives – that’s one in seven people on Earth. Over one hundred million people are employed by cooperatives, or 20% more than the workers in multinational companies. The three hundred largest cooperatives have as many members as the tenth most populous country in the world. In the United States and Germany one in four is a member of a cooperative. In Canada, four out of ten residents are members of cooperatives. In India and China four hundred million people belong to cooperatives. In Japan, one in three families is a member of a cooperative, and in France thirty-two million people are members of cooperatives. In the United States there are 29,000 cooperatives, with one hundred and twenty million members, and they have 73,000 business premises throughout the country. J. Rifkin
Complementarity needs in the health system
The Economy of social care (children, the elderly and people with disabilities) and tackling poverty.
From state interventionism to social interventionism and social enterprise.
The health and social care sector is a growing sector of employment that will presumably not be constrained by the “technological unemployment” that exists in other sectors of the market economy. In particular, in the social care sector of preventive health for chronic diseases and elderly care, which needs personal daily care and there are increased needs, as these are not adequately covered by the current health systems and are mainly burdened by families.
And this is despite the fact that it is now recognized by the scientific community that adequate health resources can stimulate economic growth by allowing people to remain active and productive in good health for longer. Given that, the health status of citizens has an impact on their ability to participate in the labor market and their productivity. It is also recognized that investing in the health of the population contributes to the reduction of future costs for treating diseases that could have been prevented and not burden the health system. And this in turn contributes to an effective workforce in the healthcare industry.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought the issue of care to the top of society’s priorities, revealing the central role that public health systems play in guaranteeing citizens’ right to care. In effect, therefore, it shifted the center of gravity from the unnecessary of consumerism to the necessary of the real economy, which is nothing more than nutrition, health and social care needs and unemployment benefits.
According to the forecasts of the Organization of the OECD, public expenditure on health in the major industrialized countries will continue to grow and is expected to reach 9.5% of GDP among member countries in 2060, compared to 6% in 2010.
Other countries such as France and Denmark, followed by the Netherlands, are well above the OECD average and will see their health spending exceed 11% of GDP by 2060, even if they make efforts to check them.
More progressive economists argue that the optimal health policy is for health spending to reach 15% of GDP.
However, even these expenditures, which mainly concern the public and private sectors, are not sufficient to cover the growing needs of care and social care. The private sector obviously does not cover the fact that a third of the population is on the poverty line. This part can only be covered by social health enterprises that operate at a reduced cost.
If we consider that, a low pensioner who has health problems or a disabled person cannot afford the costs of care services from the private social care sector. Nor do public services for child care, child education, disability cover long-term care, and elder care when it comes to low-wage earners who are not 100% covered by their insurance.
This picture certainly differs from country to country within the EU.
Let’s see what the real picture is in a Mediterranean country like Greece in relation to preventive health care.
Today 90% of Greeks do not have access to a family doctor.
The poor pay 20% of disposable income to cover health needs and 2 million postpone or cancel examinations and visits to Doctors due to financial problems and geographical limitations.
100% of Dental care is not covered by social security.
50% of the cost of Medicines is Private Expense expense.
The private expenditure on Hospitals, which for decades and until 2012 was at 8% of Private expenditure, has risen to 39% and together with medicines they cover almost 80% of Private expenditure.
2.5 million Greeks do not do preventive examinations, do not visit Doctors and cut from clothing, Heating and other basic needs if they want to pay for Medicines and Hospitals.
The interruption of the historical continuity of benefits after 2011 has led to 10 years of experimentation at the expense of the majority of citizens.
Given these deficits, in the poorest and over-indebted Mediterranean country, the social economy as an institution in the field of health is a necessary alternative proposal to secure resources from three sources: the public, insurance funds and donations to reduce the cost of social care through institutions, boarding schools and preventive health structures.
Institutions in the field of health have an excellent tradition, which can be generalized with the participation of the insured in health entrepreneurship. With self-management of social care. Thus, the investment of the social economy in the reduction of inequalities in the health sector, in the long term, comes to stimulate the entire economy as they are based on real needs of human living and on the reduction of mediation.
Here, it is worth pointing out that inequalities in the health sector do not only entail a loss of human potential, but also potentially huge economic losses. On the contrary, by ensuring everyone’s access to health services, we contribute to the reduction of poverty and the fight against social exclusion.
While the increase in employment results from the increase in social entrepreneurship.
