Mr Irujo's professional career is full of important achievements for the social economy and social and economic development, among which it is important to highlight: 

- Mikel Irujo is the promoter of the social economy S3P. In which the aim is to stimulate cross-border operations of mutuals and cooperatives that can use the entire internal market in order to expand the activities of the social economy through interregional collaborative activities. The partnership intends to address several challenges related to S3 and social economy, to create European value chains of social economy enterprises belonging to different regions of Europe and to improve cooperation between enterprises and other territorial actors. This sector of the Social Economy counts 2 million enterprises, representing 10% of all European enterprises and employs more than 14 million salaried employees (6.5% of the EU’s working population). 

The partnership builds on initiative targeting: existing fragmentation on social economy, implementing interregional social economy financing mechanisms, providing local actors with the necessary skills to generate and develop collaborative projects based on territorial potential,  sharing and exchanging best practices and experiences in the field of public policy to support social enterprises, supporting joint solutions to challenges hindering the development of social economy. 

- Mr. Irujo has also initiated the European Business School of Social Economy - EBSSE project, which aims to bring together the main stakeholders of the Social Economy, such as companies, business training centres, academia and public authorities to make the EBSSE a place for mutual learning and exchange. 

- Mikel also participates as a rapporteur to contribute to the European Commission's Action Plan for the Social Economy, taking on the role of:   

• Making sure that a strong regional and local perspective is included in it, thus taking into account the territorial dimension and the rootedness of the social economy, which is one of the main characteristics. 

• Refer to the possible involvement of the European Committee of the Regions in future dialogues and cooperation on Social Economy with the European Commission and other relevant stakeholders before and after the adoption of the Action Plan. 

• Insist on the local and regional contribution in the development of frameworks conducive to the expansion of social economy and social economy ecosystems and raising awareness on the social economy sector at local and regional level. 

• Make suggestions on how existing EU measures in support of social economy could be better adapted to local realities and also make proposals to ensure that stakeholders at local and regional level are better informed on relevant EU policies and support measures related to the social economy. 

• Address the issue of efficiency in the use of EU funds and make suggestions on how the EU could better support national and regional authorities wishing to use EU funds to the benefit of the social economy and social innovations. 

• Make suggestions on how to respond to the consequences, challenges, and opportunities that the Covid-19 pandemic has created for the social economy sector at the local and regional level. 

• Carry forward the key messages of previous CoR opinions on the important role that local and regional authorities play in reinforcing the social economy. 

Mikel Irujo has stood out throughout his professional career for his commitment to social and economic development and for his pro-European vision. We at EURADA wish him all the best in his new position. 

References  

- Government of Navarra – Spain, available at https://www.navarra.es/es/noticias/2021/02/04/mikel-irujo-toma-posesion-como-nuevo-consejero-de-desarrollo-economico-y-empresarial-del-gobierno-de-navarra 

- Social Economy from Navarra – Spain, available at https://economiasocialnavarra.com/tag/mikel-irujo/ 

- European Comittee of the Regions - available at https://cor.europa.eu/EN/our-work/Pages/OpinionTimeline.aspx?opId=CDR-5860-2020 

- Social Seeds – European Business school of social economy – available at https://www.interregeurope.eu/socialseeds/news/news-article/9445/navarra-to-take-lead-on-socent-business-school/