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ACTIVITIES and PROJECTS

of CIRIEC INTERNATIONAL 2012-14

From the biennial Congress in Vienna from 12 to 14 September 2012 which examined the general interest, through the 4th International Conference for Research on the Social Economy in October 2013 in Antwerp (Belgium) to the preparation of the next biennial Congress in Buenos Aires in October 2014, the International Centre for Research in the Public, Social and Cooperative Economy (CIRIEC) pursues its activities in research and publishing and its world development (with particular attention to Latin America). It should be noted that the CIRIEC is currently working on the development of a new interactive tool, the Agora-Kiosk of general interest and social economy. This report describes:

- THE EVENT OF 2012: THE 29T H CIRIEC CONGRESS IN V IENNA

FROM 12 TO 14 SEPTEMBER 2012 AND THE 2012 EDGARD M ILHAUD PRIZE

- THE EVENT OF 2013: THE 4T H CIRIEC I NTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

FOR RESEARCH ON THE SOCIAL ECONOMY IN A NTWERP (BELGIUM ), FROM 24 TO 26 OCTOBER 2013

- CIRIEC NETWORK AND ITS FUTURE INTERACTIVE TOOL “A GORA-K IOSK OF

GENERAL INTEREST AND SOCIAL ECONOMY”

- RESEARCH:

O IN PUBLIC ECONOMY

O IN SOCIAL AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMY

- A ND THE RESULTANT PUBLICATIONS:

O COLLECTION "SOCIAL ECONOMY & PUBLIC ECONOMY"

O CIRIEC WORKING PAPERS

- I TS SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL

- V ISIBILITY AND PRESENCE IN INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

- A DMINISTRATIVE BRIEFS

- THE 30T H CIRIEC CONGRESS IN BUENOS A IRES (A RGENTINA),

FROM 29 TO 31 OCTOBER 2014

* * * * *

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THE EVENT OF 2012: THE 29T H INTERNATIONAL CIRIEC CONGRESS (Vienna, Austria, 12-14 September 2012) In mid-September 2012 CIRIEC Austria chose the Wiener Rathaus as the setting for the 29th CIRIEC Congress, on the theme “Public, Social and Cooperative Economy meeting the General Interest”. The 500 members from 46 countries attending the Congress studied the general interest, keen to reaffirm the importance of this value for its own sake; they held targeted discussions in which the socio-economic players take part in their activities to support the values of the general interest. The opening session was honoured with the presence of Renate Brauner, Deputy to the Mayor of Vienna, and Paul Singer, National Secretary of the Solidarity Economy in Brazil. Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, former Indian Minister for the Environment, and several leaders of United Nations programmes spoke in Plenary Session 1 on the theme “What Ethic for a Global Economy?”. In the second plenary session Benoît Hamon, French Minister responsible for the Social and Solidarity Economy recently appointed to the post, gave a speech attracting considerable attention on “A Responsible and Sustainable Economy”. This theme was also taken up by Dame Pauline Green, President of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), stressing the importance of the International Cooperative Year, and by Valeria Ronzitti, Secretary-General of CEEP. Several thematic and sectoral working meetings followed on "Innovation and Public, Social and Cooperative Economy" and on “New Forms of Governance and Regulation”. On Day Two 5 workshops, dedicated respectively to Energy, Water / Waste, Health, Social Housing and Transport were held in the very bosom of host companies with a view to giving shape to a CIRIEC mission that is to provide occasions of mutual enrichment and concrete exchanges between practitioners and academics. After organised visits to companies within the 28th CIRIEC Congress in Berlin in May 2010, this innovating new experience for CIRIEC was a great success: the discussions with the practitioners and the confrontation with the real major issues on the ground and the arbitration this implies were interesting and informative for the numerous foreign experts from all over the world who attended these workshops. “Social mobilisation of the civil society” was chosen as the theme for a third plenary session in which Europeans and Asians presented, among other things, recent initiatives and different approaches of social action. The 4th and final plenary session of the Congress, “CIRIEC and the General-Interest Service”, was led by Luc Bernier, President of the CIRIEC International Scientific Council. It brought to the fore recent scientific research by CIRIEC involving the presidents and coordinators of scientific commissions and working groups within CIRIEC.

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The site dedicated to the Congress http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/4_1congres.htm proposes the contributions thus far available at the end of this Congress and the general conclusions of the Chief Executive Officer of CIRIEC. 2012 Edgard Milhaud Prize On the initiative of its President, Wilhelm Georg Hanss, and in order to commemorate the founder of CIRIEC, the biennial "Edgard Milhaud" Prize created in 2010 was awarded for the 2nd time, marking the occasion of the 2012 Congress in Vienna. In an amount of € 10 000 the "Edgard Milhaud" Prize is designed to reward the work of a young researcher or expert on a matter of interest to CIRIEC. The more specific theme of the 2012 edition of the Prize was that of the Vienna Congress. All national sections were invited to propose candidates. An international jury, chaired by Leona Detiège (Honorary President of CIRIEC), awarded this Prize to a specific young researcher, Anaïs Périlleux (University of Mons (Warocqué Business School), Centre for European Research in Microfinance (CERMi), Belgium) for her thesis “Governance and Growth of Cooperatives in Microfinance” on account of its scientific quality and its societal spin-off. The work by Anaïs Périlleux is centred on two main questions for the cooperatives in microfinance: their governance and their growth process. The microfinance cooperatives first started during the 19th century with the German Raiffeisen and Haas movements in rural areas and the Schulze-Delitzsch movement in urban areas. The comparative study in the thesis of Anaïs Périlleux examines how the mechanisms at work in the 19th century could be adapted to help the microfinance cooperatives in West Africa to develop their range of long-term products. This study also raises the question of distribution of the value created by these organisations among the main players. Turning to econometric analysis, Anaïs Périlleux goes on to examine the macroeconomic factors favouring the development of cooperatives active in microfinance. She explains the necessity of adapting the mechanisms of governance to avoid the appearance of new opportunistic behaviour patterns, stressing the need to develop a systemic vision of governance so as to shape policies of effective support for the development of fledgling networks of microfinance cooperatives. She concludes, among other things, that their development might benefit not only from the promotion of a network architecture and increased State tutelage, but also from the development of other autonomous supervisory mechanisms. During the closing plenary session of the Congress Anaïs Périlleux had the occasion to give a very interesting presentation of her work. A summary of the thesis by A. Périlleux and its presentation can be consulted on the CIRIEC site http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/4_4milhaud.html .

