(Bucharest, Romania) I am in Romania this week to participate in activities related to the social economy, activities organized in French as part of the Month of Francophonie and the 30th anniversary of Romania’s membership in institutional Francophonie. I share some successes from Quebec that I hope will inspire Romanian communities.
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But first a quick word about French in Romania. Almost 15% of the Romanian population speaks French, that is 3 million people. Romania’s relationship with our language dates back to the Ottoman Empire, through Voltaire and Fénelon, then through French as a diplomatic language taught to the children of ruling families, and finally through an amazing hybrid of French and Romanian literature (Ionesco is a great example) 1. In 2010, 88% of young Romanians studied French for at least four years. In short, we are in a country of acquaintances in Romania.
A land of knowledge, also thanks to the initiatives of the European Union in the field of social economy, an area in which Québec is a world leader. In 2016, this economic sector in Quebec consisted of 220,000 employees (5.3% of the labor force) and 11,200 companies, including 2,760 cooperatives. All in all, the social economy here is one of the most developed in the world2.
Here at Titu Maiorescu University in Bucharest, we are therefore interested in the history of our social integration companies, our credit unions, our housing cooperatives, our cleaning companies, etc. The documentation produced by the Chantier de l’économie sociale is one of the preferred sources for researchers interested in interested in this type of economy, which is still in its infancy in many countries. Finally, our legal and institutional framework for the social economy is also the subject of university studies, especially because it comes from civil society.
socialist economy?
In a former Eastern Bloc country like Romania, one of the main obstacles to the growth of the social economy is the name.
Romanians have paid dearly to be in the communist bloc, and when the words ‘social economy’ are said to them, they mean ‘socialist economy’… and communism is no, they already existed.
For example, when I talk to them about a workers’ cooperative that helped set up the Laiterie de l’Outaouais, they don’t seem too enthusiastic at first. They had cooperatives in all the villages and the failure of the communist economic model was the same here as elsewhere. Even today, the country’s economic difficulties are considerable.
The main interest in our model lies in the fact that social economy companies are directly part of the market economy, they are not an extension of the state.
Although a workers’ cooperative and a consumers’ cooperative own a good portion of the shares in Laiterie de l’Outaouais, the latter faces the market with the same resources and, where appropriate, the same state support as traditional companies. The principle of our companies’ decision-making autonomy vis-à-vis the state or their democratic governance is more appealing than the word “social”.
Formerly communist countries are often mired in unbridled capitalism and must now seek to limit its perverse effects.
The local roots of companies and the reinvestment of profits in their mission, a mission that goes beyond the simple personal accumulation of profits, make the social economy interesting as a different or complementary development model.
Some other examples speak volumes, like that of funeral co-ops that have reduced the price of funerals by 30-40%, or that of home economics co-ops and CPEs that have made it possible to reduce undeclared work while enabling thousands of workers to get better jobs have working conditions. The survival rate of collective enterprises is also convincing: after 10 years it is twice as high as that of traditional companies.
While the words ‘social economy’ evoke some difficult memories for Romanians, they remain appealing. They remind me how far Quebec has come by putting solidarity at the heart of its decisions.
2. Innovation and the social economy at the heart of the Quebec model, Interviews with Benoît Lévesque, by Marie J. Bouchard, Presses de l’Université du Québec, 2021