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Social economy - an alternative

17 May 2013 / 16:05:32  GRReporter
6456 reads

In Germany and in other countries with a more actively developed social economy, there are structures that provide help and advice to those who are interested in it. If you have a good idea, the federations of cooperative organizations can help you right from the start. They will study the feasibility of the idea, the conditions it must meet, the bureaucratic difficulties it may face and how the idea could be financed if it is feasible. There is a whole system that supports the social economy. Both the cooperative banks and the members of existing cooperatives offer advice on the development of such projects.

Do you think that the model you are offering for Greece will face resistance or opposition?

Large companies certainly would not want to allow hundreds, even thousands of their small consumers to give up the services they offer and to start using alternative sources of heating, electricity and so on.

The model of Güssing in Austria is one of the most interesting. This is a village located somewhere on the border with Hungary, which, 30 years ago, was characterized by high crime and unemployment rates. Then, the local community decided to undertake the development of alternative energy sources. First, they turned to heating. Then, the activists from Güssing developed together with the Polytechnic School in Vienna a system for electricity production from biomass.

The mayor of Güssing is one of the initiators of the change and he has been involved in this since 1992. He told us how difficult it had been in the beginning until they launched and developed the project. Large companies, which were established players at that time, were creating various difficulties for social economy initiatives in this region. Therefore, it is important not to think that it is difficult only in Greece. All the people we talked to told us how difficult it was at first. They had to convince the government and their fellow citizens of the benefits of their ideas in the context of social economy. We will have to go through the same process here too.

How do you want to see Greece in 10 years?

While I was travelling to shoot the film, I felt that I was experiencing an inner peaceful revolution. I want to see the same things happening in Greece - small production units based on the principle of social economy that creates sustainable economic growth of logical dimensions.

Tags: EconomyMarketsSocial economyEcological productionSofia PapachristouGuessing
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