Implementation at a glance
The progress tracker below provides an overview of the implementation status of each strategic action within this key action area.
For more detailed information on individual measures, including their current status, description, and latest developments, click on the relevant measure further down the page to expand it.
The concrete actions are classified as follows:
- completed: the main deliverable has been carried out as planned. No further substantial implementation steps are planned for this specific action beyond standard follow-up activities or the use of the output.
- completed and continuing: the main deliverable conceived for the action has been completed, but by nature it involves an ongoing activity that continues beyond the initial output. The ‘one-off’ part has been completed, but the underlying support or coordination will continue.
- ongoing: implementation is still in progress. Either the main deliverable has not yet been fully achieved or the action was conceived as multiannual and is still being implemented.
- upcoming: for actions that have not yet started implementation.
- discontinued: the action will not be pursued further in the form announced in the 2021 action plan. This may be due to a change in the policy context (the original objective being overtaken by other initiatives) or the Commission deciding not to take further action after exploratory work.
Local and regional dimension
Work with regions, municipalities and local actors to develop practical guidance and tools, and to promote the exchange of best practices.
Status
Upcoming
Description
'Off the shelf’ toolkit that local and regional authorities can use to design, fund and deliver credible social economy strategies and policies. This will be accompanied by pilot actions.
Status
Upcoming
Description
Boost its work with public authorities, stakeholder communities and networks to promote the exchange of best practices, joint projects, and effective measures for the social economy across territories, supporting and complementing national efforts. Specific attention will be given to rural areas in the context of the EU rural action plan, the rural pact, and the strategy for generational renewal in agriculture.
Status
Completed and continuous
Description
Expand the European Social Economy Regions network to reinforce new regional and local partnerships in particular to boost digital and green transitions in territories.
Implementation
Through the European Social Economy Regions (ESER) network, the Commission has fostered a community of practitioners across Europe to promote the sharing of best practices and success stories through direct interactions and events. This community played an active role in the co-creation process of the transition pathway for the proximity and social economy ecosystem. At the beginning of 2023, a call for expressions of interest was launched to revitalise the ESER network and expand its membership. Several meetings of the network have taken place since then.
Status
Completed and continuous
Description
Encourage the use of Interreg programmes, the Interreg Europe Programme and the Smart Specialisation partnership for social economy to foster cross-border and interregional exchanges.
Implementation
Interreg programmes foster trust and collaboration between communities, supporting the development of the social economy at cross-border, transnational and interregional levels, as well as in outermost regions. Key examples include the Danube4SEecosystem project and the 3P4SSE project.
The Social Economy Partnership project brings regions together to collaborate across borders, expand innovative practices and stimulate the full potential of the internal market in order to expand the activities of social economy, through interregional collaboration activities. The Thematic Smart Specialisation Platforms encourage regions and stakeholders to collaborate in partnerships around shared smart specialisation priorities. These activities form part of the broader Smart Specialisation framework, supported within the Commission by the S3 Community of Practice.
The Interreg Europe Programme supports three key projects to promote the social economy. The SECON project helps regional and local authorities to improve their development policies to support social economy enterprises. The RESEES project strengthens regional social economy ecosystems by upskilling public bodies and stakeholders. The PROSECO project builds the capacity of authorities and companies to engage in social procurement, promoting inclusive employment and integrating social economy actors across nine EU regions. The Policy Learning Platform complements these efforts by organising workshops and webinars and publishing policy briefs on the social economy for regional stakeholders.
Status
Upcoming
Description
The Commission will support transnational partnerships to test and scale community-led sustainable tourism models based on social economy principles.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Enhance networking between rural businesses through the Enterprise Europe Network, as well as through calls for inter-regional cooperation through the European Social Economy Missions. The Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas will put a specific focus on entrepreneurship and social economy in rural areas.
Implementation
In 2023, a call for proposals under the SMP-COSME was launched to support the scaling-up of social economy businesses in rural areas through interregional cooperation. The call focused on the green and digital transition, sustainable agriculture and food systems, and education and training. Four projects were selected and are expected to run until the end of Q2/2026.
Status
Ongoing
Description
As announced in the Long term vision for EU’s rural areas (COM(2021)345 final), undertake a series of actions which will enable entrepreneurs and small businesses to move to rural areas and contribute to their adaptation to the changing economic environment, provide opportunities to innovative business practices, cooperate and cluster as well as develop new sectors of the economy.
Implementation
In May 2023, a webinar titled ‘Fostering social entrepreneurship in rural areas through local action’ took place under the Rural Pact. The webinar explored initiatives that have had a positive impact in rural areas through social entrepreneurship. The Rural Pact Community Platform, which was launched in June 2023, facilitates the exchange and sharing of good practices and is open to social economy entities in rural areas. Within the platform, the specific Community Group on Social Economy was created. This group enables members to exchange information, discuss policies and practices, and share surveys and partnership requests related to rural development and the social economy. Access to the group is available to Rural Pact members who have registered on the Rural Pact Community Platform. As part of the Rural Action Plan’s flagship initiative on ‘research and innovation for rural communities’, three projects were funded through a dedicated call focusing on social inclusion and the social economy in rural areas: Enhancing Social Innovation in Rural Areas (ESIRA), and the Social Economy for Resilience, Inclusion and Good life in Rural areas (SERIGO) and the Inspire Project (INSPIRE).
Status
Ongoing
Description
Work with cities to develop local green deals or green citizenship actions, by reinforcing the involvement of social economy actors and communities in the EU Covenant of Mayors, the European Urban Initiative, the Intelligent Cities Challenge Initiative, and the Circular Cities and Regions Initiative, the Just Transition Platform, the New European Bauhaus and the European Climate Pact.
