EuCIE is the result of the common will of several countries to promote the same inclusive business model on a European scale.
From 2015, at the UNEA annual congress, the French and Spanish federations of inclusive enterprises (UNEA and CONACEE) expressed a desire for European collaboration and initially envisaged transnational participation. The objective formulated is to promote and strengthen the inclusion model of people with disabilities in the labour market.
In May 2016, at its General Assembly, UNEA adopted a motion for an European orientation. In the presence of Albert Campabadal, President of CONACEE, and with the support of Guillaume Balas, Member of the European Parliament, and Sandrine Dhellemmes, then Head of Social and Disability Inclusion within Société Générale Group, Stéphane Foisy, then President of UNEA, said:
“It is now time to write, with other European organizations, the foundations of professional social inclusion for the most vulnerable disabled people in an entrepreneurial model.”
EuCIE was born
On 11th January 2017, in Brussels, at the European Parliament, during the European Conference of Inclusive Enterprises, the main European representations of the sector employing mainly people with disabilities signed the constituent charter of EuCIE (European Confederation of Inclusive Enterprises).
In June 2017, the four organizations Eweta (Belgium, Walliona), UNEA (France), bag if (Germany) and CONACEE (Spain) affirmed their union in order to promote their actions at European level. A double objective was then formulated:
- Represent, promote and develop the inclusive business model and their entrepreneurial freedom as a strategic lever of the European Union’s policy of active inclusion and empowerment of people with disabilities;
- Increase and promote universal European law guaranteeing employees with disabilities compensation for their reduced capacity to work, without discrimination and without limitation or quota restriction.
A few months later, on 24th of October 2017, EuCIE held its first congress in Valencia, Spain.