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THE EVENT OF 2013: THE 4T H INTERNATIONAL CIRIEC CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL ECONOMY

(Antwerp (Belgium), 24-26 October 2013) Scientific meets on the social economy at human scale apparently being insufficient, the researchers were denied the opportunity of taking stock of the development of research, meeting each other and comparing notes on the interests and challenges for the various elements of the social economy. In 2007 CIRIEC therefore initiated the biennial “International CIRIEC Conferences for Research on the Social Economy” that takes place every two year (odd years) throughout the world. This major scientific appointment is therefore intended to bring together researchers young and old interested in various fields of the social and cooperative economy. Without excluding the practitioners or representatives of public authorities, the conference thus mainly addresses scientists from very varied backgrounds, cultures and traditions so as to allow them to exchange their points of view and examine the advances in research in the social economy as a whole (cooperatives, mutuals, associations and foundations). After Victoria (Canada) in October 2007, Östersund (Sweden) in October 2009 and Valladolid (Spain) in April 2011, it was the turn of CIRIEC-Belgium, driven by its very active President, Leona Detiège, to organise this event from 24 to 26 October 2013 in Antwerp, in close cooperation with Antwerp University and various of its departments (law, economy, management). The 4th International CIRIEC Conference for research on the social economy was centred on the theme “The Social Economy on the move… at the crossroads of structural change and regulation”. The general theme aimed to be broad to attract researchers from all walks and to examine analyses and proposals to counter the idea "There is no alternative". It was more particularly a case of discussing the place of the Social Economy and its role given far-reaching structural changes and the new characteristics of regulation. Thanks to a constant dynamism and capacity to generate bottom-up changes, the initiatives and enterprises of the social economy have, in their turn, propelled structural changes and/or have been the agents of change as regards regulation. The social economy, with its characteristics of territorial rootedness and action based on and around the community, obtains examples of responses facing up to the general challenges of exclusion, poverty, unemployment, inequalities and the endangerment of the planet.

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Structured in 10 themes ranging from a very general (meso) level (political strategy, ideology, public policies, regulation, networks, etc.), via various macro-economic issues, to micro-economic level (governance, financing, social innovations in the products and services, etc.), this 4th Conference placed the accent on:

• the economic, legal, financial and statistical tools to support the development of enterprises of the social economy and the public policies in their favour;

• the local solutions that the social economy might bring to the impacts of the economic crisis, especially in a perspective of social cohesion and the war on want and of sustainable development;

• the management and governance of enterprises of the social economy to face the current economic and social challenges while respecting the basic values and principles of the social economy, collective and solidarist strength in favour of a better, fairer, more egalitarian society;

• education in solidarist values; • the role of all the players and interested parties to do this.

To reach the broadest possible public and to guarantee a high scientific level, a call was put out by internet for proposals / contributions. An international scientific committee (http://www.ciriec-ua-conference.org/scientific-committee) - made up of several members of the CIRIEC International Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy" with Belgian scientific and university representatives - then selected 205 papers and 57 posters from among the 350 entries and drew up the scientific programme still shown on the scientific site dedicated to this conference: http://www.ciriec-ua-conference.org/ This 4th Conference fully achieved its objective and was a great success. In total, the conference brought together 375 members from 50 countries. 42 discussion workshops and 6 poster sessions allowed the presentation of 160 papers and 25 posters. The participants in the 4th International CIRIEC Conference for Research on the Social Economy CIRIEC experienced a successful mix of young and more experienced scientific researchers and experts, representatives of associations/organisations/federations raising the questions and major issues at stake on the ground, leaders of enterprises, political representatives and decision-makers of various persuasions. It was also evident that the experiences and questions (not least the re-opening of questions) from all over the world contributed much to these scientific conferences, allowing the debate to be expanded by very varied points of view. Two full days of scientific discussion at Antwerp University were prefaced on Thursday 24 October 2013 by visits to local enterprises and initiatives of the social economy in Antwerp and Turnhout, allowing de visu discovery, with explanations specifically intended for the public of the Conference concerning projects and achievements on the ground.

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The papers for which the authors granted authorisation are available on the conference internet site: http://www.ciriec-ua-conference.org/plenary-sessions . Furthermore, five lines of publication will create additional spin-off in 2014: publication of the papers on the conference internet site, a work in the CIRIEC collection "Social Economy / Public Economy" from publishers Peter Lang, a work from publishers Die Keure / La Charte, publication of certain papers in the CIRIEC Working Papers collection (available on the CIRIEC internet site and quoted in RePEc), and, finally, certain papers will appear in a special number of the scientific review Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics edited by Wiley-Blackwell.

A 5th International CIRIEC Conference on the Social Economy has already been planned for mid-July 2015 in Lisbon (Portugal). THE CIRIEC NETWORK CIRIEC is a Non-government international scientific organisation with the status of international non-profit association (aisbl). CIRIEC is organised in a network and unites collective members and individual members:

- enterprises and organisations connected to networks, whether socio-political (government agencies, public authorities and ministries, socio-professional federations, trade unions, ...) or industrial and technical (public enterprises or enterprises with a general economic interest mission, regulated enterprises, ...)

- enterprises and organisations in the social economy sector (cooperatives, mutuals, associations, non-profit organisations, foundations, ...)

- researchers in research centres, universities and individual experts from different walks interested in the fields of activity of CIRIEC.

The international association is a federation of national sections (http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/2_0sections_nationales.htm) that are made up of various members: public bodies, enterprises and organisations in the public, social and cooperative economies and institutions that, on the scientific or cultural plane, are interested in those economic activities. The national sections support CIRIEC's activities, each in their own country. CIRIEC currently has 13 national sections, mainly in Europe (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain), but also in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Japan, Turkey and Venezuela, plus an associate member in Cyprus. The international association pursues its efforts to expand its contacts with a view to creating new national sections, more particularly in Latin America, but also in Eastern Europe and in North Africa.

