The TecnoCampus-UPF associate professor and member of the Chair of Social Economy, Miguel Guillén Burguillos, attended the 1st CIRIEC-Spain Legal Congress held at the University of Córdoba between June 15 and 16.
The communication presented by the professor was entitled “Public contracting of cooperatives by the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017-2021)”.
“The congress was very well organized and with high-quality and prestigious speakers. On a personal level, the congress was very enriching and I had the opportunity to listen to specialists in the very important legal field”, comments Miguel Guillén.
And he adds: “The symposium served to work on those novelties or issues that currently exist in the Social Economy that are linked to law both in the Spanish and international spheres.”
“The main objective of the work is whether there is a political will to promote cooperativism on the part of the Generalitat de Catalunya and if that translates into the moment of carrying out public contracts by the public administration”, explains Professor Guillén.
The research carried out by Miguel Guillén studies the number and amount of contracts that cooperatives have signed with the Generalitat de Catalunya between 2017 and 2021.
“The hypothesis of my work is that if the Catalan cooperatives are generating around 2.2% of the gross domestic product of Catalonia, it is expected that the public administration signs a proportion of public contracts, both greater and lesser, related to this impact on the economy”, states the member of the Chair of Social Economy.
“In addition, it must be taken into account that the Catalan public administration has made a commitment to cooperativism with projects such as the Xarxa d’Ateneus Cooperatius or Projectes Singulars programs.”
The results obtained by Professor Guillén after analyzing the recruitment data from the Catalan administration show that in none of the five years studied did it approach 2.2%.
“According to the data, neither year does contracting reach 2%, neither in the larger contracting —that which exceeds €40,000— nor in the minor contracting —that which is less than €40,000—. If we do an average of the five years combining the data of both types of contracting, it does not exceed 0.66% of the total amount of the contracts signed by the Generalitat de Catalunya”, points out the professor.
The conclusion of the study is that, although there is the political will on the part of the Generalitat to promote cooperatives, the hiring by the Catalan public administration is very far from what it generates in the GDP of Catalonia.
“Looking to the future, one of my next investigations will be to study the reason for this low hiring ratio, if it is the result of legislation that makes it difficult for cooperatives to access or the difficulty of competing against large private companies,” says Guillén. .
One of the main conclusions of Professor Guillén’s work is that we are currently in a national and international context favorable to the Social Economy and cooperatives.
“The Generalitat de Catalunya has made a political commitment to promote cooperatives through different programs such as the Xarxa d’Ateneus Cooperatius or Projectes Singulars. Around 65 million euros have been invested between both programs and around 6,800 jobs have been created”, says the TecnoCampus-UPF associate professor.
In his research, he also points out the importance that the Social Economy and cooperatives can have in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2030 of the United Nations Organization.
“Cooperatives can help achieve the UN SDGs by 2030, especially goal number 8, which consists of promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full employment and decent work. These are the basic pillars of the operation of this type of Social Economy organizations”, defends Guillén
“Cooperatives have to continue growing and offering quality products and services because in this way they will get consumers to see that they offer added value. I think they have a very promising future as long as they are organized in such a way that they can influence political powers and are capable of innovating”, concludes the associate professor and member of the TecnoCam-pus-UPF Social Economy Chair, Miguel Guillén.
