Through different dissemination activities of the Spanish solidarity economy network (REAS), a campaign to facilitate the inclusion of social clauses in the processes of public procurement was started, to stimulate institutions to purchase based on ethical, ecological and transparency criteria and extend the knowledge of these tools of social justice, equity and sharing throughout the social solidarity economy  and society in general.

The campaign claims the use of public procurement as a useful way to work in depth on social core values such as cohesion and social inclusion, local and sustainable development and efficiency, fairness and transparency in public spending. In this sense, the “Guide to the public socially responsible procurement” published by REAS Euskadi underlines how “it is illogical to transfer the public budgets to companies that pollute,  do not respect the rights of the workers, who practice gender discrimination and do not meet the criterion of 2% of disabled persons required by the legislation”.

Adapting the legislation of the Spanish State purchasing and public procurement requires a definition of the legal framework and the ethical criteria affecting 17% of GDP (18 million euro according to 2015 data). Social and solidarity economy networks, environmental organizations and social movements have multiplied the criticism about the slowness with which the required minimums are translated at the level of our administrations. Indeed, the European directives published in 2014 and which should have been adopted at latest in April 2016 have not yet been incorporated in the legal system of the Spanish State.

Read the rest of the article (in Spanish) here.

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