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Set up as a genuine network of scientists, practitioners and experts, CIRIEC serves as a platform for exchanges of information and experience in a spirit of cooperation and mutual enrichment. CIRIEC also regularly works with other international associations or networks. Its scientific network CIRIEC runs an international scientific network of more than 250 experts active in the public, social and cooperative economics (http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/3_1reseau_scientifique.htm). These scientific experts come from the 13 countries where CIRIEC has national sections and 2013 was also the year to expend even more the geographical repartition of CIRIEC scientific network. This network of active scientifics currently covers close to 40 countries worldwide: the 13 mentionned before and the following: Algeria, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Romania, United Kingdom, Senegal, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Uruguay. The structure of the scientific bodies of CIRIEC resembles a pyramid:

- a Scientific Council bears general responsibility for strategy in the matter of research;

- it heads scientific commissions and working groups that carry out the core internal scientific research work of the network.

The International Scientific Council of CIRIEC, chaired by Luc Bernier (École Nationale d’Administration Publique (ÉNAP), Quebec, Canada) has the pivotal role of coordination with the national sections of CIRIEC and their members. This allows CIRIEC to conduct its works in phase not only with the numerous challenges encountered, but also with the needs and expectations of the socio-economic players. The Scientific Council also proceeds to the scientific evaluation of the work undertaken in various bodies of CIRIEC, and it also keeps a weather eye open to smart prioritisation of research, due account being taken of the capacities and strengths of the members of the scientific network. The Scientific Council also has a strategic scientific watchdog role, but this also requires human resources specifically dedicated to that particular task that it must be able to mobilise and support. In 2014, the presidents of the scientific bodies and the composition of the commissions will be renewed for a new term of 3 years (2014-2016).

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Agora-Kiosk of General Interest and Social Economy At the request of certain national sections and scientific commissions, CIRIEC is working up a new project to create an interactive database for researchers and experts active in areas of the general interest and the social economy. The point of the exercise is to draw together men and women working on common themes so they might intercommunicate and jointly make headway around an interactive IT tool designed to be a "knowledge platform". This new communication tool, called AGORA-KIOSK, takes the form of an interactive extranet portal, accessible via the CIRIEC internet site, reserved for a community of members. These experts and researchers will be given an access code via CIRIEC. The tool will be built up step by step with the community of members. AGORA-KIOSK will be a thing of many parts. An annual part in which the members must fill in a detailed form corresponding to their CVs (research, publications, fields of interest, current projects, …), another part will be set aside for broadcasting information such as announcements of conferences, events, publications and, finally, a largish component will be dedicated to documentary research. This latter part will be fed first and foremost by CIRIEC, as system administrator, and then fleshed out by the users themselves. The working language of this tool will be English, but any other language may also be used in the contacts or in the publications shared by the users. The documentary assets already available are in fact multilingual. Many "cross-pollinating" research projects will be set up to target research as intelligently as possible. To fund this project CIRIEC obtained public financing from the Walloon Government. This pilot project spans two years (late 2012-2014) and is moving forwards, step by step. After many working meetings on the development of the project, numerous contacts and a decisive technical support via the Agence Wallonne de Télécommunications, the ICT platform for Wallonia, CIRIEC opted for Pythagoria, a company at the leading edge of the multilingual semantic web and in the development of databases, to develop a specific prototype dedicated to the needs of CIRIEC. A first phase of the test was launched in December 2013. Completing their profile, 30 testers took part in this project. The contents underwent some adjustments during this period. The second phase of the test then kicked off in February 2014. The testers were asked to test the product in its entirety, that is to say: to carry out documentary and contacts researches and pass on any notes and comments with a view to correction and/or improvement of the product. Meanwhile CIRIEC started the tool internally among the national sections and the researchers' network. The target by end 2014 is to have 200 completed profiles.

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RESEARCH CIRIEC carries out two kinds of research:

- own internal research, conducted internaly by members of its international scientific network;

- commissioned research conducted on behalf of third parties, most often following calls for proposals and tenders.

These research projects may straddle two main areas of interest to CIRIEC: one, the public economy and, two, the social and cooperative economy, or be limited to a more specific range and object of a single (sub)domain.

In public economy The internal research in CIRIEC on the public economy is mainly conducted by the members of the International Scientific Commission "Public Services / Public Enterprises" led by Professor Gabriel Obermann (Vienna University of Economics). Consisting of 30 specialists (economists and legal experts), this Commission follows and discusses recent developments in the governance of companies entrusted with the task of provision of public services. Since 2012, the members of the Scientific Commission "Public Services / Public Enterprises" put a lot into in the new research theme hinging on the future of the public enterprise. After more than two decades of vanguard policies of privatisation and liberalisation the time had come to reenergise research on public enterprise in the true sense of the term as an area of analysis in the public economy and in the social sciences in general. The study is cast in a broadly international and interdisciplinary mould (economics, political science, public administration, management, sociology, history, law, etc.) and will enlist the aid of experts and budding researchers outside the CIRIEC network. One of the goals of this new research programme is to create a broad network of researchers specialising around the theme of public enterprise. On the initiative of Prof. Massimo Florio (University of Milan, Italy), the Steering Committee also including President Gabriel Obermann and Profs. Luc Bernier (ENAP, Quebec, Canada) and Philippe Bance (University of Rouen, France) worked up an ambitious research programme for the period 2012-2014 bearing the title "The future of the public enterprise". This programme makes provision, first of all, for a review of the recent scientific literature on the subject, and also for conducting empirical studies. Then, based on an analysis grid serving as a model, experts will be contacted via call for contributions to conduct as many case studies as possible (recent history of a public enterprise in its sectoral, institutional and national setting; analysis of success stories and sticking points, its economic and social performance; etc.). The study programme will also cover the public policies conducted for public enterprises, the evolution of missions defined by the public

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authorities as regards their enterprises, the forms of organisation and governance, and the socio-economic effects and spin-off of public enterprises' activities. More information can be obtained in the research presentation document: http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/3_2recherches.htm#ep . Eager to guarantee a certain degree of visibility of research works and to benefit from the comparison of notes between the different international contributors, three discussion seminars were held in 2013 (in English only). They were a huge success. Each of these were organised around the three main thrusts of the research programme:

- Berlin Seminar (14 and 15 February 2013) organised by CIRIEC-Germany and dedicated to theoretical contributions and examination of the existing literature on public enterprise. This international seminar drew some forty members around the theme “Public Enterprise in the 21st century: Recent advances on public missions and performance - Theory contributions and literature review”. There were productive exchanges between researchers from many countries (for the most part European, but also from Algeria, Canada and Uruguay).

