The depth of the crisis is undeniable. The Great Recession - which began in 2008 and does not end yet - is of a magnitude equivalent to the crisis of the 30´s or the crisis of the 1970s. It is the third great crisis of the last century, one every 40 years of distance.

Europe is experiencing specific manifestations of the crisis, specially around its joint project of the European Union. A project that is more confronted than ever with its citizens and that is been transformed by the crisis and the enlargement to the new partners. That’s why the debate on the validity of the foundations of the European Union is more relevant than ever.

In a wider perspective, beyond Europe, the special report of the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat points 5 big challenges for our society:
severe poverty, social wounds of inequality , The risks of contemporary financialization, the injustice of violence or the neglected fragility of the land as our common home.

The special report is clearly inspired on the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium of Pope Francis and his references to the effects of the economy of exclusion, the idolatry of money, money that governs instead of serving, or inequality that generates violence.

The report also hopes to appeal to the new vision (Promotio Iustitiae No. 121, 2016/1, 23): "To be effective, any response to these challenges of poverty, inequality, unregulated financialization, social conflict and Environmental degradation will have to be shaped by a strong vision of the common good. By participating in the common good, people are linked in a shared social life, which enables them to realize their human dignity. The effective promotion of the common good counteracts the serious threats posed to human dignity by the realities of poverty, inequality and social conflict. (...) A vision of the common good of the human community and the ecological community will therefore be an essential guide in responding to the challenges pointed out by Pope Francisco"

From this analysis and after the first meeting which helped us place in the activities that each institution was carrying out, the coordinators of the cluster promoted a process of consultation that eventually came up with a proposal to divide the work of this cluster into two complementary research projects, and the invitation to the researchers to link to one of them. The first would be about the concept of humanistic management of firms and the second on the welfare society and the basic income. Two concept notes have been developed for each project and contributions are already being collected. The short-term objective will be to develop technical articles on the subject in order to propose a joint publication.