On 14 April 2026 the European Commission has launched a call dedicted at improving various types of statistical data: Call: SMP-ESS-2026-NA-BOP-IBA - Development or improvement of data for updated ESA and BPM, including quality and transmission improvements, and execution of the GNI control cycle
One of the strands in the call is decicated to social economy satellite accounts, a statistical tool to improve the data quality about the (size of the) social economy in a given country.
This is a restricted call and only institutions in countries which are eligible and on this list of NSIs and other national authorities can apply. These Institutions can apply directly via the link in the invitation letter to submit a proposal which they received. Other institutions in EU or EFTA countries can apply via one of the institutions on this list in the name of these institutions. Such interested institutions should contact their National Statistical Institute or one of the authorities in their country on the list.
More details about the strand on social economy satellite accounts
Project 6: Research work on improving existing or developing new experimental statistics on social economy satellite accounts, in line with the Council recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions
The Commission’s Social Economy Action Plan (SEAP), adopted in December 2021, provides a definition of the social economy and sets out measures to help mobilise the full potential of the ecosystem.
As shown in the Commission’s Study on benchmarking the socio-economic performance of the EU social economy (2024), relevant data and statistics are key to better understanding the social economy business models and ensuring evidence-based policy. However, existing data on the social economy is often scarce, incomplete and difficult to compare. As a result, statistics on the size, workforce, development and challenges of the social economy are still lacking.
The Council recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions (2023) recommends Member States to monitor the development and performance of the social economy by stimulating research and collecting statistics and quantitative and qualitative data, in particular by promoting cooperation between public authorities to develop statistics while widening the range of information sources, and by expanding their national accounting systems in order to collect supplementary and comparable data through satellite accounts.
This project is aligned with this recommendation and aims to support Member States and EFTA countries in improving existing or developing new satellite accounts for the social economy.
In the 2025 SNA, the social economy is included under thematic accounts for non-profit institutions (chapter 31). As it stands, the integrated framework of national accounts provides a limited view of the importance of social economy entities in the economy, as a large number of these entities are likely to be subsumed within the corporations, non-profit organisations serving households and general government aggregates.
To increase this visibility, guidelines for thematic accounts on social economy entities have been developed over the years, which have allowed some Member States to successfully expand their national accounts systems and develop satellite accounts for the social economy, such as Portugal and Poland.
Proposals under this project should therefore take into account these new developments and the methodologies and classifications provided by the United Nations Handbook of National Accounting: Satellite Account on Non-profit and Related Institutions and Volunteer Work (2018) and the Manual for drawing up the satellite accounts of companies in the social economy: co-operatives and mutual societies (2006) of the Centre International de Recherches et d’Information sur l’Economie Publique, Sociale et Coopérative (CIRIEC).
Proposals should include the following sub-activities a) to h):
a) Defining the scope of the social economy, specifying which units are in scope and considering the inclusion of profit and non-profit institutions.
b) Identifying the economic activities of these units and their sector classification and determining whether they are already included in the national accounts.
c) Identifying units within the defined scope but not currently included in national accounts. Exploring methodologies for integrating these units in a satellite account while ensuring coherence with the national account framework.
d) Developing and testing data collection methods and setting up elementary accounts tables for the social economy for any recent reference year. As a minimum, include data on employment, the production account and the generation of income account.
e) Including voluntary activity in the employment data of the reporting units and assessing how this activity is recorded (numbers of workers, hours worked, etc.).
f) Assessing the quality of the collected data, ensuring consistency over time and comparability with other countries.
g) Assessing the feasibility and conditions for producing satellite accounts for the social economy on a regular basis (annually or multi-annually). Recommend strategies for institutionalising these accounts within the national statistical system.
h) Identifying potential methodological challenges and proposing solutions for improvement.
This project aims at developing a satellite account for the social economy for Member States and EFTA countries.
Deliverables:
1) Concise interim report (in MS Word or PDF format) to be submitted midway through the project, presenting the progress made, the difficulties encountered and a roadmap for the remaining work until the end of the project.
2) Transmit experimental statistics on social economy satellite accounts in appropriate format (e.g. MS Excel).
3) Final project report (in MS Word or PDF format) to be provided before the end of the project, by the data delivery deadline at the latest, which includes:
a. A description of activities implemented, and quality analysis conducted to develop experimental statistics, demonstrating in particular expected quality and revision aspects.
b. A detailed description of the investigations carried out and their results.
c. A detailed description of the methods and sources used for the experimental social economy satellite accounts.
d. Experimental data for a recent year in Excel format.
e. Background data and calculations in Excel format as far as necessary for understanding and checking the experimental data.
f. An assessment of the quality of the experimental data, their sustainability over time and their comparability with other countries.
4) On request by Eurostat, present (e.g. in PowerPoint) the work undertaken, results of the project and assessment of the results to expert groups and workshops organised by the European Commission.
Project duration: The duration of the projects should be between 12 and 24 months. A different project duration should be well justified.
Opening date: 14 April 2026
Deadline for applications: 16 June 2026 17:00:00 Brussels time
Indicative timeline
Evaluation: June - August 2026
Information on evaluation results: September 2026
Grant Agreement signature: October 2026
Starting Date: November 2026