- Milan Seminar (13-14 June 2013) jointly organised by the University of Milan and CIRIEC International, dedicated to 16 public enterprise case histories. Attracting a public of some fifty or so over 2 days, this seminar, entitled “Case histories of public enterprises: learning from success and failure” covered the sectors of public passenger transport, water, energy, finance and other services in the 12 countries (8 in the European Union, plus Algeria, plus Canada, plus Costa Rica plus Uruguay).

- Brussels Seminar (9-10 September 2013) jointly organised by CIRIEC-Belgium and the Université Libre de Bruxelles, dedicated to more open, multidimensional themes in the study of public enterprise: “Public Enterprises in the 21st Century: Various issues from regulation, pricing, CSR to marketing and other reflection and case studies”. Some 35 members from 13 countries (8 from the European Union, plus Algeria, Canada, Japan, Peru, Switzerland) experienced 2 days of intense debate around the 15 papers there presented and discussed.

Different possibilities were then shuffled for the publication of research outcomes. As for CIRIEC publications, contributions would appear in the Working Papers collection, and certain of them in a future work in the CIRIEC collection "Social Economy & Public Economy" from publishers Peter LANG, with title: "Public Enterprises today: mission, performance and governance - learning from fifteen cases". A special number of the Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics is also planned for 2014; it will include some of the more significant contributions. Besides CIRIEC publication a selection of contributions will feature in a special 2014 number of the Journal of Economic Policy Reform and in a special number of Competition and Regulation in Network Industries.

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This CIRIEC project on the future of public enterprises, the purpose of which, inter alia, is to revive the theme of public enterprise as an important field of research and theoretical and practical analysis within the public economy and social sciences in general, now finds its extension and complement in the Milan University initiative SuPER (Survey of Public Enterprises Return) initiated and coordinated by Massimo Florio since autumn 2013. In order to pursue the scientific work conducted by some fifty international experts in 2012-13, work which is now undergoing publication, this SuPER initiative - which CIRIEC supports completely - aims to examine and analyse the evolution of public enterprises via an online survey. In more concrete terms this means completing an online questionnaire for a given public enterprise having recently undergone changes: establishment of a new public enterprise or work-over of an existing public entity in a new form. An internet site dedicated to this project gives more information on the subject in English: http://www.publicenterprise.unimi.it/ . Seeing the non-renewal of chairs in the public economy once the incumbent is given discharge, CIRIEC is also thinking of setting up a forum and a meeting place designed specifically for doctorands in the public economy. A seminar for young doctorands could thus be held in the near future in order to call to the CIRIEC colours skills and talents in the process of being licked into shape, to offer them a network for exchange in a less "dominant" scientific current. But this event is subject to a dedicated funding.

In social and cooperative economy The second area of scientific activities proper to CIRIEC is developed mainly by the International Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy". Led by Professor Rafael Chaves of the University of Valencia (Spain), this Commission includes some fifty members (economists, sociologists, socio-economists, …); it follows recent developments and emergent research themes in the social economy in the broader sense. One of the main tasks of the Commission for some time now is to organise, every other year, a broad forum of exchanges and confrontations in research on the social economy (first edition in 2007). The fourth edition of this conference was held between 24 and 26 October 2013 in Belgium on the initiative of the Belgium Section of CIRIEC and Antwerp University (cf. above). In 2012-13 the Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy" finished off and published in the CIRIEC collection "Social Economy & Public Economy" from Peter Lang the book "L'émergence de l'économie sociale dans les politiques publiques - Une analyse internationale / The Emergence of Social Economy in Public Policy - An International Analysis" under Danièle Demoustier (University of Grenoble) and Rafael Chaves. This presents the outcomes of the works on the theme "Integration of the Social Economy in Public Policies" conducted by the

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Commission for some years now. The work addresses a subject of great and ever increasing topical interest, proposing the best contributions from the works of the Commission and the articles ordered by specialists to cover this theme in several continents and to appreciate the historical background and present state of play throughout the European Union. Coordinated by Prof. Marie J. Bouchard (University of Quebec, Montréal, Canada) and Damien Rousselière, Agrocampus Ouest (France), the work carried out by the Commission for several years is pursued on the interpretation of statistics in connection with measurement of the social economy. The precise objective of the current discussion started in June 2012 is the completion of a work intended for specialists and political decision-makers, with twenty chapters ordered by experts (technicians (statisticians) and researchers). The theme of the book is "The Weight, Size and Reach of the Social Economy - International perspectives for the production of statistics for the social economy". It contains various chapters that review current knowledge and ponder the significance of interpretation of statistics on the social economy. The work will present discussions in the matter, compare the contributions and limits of various approaches, draw lessons from various methodologies for the production of these statistics and determine the direction of future research and make recommendations to bring to the attention of the political decision-makers. By late 2013 some twenty chapters were near completion and the final manuscript will be submitted for publication in autumn 2014. In accordance with its decision to run several parallel discussions relevant and of interest to the social economy, the Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy" set up two other working groups entrusted to two teams who devised their programmes and timetables (virtual exchanges of draft contributions, discussion seminars in different countries and production of a collective work). Prof. Gani Aldashev (University of Namur, Belgium), Marco Marini (La Sapienza University Rome, Italy) and Michael Kopel (Graz University Austria) led a discussion and organised discussion seminars on "Organisation and Governance of Enterprises in the Social Economy". This group of some thirty experts from fifteen countries aims to increase understanding of the management practices adopted by the enterprises of the social economy by comparing them to those largely used in traditional enterprises. Based on theoretical analyses (socio-economic, psychological, based on theory of games, …) and surveys on the ground, econometric analyses, case studies, … questions such as the remuneration of managers, motivation mechanisms, democratic organisation, network relations rather than hierarchical relations with interested parties, etc. are apprehended. For more details see: https://sites.google.com/a/dis.uniroma1.it/ciriec-working-group/ In an initial phase a quick publication covering theoretical articles by experts in the field is programmed in a thematic number of the international CIRIEC review (on the basis of a call for papers on the theme "Governance of Non-profit Organisations

