Social Europe, employee financial participation (EFP) and European ESOP
Already from the start of European integration, there has been a sound commitment to provide the employees with the right to be involved in decision-making. The process has led to the adoption of a number of European directives supplementing and enhancing employee involvement on a national level.
Resolution of the European Parliament “The role of employee financial participation in creating jobs and reactivating the unemployed” (P8_TA(2018)0400) calls on the European Commission and member states to further develop, promote and support EFP models as does “Social Economy Action Plan” (2021) and
several other recent opinions and recommendations by European institutions.
The Slovenian organization Institute for Economic Democracy (IED) developed “The European Co-Operative Employee Stock Ownership Plan” or European ESOP model, a social innovation at the level of a firm with global potential. It’s a democratic and refined version of the US ESOP that now covers 10% of the US private workforce.
The event is going to debate current status of employee financial participation models in the EU in the context of the “Social Economy Action Plan” implementation, cooperative movement, the EU ESOP, transatlantic cooperation on US ESOP and conditions to create right and coherent policy approach across Europe “
Event schedule
17:00
Opening Address:
Antonios Nestoras | Deputy Executive Director, European Liberal Forum
Philippe Laurette | President, Jean Monnet Association
Luka Mesec | Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunity, Republic of Slovenia
17:15
Key note speaker:
“Classical liberalism and employee ownership”
David Ellerman | University of Ljubljana, IED
17:30
Round table: “Sustainable development in the EU and the role of EFP models”
Luca Pastorelli | Executive President, DIESIS Network
Tej Gonza | Director of IED
Marco Cilento | Head of Institutional Policy, European Trade Union Confederation
Diana Dovgan | Secretary General, CECOP – European Confederation of Industrial and Service Cooperatives
Jack Moriarty | Executive Director, Ownership America
Moderator: Sebastjan Pikl | Managing Director, Novum Institute
Speakers
Antonios Nestoras | Deputy Executive Director, European Liberal Forum
Dr Antonios Nestoras is the Deputy Executive Director of the European Liberal Forum (ELF). His career spans more than 12 years in the academic, think-tank and European public administration fields, and his work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, think-tank reports and EU media. He holds a double PhD in Social and Political Science from VUB and the University of Antwerp.
Philippe Laurette | President, Jean Monnet Association
Philippe Laurette became involved in associations in favour of Europe at a very young age. He was President of the European Federalist Youth and then President of the young people of the European Movement. He was a member of the board of the European Union of Federalists and of the European Movement, chair the ME of Hauts de Seine and until 2021 vice-president of the House of Europe in Paris.
Professionally, he began as general delegate of the Victor Hugo Club for the United States of Europe. He later joined the Europe et Société Foundation and then the Association Europe & Entreprises, as General Delegate, and later as President.
This journey led him to the presidency of the Jean Monnet Association at the request and with the support of Marianne Monnet where he currently serves as a President of the Jean Monnet Association.
Luka Mesec | Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunity, Republic of Slovenia
Luka Mesec is Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities in the Government of Republic of Slovenia. He is the coordinator of the political party Levica (the Left). Luka graduated in European Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Ljubljana. During the crisis years, he was an activist in various initiatives against precarity, the deterioration of the welfare state, the undermining of workers’ rights, the inaccessibility of housing, and the lack of prospects for his generation. These topics are still at the core of his efforts aimed at improving the situation of workers, resolving the housing crisis, and taking action against the climate crisis.
David Ellerman | University of Ljubljana, IED
David Ellerman has written about the theory and practice of worker co-operatives and democratic employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) for about a half century. After a decade in the World Bank, he is now retired and living in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he is a co-founder of the Institute for Economic Democracy. His writings can be found on his website: www.ellerman.org.
Luca Pastorelli | Executive President, DIESIS Network
European activist, social economy expert and agitator in the European and international environment focusing on Social Entrepreneurship, Social Economy and Social Innovation. He is working on an international scale with high-level social economy stakeholders representing Diesis Network within the United Nations Task Force on SSE and ESS International Forum.
Diana Dovgan | Secretary General, CECOP – European Confederation of Industrial and Service Cooperatives
Diana Dovgan holds a Master’s Degree in Political Sciences from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Since March 2018, she is the Secretary General of CECOP (European confederation of cooperatives in industry and services) and of CICOPA (International organization of cooperatives in industry and services). Previously she was Policy Officer for 10 years for both organizations. From 2004 to 2008, she was a Policy Advisor for the Belgian minister in charge of Social Inclusion and Equal Opportunities.
Tej Gonza | Director of IED
Tej Gonza is a Co-Founder and a Director of IED. He graduated from Economics at the Faculty of Economics in Ljubljana and concluded his Master thesis at the Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics at Rotterdam University. Currently, he is a PhD candidate and a Researcher at the University of Ljubljana and a Research Fellow at Rutgers University, NJ.
Marco Cilento | Head of Institutional Policy, European Trade Union Confederation
Marco Cilento is the head of institutional policy at the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). After obtaining a PhD in Labour Law from the University of Pavia, he started his trade union career with the Italian trade union confederation CISL.
Jack Moriarty | Executive Director, Ownership America
Jack Moriarty is the Founder and Executive Director of Ownership America, a public policy organization committed to turning Americans into owners. Ownership America is building a movement for employee ownership through policy development at the state and federal levels along with organizing and mobilizing grassroots advocates across the country. Jack has advised members of Congress in both parties on legislative opportunities to accelerate the growth of employee ownership and has led successful state bipartisan legislative efforts in Massachusetts, California, and Washington State.
Sebastjan Pikl | Institute Novum
Sebastjan Pikl is one of the founders and managing director of the Institute NOVUM, an institute for strategic and applicable research that deals with policy analysis and political communication. Sebastjan is also a co-founder of the Institute for economic democracy (IED). He has served as an advisor for various communications projects, including the campaign for president of Republic of Slovenia Dr. Danilo Türk in 2007 and several (social) liberal political parties. Mr. Pikl is a philosopher and political scientist by training, with special interests in the field of psychoanalysis, policy analysis and history of Mediterranean region.
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“This event is organised by the European Liberal Forum in cooperation with Novum Institute. Co-funded by the European Parliament. The views expressed herein are those of the speaker(s) alone. These views do not necessarily reflect those of the European Parliament and/or the European Liberal Forum.”
