Insertion enterprises and social clauses in public contracts: two necessary instruments in social innovation for development

Abstract

Social innovation oriented towards personal and community development is a new topic that is the object of multidisciplinary analysis. The European Union shows how useful it is by including social innovation in its objectives for economic and employment growth (European Strategy 2020). Our research analyses two interrelated instruments within the framework of social innovation and social economy. First, the main agent in the new social economy: insertion enterprises and their non-profit entities, which have specific legislation in Spain. We contribute elements for the legal and economic classification of these new entrepreneurs, whose guiding spirit is a social objective and of general interest (the social and labor integration of those excluded). Secondly, we justify the demand for social markets for our insertion enterprises. Economic and legal reasons coincide in their suitability (due to their economic efficiency), legitimacy (as they comply with the values that prevail in the European Union law and in the law of member States) and legality in terms of the social criteria used in hiring in the public sector. We present the interpretation of these social criteria more in line with European Union and Spanish law, which has not always counted on the European Commission and its neoliberal proposals as allies.