The Economy of social care and poverty alleviation
The health system, which after the war relied on the welfare state, now needs to strengthen preventive health as well as post-hospital care for a large proportion of citizens who need it and cannot meet the high costs of services and private help at home. The gap that exists in social care is often covered by families, women and girls are asked to cover a significant part of formal care. A function that is partially absent and covered by unpaid and unrecognized care work, within the family – work that is assumed by their family and social environment as a “natural obligation”. The alternative proposal to this problem is social entrepreneurship in the health sector that can work at a reduced cost and bearable for families.
In this sense, the care economy has to do with strengthening the health-welfare systems, but at the same time with the values that are obviously the opposite of the economy of speculation and over-catalization, as well as the economy of over-exploitation of natural resources.
At the level of state interventionism in the economy, we observe after many years, the strengthening by the state of all those affected, not only the workers but also the businesses, and this demolishes the doctrine of self-regulation of the market in the field of health
Today 90% of Greeks do not have access to a family doctor.
The poor pay 20% of disposable income to cover health needs and 2 million postpone or cancel examinations and visits to Doctors due to financial problems and geographical limitations.
100% of Dental care is not covered by social security.
50% of the cost of Medicines is Private Expense expense.
The private expenditure on Hospitals, which for decades and until 2012 was at 8% of Private expenditure, has risen to 39% and together with medicines they cover almost 80% of Private expenditure.
2.5 million Greeks do not do preventive examinations, do not visit Doctors and cut from clothing, Heating and other basic needs if they want to pay for Medicines and Hospitals.
The interruption of the historical continuity of benefits after 2011 has led to 10 years of experimentation at the expense of the majority of citizens.
Given these deficits, in the poorest and over-indebted Mediterranean country, the social economy as an institution in the field of health is a necessary alternative proposal to secure resources from three sources: the public, insurance funds and donations to reduce the cost of social care through institutions, boarding schools and preventive health structures.
Institutions in the field of health have an excellent tradition, which can be generalized with the participation of the insured in health entrepreneurship. With self-management of social care. Thus, the investment of the social economy in the reduction of inequalities in the health sector, in the long term, comes to stimulate the entire economy as they are based on real needs of human living and on the reduction of mediation.
Here, it is worth pointing out that inequalities in the health sector do not only entail a loss of human potential, but also potentially huge economic losses. On the contrary, by ensuring everyone’s access to health services, we contribute to the reduction of poverty and the fight against social exclusion. While the increase in employment results from the increase in social entrepreneurship.
The Economy of social care and poverty alleviation
The health system, which after the war relied on the welfare state, now needs to strengthen preventive health as well as post-hospital care for a large proportion of citizens who need it and cannot meet the high costs of services and private help at home. The gap that exists in social care is often covered by families, women and girls are asked to cover a significant part of formal care. A function that is partially absent and covered by unpaid and unrecognized care work, within the family – work that is assumed by their family and social environment as a “natural obligation”. The alternative proposal to this problem is social entrepreneurship in the health sector that can work at a reduced cost and bearable for families.
In this sense, the care economy has to do with strengthening the health-welfare systems, but at the same time with the values that are obviously the opposite of the economy of speculation and over-catalization, as well as the economy of over-exploitation of natural resources.
At the level of state interventionism in the economy, we observe after many years, the strengthening by the state of all those affected, not only the workers but also the businesses, and this demolishes the doctrine of self-regulation of the market in the field of health.
At an international level, the state is called upon to save the economy and businesses. The 2 trillion granted by the American government to deal with the economic effects of the pandemic and the approximately 1 trillion from the EU and the development fund show the size of the state intervention that is necessary to get the economy moving forward again after the pandemic.
The essential thing about state interventionism is that the orientation changes. The state undertakes a mission that the market economy cannot naturally undertake. It is obvious that only the state can redistribute resources beyond the basic needs of the real economy and social entrepreneurship in health.
From state interventionism to social interventionism and social enterprise
We are in a time when the state, after the pandemic and in a critical period, is taking precedence over the private economy and the banks. Many are talking about a new Marshall Plan in social care. The governments that gave primacy to market forces and in the field of health are now obliged to take on a corrective role, in the vortex of an inexorable historical necessity for economic interventionism. In fact the state as an institution is somehow forced to increase health spending, while the private health sector is weakened as it has high costs for many. On the contrary, the problem that existed with high-cost statism, from bureaucracy and parasitism, is now being dealt with technocratically, with the reduction in the cost of running the state thanks to the possibility that comes from the digitization of the state and technological developments. These are effects that, despite the economic crisis, strengthen democracy in the allocation of resources and human rights.
The internet can be an ally for patient-directed and patient-controlled health services. First, they share information and medical data that is necessary to manage health problems. Creating common spaces and platforms to provide encouragement and help to one another. To spearhead pressure groups and push Governments, insurance companies and the medical community to rethink established medical views and procedures in every sector of the healthcare space and modernize services.
