The electoral campaign is already underway and, as we can see, one of the wishes is to position social rights and the right to care as the third pillar of the welfare state.
From many of the organizations of the Third Sector and the Social Economy (first, second or third level) we have been demanding this for some time, because we understand that it would be the way to make effective fundamental rights for citizens. Therefore, music sounds good to us and we like it. However, in order to make this statement a reality, we are at a time when it will be necessary to address social transformations of great importance because the challenges are many and are of great importance!
However, in recent years we have seen how the unfinished legislatures have made it difficult or, directly, impossible to carry out these transformations (such as those that were listed in instruments such as the Strategic Plan for Social Services or the Improvement Plan for the Care for Children and Adolescents), as well as making effective key initiatives for the sector and to accompany people in vulnerable situations such as the proposal for the Third Sector Law, aimed at dealing with and eradicating situations of homelessness, the proposal of Law on the elderly, the strategy to eradicate poverty in childhood or the mental health pact, among many other issues (the sector has listed them too many!).
In addition, the lack of new budgets and the sudden end of the legislature has a direct consequence for organizations and workers in the third sector. We lose the possibility of finalizing the review of the Social Services Portfolio, of the associated cost scandal and of moving towards equalizing the wages of female workers in the sector with those of the public service.
Also, from Suara Cooperativa we see with concern that subsidies such as those of the Singular projects, aimed at financing cooperative projects and the social economy, will be stopped and, even depending on the composition of the new government, not resumed. Cooperatives and the social economy are oriented towards social transformation to guarantee a more equitable, egalitarian and more sustainable society that guarantees that the Sustainable Development Goals are achieved. Therefore, through this subsidy, not only have cooperative projects been promoted, but these have had a transformative power for all citizens.
In this sense, we are now awaiting the configuration of a new government that will determine whether it wants to continue working on these projects or leave them parked in a drawer. And that he undertakes (or not) to make these transformations that are necessary to put the Care System or Social Rights as the third pillar of the Welfare State.
In this context, from Suara Cooperativa, which has been working for more than 40 years to support people in situations of vulnerability or at risk of social exclusion, we see with concern how political instability and the logic of parties ends up harming the deployment of 'these essential measures to improve the lives of many people.
To be able to make fundamental transformations that position social rights as this third pillar of the welfare state requires time and resources. And we also need pacts that transcend partisan logic and put people at the center; put citizenship and the guarantee of their social and fundamental rights at the center. For this reason, now, with the political campaign underway, we are calling on the political parties to commit to what, in the future legislature, they will work to seal long-term consensus and transversal pacts. As we have already said, social and care rights require broad consensus to be able to articulate long-term measures. The efficiency and ability to act in these areas affect groups of people at risk and the public in general: the progress of the country cannot leave anyone behind.
Also, the struggle to reverse or eradicate situations of vulnerability requires a long view, stable commitments over time and close collaboration between all agents. None of the parties involved in such important struggles as child poverty, energy vulnerability or the eradication of homelessness should find insurmountable obstacles to achieving great country agreements, which lay the foundations for a stable system of social protection and so that social action organizations and workers have a legal framework to operate and decent working conditions. The willingness and commitment on the part of the sector is there without any doubt; because a stable framework allows us to define long-term strategies. We need to optimize resources, improve processes, apply innovation to offer the best possible service to people at risk of social exclusion; but, for this, we also need political stability, security and compromises.
Elisenda Xifre
Director Council of Suara Cooperativa, General strategic director of Intermedia Foundation and President of Fedaia