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and Non-governmental organisations: Intra and inter organisation analyses", publication late 2014) while more empirical analyses (for instance on the basis of surveys, etc.) on the theme of governance and the role of managers are conducted throughout 2013 and 2014 to culminate in a second publication. Two seminars were held in 2013 (in Rome 1 March and in Namur 16 December 2013, respectively entitled "The Microeconomics and Management of Social Enterprises" and "Governance of Non-Profits and NGOs: Within- and between-Organization Analyses". The first attracted 40 participants from 7 European countries and Colombia (via Skype), the second some ten experts from 4 countries. Prof. Nadine Richez-Battesti (University of Aix Marseille, France) and Xavier Itçaina (Université de Bordeaux, France) rallied some twenty researchers from 15 countries (European Union and Canada, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela) interested in a new discussion theme "Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). Between interaction and co-construction". The proposed work programme was the subject of a presentation by the Scientific Commission and the Scientific Council of CIRIEC and was adopted in April 2013. The works will run for two years, taking the form of seminars organised in different countries. They are expected to result in the production of a collective work in 2016. On the basis of events of interest and the wishes of the coordinators, two axes should serve as the main themes of research: - the territory as social construction - the new statutes of the SSE and the renewal of systems: territorial constructions? Some twenty proposals thus far allow envisaging a publication in three parts:

i) SSE and territory: the crisis and resource for local innovation? (illustrated by partner articles from Belgium, Brazil, Greece, Italy and Romania)

ii) Towards new heterogeneous forms of territorial cooperation? (illustrations from Germany, Colombia, Spain and the Basque Country and France)

iii) Towards a reterritorialisation of the big operators of the SSE (Belgium, Quebec, …).

Several international research teams have worked, and will therefore be working, in parallel during the years 2013 and 2014. The Social Economy in the European Union On behalf of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) CIRIEC made an update and supplement to the "Panorama de l'économie sociale dans l'Union européenne des 27 et pays candidats" published in 2007. One of the objectives of this vast study is to contribute to a greater visibility and, thus, recognition of the economic, social and political role as regards social cohesion and the economic development of the social economy sector in the Europe of tomorrow. A new review is proposed of the state of play of the social economy throughout the EU and in the two candidate countries (number of enterprises, of jobs, ...) with

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particular consideration of the description and analysis of the role that the sector could play in the context of EU strategy 2020. During 2012 the researchers and experts of the network and others were mobilised to answer an inquiry on the realities of the social economy in their country and their prospects of development. In this new edition of Panorama de l'Economie sociale dans l'Union européenne the authors also discuss some recent laws on the social economy passed, or soon to be passed, in several countries, and questions relating to the impact of the crisis on enterprises in this sector and their capacities for resilience. The influence of the policies of European authorities on the development of the social economy was also explored. Interregional Academy of the ILO (International Labour Organization) on the Social and Solidarity Economy (Agadir, Morocco, 7-12 April 2013) CIRIEC has signed an institutional partnership with the International Training Centre (ITC) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to collaborate with the Interregional Academy on the Social and Solidarity Economy (http://socialeconomy.itcilo.org/en). The primary objective of the Academy is to stimulate knowledge and exchange of experiences between participants from all over the world (political decision-makers, trade union and employers' organisations, practitioners and promoters in the Social Economy). Thanks to CIRIEC-Brazil CIRIEC has delegated to Professor Leandro Pereira Morais since several editions the task of co-editing of the "Manuel (reader) de l'économie sociale et solidaire" and the development and hosting of one of the sessions of the Academy. The third edition of this Academy was organised in cooperation with the Moroccan Social and Solidarity Economy Network (réseau marocain de l’économie sociale et solidaire - REMESS). It was held from 7 to 12 April 2013 in Agadir (Morocco). Its central theme is focused on youth and employment. The 2013 "reader" specifically prepared for the Agadir edition bears the title "Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE): an opportunity to promote employment for the young". It was again published in three languages (English, Spanish and French) and can be consulted on the specific site dedicated to the ‘Collective Brain’ resources of the SSE Academy (http://www.sseacb.net/ ). Leandro Pereira Morais edited its Chapter 1, ‘SSE and Youth Employment: the programmes for public works and employment in Brazil’, while Nancy Neamtan (CIRIEC-Canada) edited Chapter 3, entitled ‘Role of the SSE in the Youth Entrepreneurship: the cases of Mali, Vietnam and Canada’. Training sessions were held during the morning on the five modules of the manual: the concepts, governance and management, the political, legal and institutional environment of the social economy, the partnerships and networks and, finally, the

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contribution of the social economy to the creation of employment. Nancy Neamtan and Leandro Morais held half-day training sessions based on their chapters in the manual and led a workshop respectively on "Construction of Partnerships and Networks", "Youth Networks on the Social and Solidarity Economy" and on "Policies and Legal Framework for the Social and Solidarity Economy". The afternoons were dedicated to exchanges around case histories with practitioners and sponsors of the social and solidarity economy. Marcel Caballero (CIRIEC-France) also spoke on behalf of CIRIEC International during the official closing session of the Academy, which attracted more than a hundred members and heard some twenty speakers / trainers. THE PUBLICATIONS RESULTING FROM CIRIEC RESEARCH Collection "Social Economy & Public Economy"

CIRIEC has a series with the Publishing Group Peter Lang, who publishes and distributes scientific works in the fields of human and social sciences, law and economic sciences (cf. http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/6_4_peterlangGB.htm). This series, the directors of which are Benoît Lévesque and Bernard Thiry, brings together works proposing, in an international perspective, analyses of organisations and economic activities addressing the general interest and the collective interest. A collective book edited by CIRIEC appeared in this collection in 2013. The book was:

L'émergence de l'économie sociale dans les politiques publiques - Une analyse internationale / The Emergence of Social Economy in Public Policy - An International Analysis

CIRIEC - Rafael CHAVES & Danièle DEMOUSTIER (summer 2013) The Social Economy seems finally to have found a place on the political agenda of governments. The contribution of cooperatives, mutuals and associations in terms of resilience vis-à-vis the crisis, the creation of social capital and the construction of a more democratic and inclusive society is now fairly generally recognized. However, which instruments were used for these public policies, what reasons lie behind the differences between various countries, what is the reach and limit of these policies? It is on these kinds of questions that the various researchers and experts from Europe, America and Asia worked within a research group under the auspices of the CIRIEC International Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy" and produced this collective work that produces a first international balance sheet.

