Confederación Empresarial Española de Economía Social (CEPES)

The Confederación Empresarial Española de la Economía Social (CEPES) was founded in 1992 and is Spain's highest national representative body for the social economy, headquartered in Madrid. It comprises dozens of national or regional unions and sectoral bodies, representing the interests of diverse social-economy actors including cooperatives, worker-owned companies, mutual societies, work-integration enterprises, special employment centres, fishermen's guilds and disability-sector associations. CEPES brings together tens of thousands of enterprises accounting for about one-tenth of Spain's GDP, and serves as the unified voice of Spain's social economy externally, participating in relevant European and international organisations.