Council recommendation

Access to the labour market

Member States are recommended to support the contribution of the social economy in facilitating access to the labour market and promoting quality jobs for all, including by improving fair working conditions, health and safety at work, equality and non-discrimination.

This includes, for example, establishing partnerships with social economy entities to co-design and co-implement active labour market policies, supporting work integration social enterprises, and working with the social economy to offer tailored career guidance and training opportunities to NEETs. Member States are also encouraged to promote entrepreneurship in the social economy, to promote gender equality in the ecosystem, to facilitate business transfers to employees to form worker cooperatives, and to work with social economy entities to integrate persons with disabilities into the labour market.

Social inclusion

Member States are recommended to recognise and support the role of the social economy in providing accessible and high quality social and care services and housing, especially for disadvantaged groups, in close cooperation with publicly provided social services.

This includes working with social economy organisations in the development and provision of services of general interest, involving them in the design and delivery of person-centred social and care services, and working together in the design and delivery of care and support for children and young people, in line with the European Child Guarantee.

Skills

Member States are recommended to support training and skills development for the social economy.

This includes using skills intelligence to understand how the social economy can contribute to a skilled workforce and alleviate labour shortages, organising learning exchanges and promoting training opportunities for workers with a view to potential careers in the social economy.

Member States are also encouraged to create apprenticeship schemes in the social economy, to integrate social economy and social entrepreneurship skills into education at all levels and to establish national competence centres for social economy training.

Social innovation and sustainable economic development

Member States are recommended to strengthen the supporting role of social economy entities in promoting social innovation and key sectors of local development and employment.

This involves creating a favourable environment for social and place-based innovation, linking social economy policy with industrial policy and the transition to a digital, climate-neutral, and circular economy. It also involves adapting regulatory frameworks to support social economy entities in the circular economy, fostering local development through community-based social economy initiatives, boosting access to digital tools and new technologies in the social economy, and integrating social economy entities into existing business and innovation support ecosystems.

At the beginning of this section, Member States are recommended to develop policy and regulatory frameworks that support the social economy, in particular by developing comprehensive strategies or adapt existing ones in line with the Recommendation and other Union policy guidance.

These strategies should be supported by mechanisms for consultation and dialogue between public authorities and social economy actors, acknowledge the core principles and features of the social economy, strengthen cooperation with local and regional authorities, invest in developing the understanding of the social economy among public officials through training programmes, and reinforce the place of the social economy in international cooperation and development policies.

Concrete recommendations are made in the areas listed below.

Access to public and private funding

Member States are recommended to create an enabling environment for social finance at national, regional, and local levels.

This involves, for example, mapping existing financing structures for social economy entities and evaluating the effectiveness of existing support schemes. It also includes facilitating access to finance, tailoring business development and investment readiness support to their needs, and leveraging private finance, for example through public guarantee schemes.

Access to markets and public procurement

Member States are recommended to encourage their contracting authorities to purchase goods and services strategically, pursuing social objectives and considering social innovation and environmental goals.

This includes making full use of the instruments available under the Union's public procurement rules to adopt policy guidelines and procurement strategies, providing guidance at the appropriate administrative levels, raising awareness of the added value of socially responsible public procurement and promoting a structured, transparent and non-discriminatory dialogue with the social economy and other stakeholders.

The flexible provisions of the existing EU legal framework allow for flexibility in facilitating the access of social economy entities to the market, for example by promoting market dialogue, reserving contracts for work integration social enterprises or operators that employ persons with disabilities or disadvantaged workers, and dividing contracts into lots.

State aid

Member States are recommended to make the best use of the scope of the EU State aid rules to support the social economy.

This includes considering granting investment aid to small and medium-sized enterprises, risk-finance aid, start-up aid, aid schemes for the reintegration in the labour market of disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged workers, among others. In addition, Member States are encouraged to explore which services provided by social economy entities could be defined and financed as services of general economic interest and to make use of the possibilities to grant transparent amounts of de minimis aid.

Taxation

Member States are recommended to ensure that tax systems do not hinder the development of the social economy and to assess whether they are sufficiently supportive of its development.

This includes developing tax incentives for the social economy, reviewing the tax compliance burden for social economy entities and facilitating compliance on a practical level for public-benefit cross-border donations.

Social impact measurement and management

Member States are recommended to support the uptake of impact measurement and management practices by integrating social impact measurement and management practices and methodologies into national policy frameworks and programmes related to the social economy, by providing tailored support based on good practice to help social economy entities to adopt simple and practical impact measurement and management methodologies, and by encouraging social economy entities to measure their impact by building capacity through dedicated and cost-effective funding.

Visibility and recognition

Member States are recommended to raise awareness of the social economy and its contribution to social and environmental objectives.

This includes considering setting up or adapting specific legal forms, legal statuses, labels, or certification schemes for the social economy, supporting communication campaigns and awareness-raising events, and disseminating successful pilot initiatives and good practices.

Member States are also encouraged to monitor the development and performance of the social economy by promoting research and collecting quantitative and qualitative data.

The Commission will support the implementation of the Council recommendation by working together with Member States to develop enabling policy and regulatory frameworks for the social economy. This includes carrying out initiatives announced in the action plan on the social economy. Some of these initiatives are listed in the text of the Recommendation.

In regard to the implementation of the Council recommendation, Member States are recommended to review and, where appropriate, improve their administrative and institutional set-ups at all levels of government, for example by appointing social economy coordinators in national public institutions.

Member States are also recommended to monitor and evaluate at national level the steps taken to achieve the objectives set out in the Recommendation, including through regular dialogue with regional and local authorities and social economy entities and representative bodies.

Member States should report to the Commission on their progress in implementing the Recommendation no later than four years after its adoption and again five years thereafter.