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After a general analysis of pro-Social Economy public policies - in their construction, their rules and procedures, their objectives and their evolution - a supra-national and inter-national approach from the European viewpoint (policies of European authorities) and the Latin American viewpoint is proposed. Certain countries are studied in more detailed fashion: Belgium, France, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom. National and regional analyses then bring out the historical and institutional specificities, for example, those of the developing countries. This work proposes 12 chapters with an introduction to the problem, a conclusion presenting a comparative analysis of the emergences, divergences and convergences of public policies and a chapter focusing on the theoretical contributions of the literature to the process of their construction. 21 authors from countries of the European Union, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Japan drew up a first international balance sheet following the evolution of public policies in favour of the social economy and its influence in their emergence and construction. A special chapter may be noted that traces the history of the long, unfinished road and plural visions of public policy in the matter at European Union level. Works projects

Public Enterprises today: Mission, Performance and Governance - learning from fifteen cases (provisional title) CIRIEC - Luc BERNIER (late 2014) The internal research in CIRIEC in 2012-14 on "The Future of Public Enterprise" included a strand of 25 empirical studies of public enterprises with a detailed analytical grid as model (cf. http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/3_2recherches.htm#ep). Through a call for contributions experts were asked to conduct case studies in various sectors (banking and finance, water and drainage, electricity, infrastructures (airport and public works), postal services, local transport) and countries worldwide. Of the 25 case studies received fifteen have been accepted for publication after double-blind assessment. Each case follows the same master plan: identification of the enterprise; recent history in its sectoral, institutional and national context; public mission; activity and operations; economic and social performance; governance; regulation; scheduled charges/prices investments, financing and issues of redistribution in liaison with the public mission; an open section specific/peculiar to the enterprise; lessons learnt and conclusions. It is planned to present these case studies and other information drawn from the research in an international conference in Paris very early in 2015 during which the work will be distribute to all members.

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The Weight, Size and Reach of the Social Economy - International perspectives for production of statistics for the social economy (provisional title) CIRIEC - Marie J. BOUCHARD & Damien ROUSSELIÈRE (release 2015) Coordinated by Prof. Marie J. Bouchard and Damien Rousselière, the work conducted by the Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy" in recent years on the interpretation of statistics in connection with the measurement of the social economy will culminate in a publication intended for specialists and political decision-makers. The theme of the book is "The Weight, Size and Reach of the Social Economy - International perspectives for the production of statistics for the social economy". It will include twenty chapters ordered for experts (technicians (statisticians) and researchers) aiming to review current knowledge and raise the question of the significance of interpretation of statistics on the social economy. Besides the introduction and closing chapter, the work is split into two main parts: methodological questions on production of statistics on the social economy and lesson learnt from specific studies. This latter, more illustrative part is based on the experiences acquired in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The presentation and promotion of this work will take place in 2015 in various scientific meetings and national, European and international policies on the social economy and social entrepreneurship, inter alia during the 5th International CIRIEC Conference for Research on the Social Economy. CIRIEC Working Papers Distributed via internet, the CIRIEC Working Papers are designed to present rapidly and disseminate within the CIRIEC scientific network the first results of research. They are published in the three official languages of CIRIEC (English, French, German) under the responsibility of scientific editors Fabienne Fecher, Rafael Chaves and Gabriel Obermann. 62 titles are available at present, 2 of which were published in 2012. One of these was that by B. Lévesque and F. Fecher concerning "the Social and Cooperative Economy since 1908" in the CIRIEC review, Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics. 11 research papers were published in 2013, resulting for the most part from research on the future of public enterprises throughout the world. 2014 will see the publication of several files, again resulting from research on public enterprises, but also a whole series of papers presented in the International Conference for Research on the Social Economy in Antwerp (24-26 October 2013). The CIRIEC Working Papers can be downloaded free of charge: http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/6_2working_papers.htm .

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Placing on line of research reports The results of research conducted recently by CIRIEC in response to calls for tenders are available on the internet site: http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/6_1ouvrages_rapports.htm. The complete report on the study the Social Economy in the European Union conducted for the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is thus available in four languages (English, French, German and Spanish). The summary exists in 22 languages. The reports and summaries may also be downloaded from the EESC sites: http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.publications.27031 http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.categories-social-economy-documents.25290 Comprising ten chapters, this report - updated and supplemented on the 2007 version - presents a general vision of the social and solidarity economy in the twenty-seven then Member States and accedeing or candidate countries. The different types of enterprises making up the population of the social economy sector are presented in figures, country by country, and summary tables indicate its weight and movements in terms of employment and involvement of volunteerism. The report also puts forward a summary of the evolution of the concept of the social economy, from workers' associations through to its present-day institutionalisation (Belgian, French, Greek, Lëtzebuergesch, Spanish and European). The main theoretical approaches to the social economy are also explored here. The report also offers a comparative analysis of various accepted definitions of this concept and its legal frameworks and a presentation of national accountancy systems for different national realities. The last two chapters examine the behaviour of the sector amidst different current crises (financial, of the economy and employment, of the public sector and the Welfare State, etc.) and the impact of European policies and the strategy Europe 2020. The authors close by setting out their conclusions and recommendations in the form of ten challenges. THE CIRIEC SCIENTIFIC REVIEW

ANNALS OF PUBLIC AND COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS The Annales de l'économie publique, sociale et coopérative / Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics date back to the creation of CIRIEC in 1947. They were created in 1908; since 1995 they have been published by Wiley-Blackwell. A presentation of the Annals is available on: http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/5_0revue_scientifique.htm.

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Under the responsibility of the General Director of CIRIEC, Bernard Thiry, the management of the journal is entrusted to Fabienne Fecher, Professor of Economics at the Institute for Human and Social Sciences of the University of Liège. This editor-in-chief is assisted and advised by associate editors and by an editorial board of some thirty international experts. The readership of the Annals is growing all the time and the development of access to its electronic version increases its visibility and outreach considerably in different parts of the world. If we add up the institutional subscriptions, the grouped purchases, the consortiums, electronic access, free services, philanthropic initiatives, etc., the review is currently available in more than 9 000 institutions. The number of subscriptions to the Annals under licence is increasing and, going by their 2012 report, the rate of renewal of these subscriptions is close to the average rate for other social and human science reviews published by Wiley. The review brings out four numbers each year, of which generally three are varied and one concerns a particular theme. Each number presents between six and eight articles discussing relevant subjects of topical interest, either empirical or of a theoretical cast, on the public economy or on the social and cooperative economy. Table of contents and articles summaries are available online: http://www.ciriec.ulg.ac.be/en/pages/5_1collection.htm. Volume 83 from 2012 features 26 articles. Nos. 1 and 2 are varied numbers, while No. 3 takes the form of special thematic number on "Recent Trends in Research on the Social Economy" under the editorial responsibility of F. Fecher (Liège University) and R. Chaves and J.L. Monzón (Universitat de València). It offers a selection of articles more illustrative of the current research conducted on the sector and presented during a conference (organised by CIRIEC) in Valladolid in April 2011. No. 4 presents three varied articles and a clutch of papers resulting from an earlier research by the CIRIEC Scientific Commission "Public Services / Public Enterprises" on the challenges facing local public services: the three articles describe three sectors of activity (water, transport and waste) the mode of organisation in public services in Europe, and a fourth presents a summarising analysis. Volume 84 from 2013 has 4 varied numbers with 24 articles that were published on a total of 470 pages. It included several authors of international repute in our fields of research. The variety of subject discussed in the published articles attests to the fact that the review has traded in themes favoured by CIRIEC since its creation but is also open to new subjects/objects of research and to the big issues of the day (non-governmental organisation, governance, societal responsibility, social enterprise, privatisation, hybridisation, organisation of local public services, comparative performance). Taking on board the comments and suggestions of the management and editorial boards that met in Antwerp on 24 October 2013, the broad editorial lines remain