Today it is a fact that, worldwide, there are many websites and social media platforms where millions of people connect, support and help each other to promote advances in Medicine and public health. Communities of the chronically ill, communities of the elderly, disabled, etc.
These communities collect resources for scientific research, but also for social health enterprises, which expand the front of dealing with health problems. The great advantages of this process are that they constitute a social capital that mobilizes and mobilizes resources for greater speed in addressing life-saving health problems. Thus, social interventionism and social enterprise in the health sector offer two creative effects. Greater expansion and efficiency in the health system and expansion in this area of employment.
The intervention of the local self-government in the social economy, with resources and infrastructure, is decisive in its development and especially in the creation of local employment. By analogy with state intervention in the private sector when it is in economic crisis and high unemployment.
And this happens in practice where the social economy is applied in the field of local self-government as it contributes with measurable results in dealing with unemployment and the impoverishment of the population.
There are Municipalities with excellent examples of results that we can refer to such as, the municipality of Madrid and the municipality of Barcelona which are run by two female mayors Manuela Carmena, in Madrid and Ada Colau in Barcelona. Let’s note that there are also smaller municipalities with a specific policy agenda for the social economy.
The municipal authority of Madrid instituted the Council of Solidarity Social and Collaborative Economy, in which participate the Regional Federation of collectives from the neighborhoods of the Spanish capital and the European network of fight against poverty and social exclusion actions that strengthened local employment.
The municipal authority of Barcelona has also institutionalized the solidarity economy as one of the political axes of the local government, with the protection of social housing and the creation of a local currency at the forefront.
Also, in a number of municipalities in Europe, Spain, Belgium, Denmark and Germany, citizens who are local communities and local governments have set up over 2,000 energy cooperatives. Other smaller municipalities have developed actions in the health and social care sector with excellent results. While it is estimated that 2000 energy cooperatives exist and operate throughout Europe. But also important social enterprises in the health sector that are facilitated by the Local Government.
We could also refer to hundreds of successful examples in the European area, which certify the dynamics of the social economy when supported by local collective initiatives. But our subject is not the individual successful examples of which there are indeed many. The issue that concerns us is the phenomenon of the social economy with universal effect, in dealing with unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. This is because although the list of good examples is long, this does not mean that the social economy is on the agenda of the majority of local government bodies. local government. This is also the reason why a roadmap for the development of synergies and capabilities of local self-government with social enterprises is necessary.
The European Framework of involvement of local government social economy.
In the European context of the social economy already, since the beginning of the 1990s, Local Self-Government together with civil society organizations are considered important actors and factors of the development policy of the developed countries of the European Union, which is also specialized in similar European Financial programs. Something similar applies (without being shown, of course) in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, etc. While at the level of the European Union, the European Commission has recognized the role that synergies between OTAs and civil society organizations can play by promoting appropriate cooperation policies.
However, the institutional environment for the creation of social enterprises presents deficiencies, as it is not part of the general logic of the private sector of the economy. In any case, the implementation of the Social Economy in practice is not only a question of the central Government, but mainly a question of the Local Self-Government, due to proximity to the social base, but also due to the need to supplement the services provided to the Local Society. Municipalities at the present time can start their creative experience in the social economy from the energy sector.
From direct self-production and self-consumption to reduce the cost of energy in each municipality, at the same time setting an example for households to create energy communities in turn. With this experience of reducing the cost of essential services as a guide, they can be transferred to other areas of the social economy, such as strengthening local food self-sufficiency and health and social care services.
Inactive human and material resources in local communities
One of the main causes of the impoverishment of the population and unemployment, as well as the inadequacy of health and social care services, are the inactive human and material resources that are not exploited locally by the private and public sectors. Such unused spaces (school lands, public buildings, forests ) and on the other hand inactive human resources, high youth unemployment, and great needs for social services are the contradictions that can be solved by the social economy that emphasizes livelihood and not profiteering.
In other words, there are largely inactive material and human resources which private entrepreneurship has no interest in developing nor the public sector in mobilizing. Taking into account, of course, that the resources of the welfare state are not sufficient to cover all the growing welfare and social care needs.
And this happens given that, the increasing taxation on which the welfare state is based has reached the highest limits, which is suffocating small businesses resulting in the inability to cover the ever-increasing social needs. On the other hand, increasing unemployment due to technological developments is a cause of economic and social exclusion, creating a situation that cannot be dealt with over time by the welfare state alone.
The increasing supply of products does not cause the corresponding demand from consumers as wages and incomes are limited.
