In an interview with RTL Radio on Wednesday, Romain Biever warned that although the solidarity sector is often framed in terms of commercial law and legal structures, this perspective overlooks the crucial role of citizen-led, voluntary initiatives. Organisations engaged in social, cultural, sports and charitable activities, many run by volunteers, are being sidelined in favour of business-oriented frameworks, he explained.
According to the ILES president, Luxembourg’s 2016 law on societal impact companies (SIS) was originally intended to support the social and solidarity economy. But in practice, he argued, it steered the ecosystem towards conventional business models, requiring SIS entities to adopt legal forms like limited companies or cooperatives in order to qualify for the label, something he sees as out of step with the sector’s civic roots.
He believes the solidarity economy is rooted in citizen engagement, not in profit-making structures. The shift towards regulating the sector exclusively through commercial legal frameworks, he said, risks alienating or even rendering invisible the many non-profit associations and community actors who have long contributed to this space.
When asked whether social economy actors are allowed to generate income, Biever clarified that they certainly can. Many of them employ staff and receive state subsidies to sustain operations. However, any profits are reinvested into the organisation’s mission, not distributed for personal gain. In his view, these organisations operate similarly to businesses in some ways, but their financial model serves their public purpose rather than private interests.
He emphasised that social enterprises function differently from traditional businesses. Rather than being driven by competition and profit, they are focused on collaboration and collective benefit. For example, even associations that organise concerts or sell food aren’t undermining larger industries, they are simply operating within a different ethos, he stated.
Still, Biever acknowledged that mistakes can happen, including in the non-profit sector. He noted that being motivated by social goals does not offer immunity from mismanagement. Referencing the recent scandal surrounding Caritas Luxembourg, he said the episode had cast a long shadow over the field.
What concerns him most, however, is how the situation has been handled: rather than reflecting on systemic flaws, the response has been to bring in administrative oversight and replace grassroots action with technocratic management. Biever argued this represents a clear departure from the spirit of civil society involvement, and that simply managing the aftermath of systemic failures, without interrogating their root causes, is deeply problematic.
The case has reinforced scepticism and made it more difficult for genuine grassroots organisations to earn public trust, Biever added. While he didn’t claim to know every detail of the Caritas case, he suggested that alternatives might have been possible if there had been a will to find solutions.
Despite these challenges, he sees hope in the sheer number of volunteers active in Luxembourg. He estimated that close to 200,000 people in the country are engaged in volunteer work, whether through cultural, sporting, or social initiatives. While he acknowledged that society is becoming more individualistic and self-focused, he insisted that this widespread civic engagement offers a meaningful counterbalance.