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unchanged. The direction of editorial policy for future years aims at greater freedom of distribution for the authors ("open access" objective) and a greater degree of openness for thematic numbers edited by eminent authors (to order or spontaneous). Publisher Wiley-Blackwell for its part has made the necessary adaptations to keep the Annals on the very competitive market of international scientific reviews. It also pay particular attention to the quotation of the review in the leading international indexes on human and social sciences. The review is now summarised, quoted and indexed and, therefore, accessible via numerous databases in the academic world. Mention is made, inter alia, of JEL/EconLit, and SCOPUS. Finally the publisher proposes from time to time promotional free access to articles or to a thematic number. VISIBILITY AND PRESENCE IN INTERNATIONAL EVENTS The members of CIRIEC try to attend regularly the congresses, symposiums and conferences of other national and international institutions whose fields of activity are close to those of CIRIEC. Through (co-)organising scientific events or meetings, by propelling or chairing round table discussions in thematic symposiums and workshops, by presenting a report or an address on a specific theme or, again, by presenting CIRIEC and its publications on a documentation stand, the Management and Secretariat of CIRIEC seek to establish as many contacts as possible, to distribute and share CIRIEC's knowledge CIRIEC and to take part in debates on socio-economic and political interests. These events are for instance organised on the initiative of international bodies and partner networks, but also by the national sections of CIRIEC more recently created or in the process of constitution. Besides the events already mentioned in this report, here are some other events in which representatives of CIRIEC took part:

� Attendance of the CIRIEC Secretariat in the Conference of the ICA (International Cooperative Alliance) and EURICSE in the context of UN International Cooperative Year on the theme: “Promoting the Understanding of Cooperatives for a Better World” in Venice on 15-16 March 2012.

� Active participation of various experts from CIRIEC in the international seminar organised on the initiative of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia and CIRIEC-Colombia around the theme “The Public, Social and Cooperative Economy as Vector of Development, recent trends in governance” on 29 March 2012 in Bogotá (Colombia). The seminar attracted 135 participants from 13 countries.

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� Presentation by the executive bodies of CIRIEC of the potentialities of scientific cooperation between CIRIEC and South American scientists in seminars and meets in Bogotá (Colombia) from 29 to 31 March 2012. The meeting of the International Council in Bogota in late March 2012 and the seminars/meets were occasions of very informative encounters with numerous Colombian delegates.

A special half-day session was also organised by various Colombian universities and research institutes on 31 March: one, to present CIRIEC and its many aspects and, two, to review several research projects at Colombian level. This was the occasion to gain a clearer idea of the specific concerns and interests in the matter of the public, social and cooperative economy.

� Participation in the Social Economy Researchers Day in San Sébastian and Oñati (Spain) from 20 to 22 June on the theme “International Cooperative Year: challenges and proposals of the social economy in a changing world”, with a report by Marcel Caballero (CIRIEC-France, on behalf of CIRIEC International) on research on the social economy.

� Presentation by the executive bodies of CIRIEC of the potentialities for cooperation between CIRIEC and the managers of enterprises/organisations and Cypriot political and trade union leaders in Nicosia (Cyprus) on 28 and 29 June 2012.

� Active participation of various CIRIEC experts in the seminar organised on the initiative of INEK-PEO in Nicosia on 29 June on the theme “Public and Cooperative Economy in the circumstances of economic crisis”. This seminar was also the occasion to form a clearer idea of the socio-economic and political situation of the island.

� Organisation of an open CIRIEC scientific meeting in Bratislava on 12 September 2012 in cooperation with the Rectorate of the Economic University of Bratislava and the Economic Policy Institute of Bratislava for in-depth exchanges on the challenges and major issues of topical interest from various national viewpoints in the matter of the public, social and cooperative economy. Researches conducted by the various institutes present were the subject of detailed presentations in the presence of their sponsors and researchers.

� Active participation in the international conference on the IGT-ICCS cooperative studies in Vienna from 18 to 20 September 2012 on the theme “Cooperatives in the Focus of a New Economic Policy”: participation of Rafael Chaves in a round table of managers of Germanic cooperatives, with a report in plenary session of the social economy and the cooperatives in a time of crisis.

� Participation and report by José Luis Monzón and Carmen Marcuello (CIRIEC-

Spain) during the meeting of the Social Economy Category, Group III of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), on “Measurement of Social Impact” and “Atlas of the Social Economy in Romania” on 22 February 2013 in Brussels.

� Active participation of Fabienne Fecher (editor of the Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, CIRIEC-Belgium and Institut des Sciences humaines et sociales, University of Liège) and Nadine Richez-Battesti (International Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy" & CIRIEC-France) in the seminar “The Social Economy in France and in Quebec. From social construction to statistical representation and legal definition” on 9 May 2013 in Montreal.

� Participation of various international experts from CIRIEC and representatives of national sections of CIRIEC (Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain) and Maya Abada in the International Seminar on 30 May 2013 in Montreal organised by

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CIRIEC-Canada on the Outline Laws for the social economy. Representatives from France, Mexico, Portugal, Quebec and Spain presented their Law, already adopted or in the process of being adopted This seminar is now available for viewing in 8 capsules on WEBTV.COOP (http://webtv.coop/video/LES-LOIS-CADRES-EN-%25C3%2589CONOMIE-SOCIALE---Introduction/df05cbf92acfdb32ac7b88845681b8ac).

