The Party, Government, and 청 agree to pass five bills to revitalize the social economy in the February National Assembly

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[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] On the 28th, the Democratic Party of Korea, the government, and the Blue House held a party-government-Blue House meeting to promote social economy activation and legislation, deciding to process five bills pending in the National Assembly during the February extraordinary session. Currently, about 30 bills related to social economy activation are pending in the National Assembly.

Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Young-bae said to reporters after the party-government-Blue House meeting that day, "We agreed to definitely process five bills in the February National Assembly: the Framework Act on Social Economy, the Framework Act on Social Value, the Basic Act on Village Development, the Credit Union Act, and the Support for Low-income Financial Services Act."

Lawmaker Kim stated, "The Framework Acts on Social Economy and Social Value were proposed in the 19th National Assembly and have been under discussion for 10 years already, with several public hearings held," adding, "In particular, the Framework Act on Social Economy was initially proposed by lawmaker Yoo Seung-min. It was regrettably not processed due to political twists and turns."

He continued, "The COVID-19 pandemic has caused polarization more severely than ever in human history, and statistics show that local economies worldwide are collapsing and neighborhood markets are breaking down," explaining, "We realized that an economy without strong roots places too much burden and damage on the vulnerable. From this perspective, we decided to process the Basic Act on Village Development, the Credit Union Act, and the Support for Low-income Financial Services Act within this session to revitalize local economies."

Regarding corporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management, which Representative Lee emphasized in his opening remarks, Lawmaker Kim expressed his stance. He said, "ESG is directly connected to the three coexistence laws and the Social Solidarity Fund," adding, "Since social economy laws inherently embody the spirit of cooperation and solidarity, the role of the Social Solidarity Fund is very important."

He further added, "ESG ultimately refers to the prioritization of values that society emphasizes. Now, pension funds such as the National Pension Service, created with the public's money, should invest for the community economy."

The Democratic Party plans to accelerate discussions by holding a public hearing in the standing committee in February regarding the Framework Acts on Social Economy and Social Value.

In his opening remarks that day, Representative Lee said, "One way to create a profit-sharing system is to strengthen incentives, but a promising method for a smooth landing can be found in ESG," emphasizing, "I believe ESG evaluation can be a very attractive incentive for deciding whether pension funds, including the National Pension Service, invest in the profit-sharing system and the formation of the Social Solidarity Fund, or for reflecting it in public procurement."

Lee Ho-seung, the Blue House Chief Secretary for Economic Affairs, also emphasized, "We must now overcome the tendency to misinterpret social economy and value as socialist economy." He stated, "The COVID-19 crisis has awakened forgotten values and shown the direction of future socioeconomics," adding, "ESG management, conscious consumption and value consumption, solidarity and cooperation are examples. We will do our best to establish social economy as a new approach to solving problems."

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