Spain: First EIB loan to a social economy enterprise - ILUNION receives EUR 35 million under the Juncker Plan

• Project promotes social inclusion and will create 200 new jobs
• The agreement will enable ILUNION to improve the energy efficiency of its industrial laundrettes and renovate its hotels
• Part of the funding will go towards researching and developing new technologies to help people with disabilities

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing ILUNION with EUR 35 million in financing with the objective of creating jobs for people with disabilities and investing in improving energy efficiency. This is the first loan made by the EIB to a social economy enterprise in Spain and it has received the backing of the Investment Plan for Europe, known as the ‘Juncker Plan’.

The agreement was signed in Brussels today by Vice-President of the EIB, Emma Navarro, and the President of ILUNION, Alberto Durán, during a ceremony attended by Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, and the President of the ONCE Group, Miguel Carballeda.

ILUNION is made up of enterprises from the ONCE social group, Spain’s largest employer of people with disabilities. The EIB funding under the Juncker Plan will provide the financing necessary to enable the group to implement its investment plan up to 2021. These investments concern the renovation of the group’s chain of industrial laundrettes to incorporate more energy-efficient technologies, the construction of a new hotel in Spain and the renovation of existing hotels, and the development of a range of devices to improve the lives of people with any type of disability. All of these measures share a single objective: to promote the employment of people with disabilities. The project will, in fact, make it possible to create 200 new permanent jobs plus a further 725 during the implementation phase.

During the signing ceremony held today in the EIB offices in Brussels, Vice-President of the European Commission, Jyrki Katainen said: "The project shows perfectly what the European Fund for Strategic Investments was created to support: it is highly innovative, promoting social inclusion, energy efficiency and job creation. ILUNION's success shows us once more that doing good and running a successful business are perfectly compatible. The Commission has put forward a pillar of social rights and is committed to increasing social investment, and this project is the embodiment of this commitment. And we aim to do even more to support the social economy in the future through the InvestEU Programme."

For her part, EIB Vice-President Emma Navarro, said: "We are delighted to support a project which will have a direct impact on creating employment for people with disabilities, and which will lead to the development of new technologies contributing to their integration. With this first loan to a social economy enterprise in Spain, the EU bank is achieving one of its biggest priorities: investing in energy efficiency - especially in the industry and tourism sectors, which are fundamental to the Spanish economy.”

The President of the ONCE Group, Miguel Carballeda, thanked the EIB and the Commission for their commitment to supporting disabled people and said the Group was “absolutely determined to create a more social Europe”. He also stressed that the Juncker Plan was a very important tool in the development of stable, sustainable and inclusive economies in Europe.

The President of ILUNION, Alberto Durán, added that "the agreement between the EIB and ILUNION will help to improve the social inclusion of people with disabilities, mainly through employment and improvements to the accessibility of products, services and working environments. It will also serve to modernise industrial facilities such as our laundrettes and our hotels, enabling us to attain excellence in responsible environmental management. The ONCE social group, which has been in existence for 80 years, has made ILUNION an inclusive social-economy success story which is continuing to grow and have positive effects on society, generating social and economic benefits”.

Energy efficiency and innovation

Thanks to the agreement signed with the EIB, ILUNION will be able to renew the equipment in its laundrettes, thus saving up to 60 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity each year. With these investments it will be able, for instance, to increase its energy efficiency by reusing the heat generated in the washing processes. Work to refurbish and re-equip its hotels and equipment will be carried out on ILUNION's premises in Andalusia, Extremadura, Castile-La Mancha and Murcia. Among other things, this will make the buildings more accessible to people with disabilities. The project includes the construction of a new hotel in a convergence region in Spain.  

Lastly, the funding from the EU bank will also be used to promote research, development and innovation (RDI) for the benefit of people with any type of disability, enabling the development of applications and software to facilitate their involvement in the working environment.