� Active participation of Rafael Chaves, Christine Dussart, Carmen Marcuello and Pilar Alguacil (CIRIEC-Spain) in the 4th International EMES Conference on social enterprise on the theme “ If not for Profit, for What and How? ” Leading a workshop on public policies and the social economy by Rafael Chaves and Carmen Marcuello at the University of Liège on 1, 2, 3 and 4 July 2013.

� Active participation and leading a session by Prof. Rafael Chaves, CIRIEC-Spain and President of the International Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy" during the 3rd edition of the “European Summer School on Social Economy, ESSE” organised by the University of Bologna at the Bertinoro Residential Centre on the Forli campus from 8 to 13 July on the theme “Social Entrepreneurship in a Global Context”.

� Participation of Prof. José Luis Monzón, Carmen Marcuello (CIRIEC-Spain), Jorge de Sá (CIRIEC-Portugal) and Rafael Chaves, CIRIEC-Spain, and President of the International Scientific Commission "Social and Cooperative Economy", in the VII th International Iberian Symposium on the Cooperative Movement and the Social Economy in Seville on 19 and 20 September, organised by CIRIEC-Spain and CIRIEC-Portugal in cooperation with the CEPES of Andalusia on the theme “Social Enterprises, Social Economy and the Crisis of the Welfare State in the European Union”.

� Active participation in the name of CIRIEC International of Prof. Jorge de Sá, CIRIEC-Portugal, in the 6th Rencontres du Mont Blanc in Chamonix on 9, 10 and 11 November 2013. The theme adopted this year for this International Forum of Managers of the Social and Solidarity Economy was “to Change the Course of Globalisation with the Social and Solidarity Economy: towards Objectives of the Millennium for Development post-2015”. It should be noted that the President of CIRIEC, Leopold Beaulieu, was also present at this event in his double capacity of manager of an SSE enterprise and President of CIRIEC-Canada and CIRIEC international, as was Professor Hajime Imamura, Vice-President of CIRIEC International and International Relations Delegate for CIRIEC-Japan.

� Regular attendance of meetings and seminars organised by various European institutions but also of specialist think-tanks in areas of interest to CIRIEC.

Other initiatives were taken to promote the development of national sections of CIRIEC in Latin America. Two Bilateral Agreement Protocols were signed with various institutions respectively in Costa Rica (particularly with the University of Costa Rica) and Mexico (particularly with 5 Mexican universities). These institutions have committed themselves to a three-year process to set up a national section of CIRIEC. Several representatives of CIRIEC travelled on various occasions to Latin America in 2012 (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Uruguay) and in 2013 (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico) taking up invitations and/or following discussion seminars. Each time was an opportunity to

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present CIRIEC and its network. Other contacts are being pursued in Chile and Uruguay. Solid progress is forecast in Costa Rica, Mexico and Uruguay for 2014. Finally, it may be mentioned that foreign researchers and scientists come to CIRIEC as part of visits of several weeks to conduct research in the Documentation Centre, but above all to deepen their knowledge of their subject in discussions with managers and leaders of the CIRIEC International Secretariat in Liège. Among others CIRIEC received visitors from Algeria, Croatia and Japan in 2012 and visitors from Algeria, Canada and Spain in 2013, and is visited by ever-increasing numbers of students on the Erasmus Programme to consult the documentary resources. ADMINISTRATIVE BRIEFS The biennial General Assembly of CIRIEC was held during the Vienna Congress of 2012. On this occasion the following persons were elected, reelected or appointed for a term of two years (2012 - 2014):

- a new Honorary President: Mr. Erich Haider (Austria) - a new President: Mr. Léopold Beaulieu (Canada) - four Vice-Presidents: Mr. Norbert Schmidt (Germany),

Mr. Alain Arnaud (France), Mr. Hajime Imamura (Japan) and Mr. Jorge de Sá (Portugal)

- the outgoing Treasurer: Mr. Jean-Pierre Grafé (Belgium) - the Auditors: Mr. Jean-Manuel Kupiec (France) and

Mrs. Heidrun Maier-De Kruijff (Austria). During the meeting in Bogotá (Colombia, 29 March 2012), but also during the Praesidium in Nicosia (Cyprus, 30 June 2012), a division of tasks was assigned with a view to upholding the strategy of expansion and consolidation of CIRIEC in the various continents. Particular missions were entrusted to various national sections of CIRIEC: in Latin America (Canada, Spain, Portugal), Eastern Europe (Germany and Austria) and Northern Africa (France and Spain). During the meeting of the International Board in Brussels on 30 November 2012, the Praesidium was completed with Mrs. Leona Detiege (Belgium) and Messrs. José Luis Monzón Campos (Spain) and Massimo Pinchera (Italy).

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AND ALREADY AN APPOINTMENT FOR 2014:

THE 30T H CIRIEC CONGRESS , BUENOS AIRES ARGENTINA (29-31 October 2014) For the first time in its history CIRIEC-Argentina has put itself forward as organiser of the Biennial CIRIEC Congress. After Canada in 2000, a new first will therefore be the organisation of this important event for CIRIEC in Latin America, a continent where initiatives in the social and cooperative economy, but also the public economy, are thriving again. The Congress will be held in downtown Buenos Aires; the general theme is “Public, Social and Cooperative Economy: Innovative answers to global issues”. Also up for discussion will be the solutions proposed by the public, social and cooperative economy pro employment, societal inclusion, environmentally and territorially sustainable development and so forth. Various sectors will be the subject of more specific presentations: water, education, energy, the environment, mobility, health and information and communication technology. Several plenary sessions are also planned on transversal themes:

- return to State control and remunicipalisation, - institutional and legislative development of the social economy, - public-private partnerships and the social economy in order to finance the

major infrastructures (complementarity between types of enterprises / economies, …),

- social impact of public policies and social economy policies. The upcoming meetings of the bodies of CIRIEC in 2014 will be occasions for the sections to hammer out their secondary themes and confirm the expected speakers and ancillary events and the planned company visits to encourage exchanges with South American practitioners and leaders. True to custom the Biennial General Meeting of CIRIEC will be held in the wings of the Congress. The scientific programme and any other useful information such as online registration are available via internet: http://www.ciriec-30congress.org/ .