Thus, the inactivity of resources at the level of covering basic needs of food, shelter and social care is one of the main causes of the problem of stagnation of economic activity. The state and the market cannot cover all the needs of society. The complementarity of the social economy, through the rational approach of exploiting inactive resources by social enterprises, can certainly fill the gap and would benefit both the public and private sectors, given the expansion of employment and consumption . Precisely because complementarity will further have positive effects on the level of mass consumption and also on the expansion of the tax base. Thus claiming the reduced cost of transactions arises the need for the development of the social economy.
Many admit that the policy of benefits to people who have the ability to work is not the right social solution. The generally accepted right policy is interventionism to create new jobs. Therefore, the desired goal should always be, in relation to the appropriate incentives, the strengthening of entrepreneurship that expands employment. And this is what social enterprises can achieve based on reduced transaction costs.
Subsidies from the European Social Fund can be given to cover a part of the labor costs of employees, in social enterprises as leverage for the mobilization of inactive human resources.
This should be the request and the request to every government from the side of the Local Government, but also from the organizations of the Civil Society with the aim of strengthening the social enterprises.
The synergies of local government social enterprises and “Social Development Partnerships”
The local government owns common areas, as we mentioned elsewhere. It owns municipal lands, Mountains, forests, rivers, seashores, squares and buildings. These are material resources that objectively belong to the citizens. These resources can only be utilized to a limited extent with municipal enterprises, while it is possible to utilize them on a larger scale through synergies between municipal enterprises and social enterprises.
First of all, in the energy sector, through energy communities (Energy cooperatives) it can proceed on a large scale by utilizing new technologies, for renewable energy sources, drastically reducing up to 70% the cost of electricity in every local community, business and household .
In the area of agri-food local self-sufficiency, providing land and infrastructure support to social agricultural cooperatives can improve local income and local self-sufficiency.
In the health-social care sector, creating infrastructures for social enterprises Health and social care, strengthening preventive health, social care and combating poverty.
In the environment sector, alongside eco-protection, to utilize the natural environment. with green entrepreneurship in forest and ecosystem management.
In the field of internet and digital work, strengthening initiatives for Digital Citizen Service Advisory Centers, with the aim of supporting new social enterprises.
In the social housing sector, offering land and housing infrastructure to housing cooperatives.
In the field of cultural entrepreneurship where there is a tradition of intervention by the Local Government. To cultural parks of leisure and entertainment in the context of social entrepreneurship.
Such an approach at the level of local government requires in principle to have a political agenda of the social economy. Specific funds in the annual budget and recording of available resources for social entrepreneurship.
Creation of TA interventions Agenda
Recording and planning of utilization of inactive resources
Collaborative solidarity networks
Participatory processes of gathering social and intellectual capital.
Knowledge management and dissemination structures.
Consulting-mentoring services
Based on a local vision and development plan of the social economy, it is necessary to inventory the inactive resources and needs in each Municipality. So that the available material infrastructures are known in the local community and that this works as a diagnostic tool for Municipal Councils and other local bodies. In order to take initiatives to exploit the comparative advantages of the region.
Another condition for the development of the social economy in local government is the municipal social economy networks at the National and European level, so that the initiatives can be institutionally supported.
The complex task of mobilizing human resources and networking social enterprises from all sides – citizens, consumers, professionals, producers, social agencies of Local Government needs to be served by a system of networking and organization. Therefore, we would say that we are dealing with an open call to local collectives to participate in social entrepreneurship with the support of the Local Government.
There are thousands of civil society organizations in every country that offer practical help to the homeless, drug addicts, immigrants, the elderly, the disabled and various vulnerable social groups. But without often having a local plan that will increase the possibilities. However, to the extent that the social economy is on the agenda of the Local Government, more human and material resources can be mobilized.
And this objectively can only be done through the structures of the social economy and social entrepreneurship as this form of entrepreneurship ensures reduced production costs and reduced transaction costs. Finally, reduced costs are the foundation for sustainability in areas that cannot be met by private entrepreneurship and wage labor.
In conclusion, municipal interventionism, to support social enterprises, can reduce the cost of public services, create local employment where the state and the market fail, reduce transaction costs and ensure the sustainability of services where there is no other way out. . Based on this institutional framework and the synergy with Local Government, Civil Society organizations can acquire a more dynamic role where they become, at least at the national level, an equal interlocutor in the social dialogue, regarding the distribution of resources and in particular the European Social Fund. The ultimate goal is to boost the social income and the so-called “social wage” of citizens with benefits in services as a counterbalance in an era of declining demand for wage labor and precision, in basic livelihood goods.