Implementation
Within the European Urban Initiative, the first EUI-Innovative Actions call selected 14 projects under the theme of New European Bauhaus (for example, promoting innovative approaches to urban greening, with inclusiveness and citizen engagement at their core). The second call resulted in 22 projects promoting new solutions for urban greening, sustainable tourism and harnessing talent in shrinking cities. The third call with 20 additional selected projects focused on energy transition and urban technologies. The final and fourth call for proposal is planned for Q1/2026 with the specific aim of empowering small and medium-sized cities to apply urban innovation at the local level.
The Intelligent Cities Challenge Initiative aligns and integrates cities’ sustainability goals with the European Green Deal. During Phase 2 (2023–2025), it supported 79 cities from 18 EU Member States (12 mentor cities and 67 core cities) and concluded over 217 local green deals. The final conference took place in March 2025. Experience and outcomes generated through this initiative have been integrated into the EU Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.
The EU Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission supports 100 cities in the EU and 12 cities in countries associated to Horizon Europe in testing innovative cross-sectoral approaches, including for citizen engagement, stakeholder management and internal governance to accelerate their path to climate neutrality by 2030. These cities will act as experimentation and innovation hubs to enable all European cities to follow suit by 2050. At the core of the Mission are the “Climate City Contracts”, which define actionable pathways towards climate neutrality and are being developed and implemented by each participating city together with local stakeholders.
The New European Bauhaus has supported 5 lighthouse demonstrators across 11 Member States. A specific project (Social Economy Actors for the New European Bauhaus) has been implemented. This project has been complemented by other initiatives, such as the publications ‘Social and solidarity economy towards the NEB: observations and good practices’ and ‘Transforming Europe: the NEB and social economy integration’. Additionally, a specific Horizon Europe call for proposals titled ‘Bottom-up social entrepreneurship for the co-creation of neighbourhoods in line with the New European Bauhaus’ was launched in 2025.
The Just Transition Platform (JTP) is helping 96 territories and municipalities in all 27 Member States to design and implement decarbonisation strategies (including for economic diversification through stakeholder engagement, knowledge exchanges and advisory services). By actively involving social economy actors, local communities and civil society, it ensures that the vulnerable groups that are most affected by the transition towards climate neutrality are supported. Since 2021, the JTP has organised 11 conferences to discuss with stakeholders the challenges of the just transition process, including for cities (i.e. the session on climate-neutral cities in transition & conference closing). The JTP has also provided capacity-building to 55 territories and deployed the JTP Knowledge Hub with numerous case studies related to cities in transition.
Circular Cities and Regions Initiative supports 140+ cities and regions in designing and implementing place-based circular economy solutions through, technical assistance and peer learning. CCRI has demonstrated how local and regional authorities can work with social economy organisations and communities to deliver inclusive circular solutions, such as reuse and repair systems, circular construction and demolition schemes, textile and bio-waste valorisation and circular public procurement.
Status
Completed
Description
Support Member States and stakeholders to boost the social economy and social innovation in rural areas through the future EU network for the Common Agricultural Policy and further integrate the Clusters of Social and Ecological Innovation (CSEI) in European industrial cluster policy to provide guidance, support research and new capacity building, exchange of good practices and cross-border networking.
Implementation
In December 2021, a report on ‘Clusters of Social and Ecological Innovation’ was published. Building on this, the Eurocluster call opened in September 2022 for stakeholders in the social economy. This resulted in the launch of the SocialTech for Europe for Resilient and Responsible Ecosystems initiative, which aimed to support SMEs in the social economy through capacity-building activities, such as enhancing digital skills and improving access to technology. In October 2022, the new EU network for the Common Agricultural Policy was launched. As part of this initiative, a workshop titled ‘Young entrepreneurs – engines of innovation in rural areas’ was held. The objective was to support young entrepreneurs and innovation ecosystems in rural areas by showcasing successful examples from EU funding programmes. Additionally, the EU CAP Network Focus Group on Social Farming and Innovations was active from November 2022 to October 2023 and delivered a final report in November 2023.
Member State support and monitoring
Provide targeted support to Member States and monitor and report on the implementation of the Council recommendation.
Status
Completed
Description
Propose a Council recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions in 2023.
Implementation
The proposal was adopted by the Commission in June 2023. The Council adopted the Recommendation on 27 November 2023. The Recommendation aims to promote access to the labour market and social inclusion by supporting Member States in integrating the social economy in their policies and creating supportive measures and a favourable environment for social economy entities, including through collecting disaggregated data on sex and age (and, where feasible, other breakdowns). By supporting the social economy, the Recommendation also aims to drive social innovation, sustainable economic and industrial development, and to contribute to territorial cohesion in the Member States.
Status
Upcoming
Description
Publish a stocktaking report on the implementation of the Council recommendation on developing social economy framework conditions in 2028.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Organise webinars and workshops as of 2022 for public officials based on mapping exercises, collection and exchange of good practices in relation to various policy fields such as State aid, taxation, social investment, business transfers to employees, labels and certification systems, social impact measurement.
Implementation
The first series of workshops on State aid & Social Economy took place in the second quarter of 2023. This included two webinars and one in-person workshop. The second series of three workshops (this time focusing on social economy strategies) took place between March and June 2024. A third series was devoted to taxation in support of the social economy and took place between February and May 2025. A fourth series (focusing on social economy data and statistics) began in November 2025 and will continue into 2026. A fifth series on impact measurement and management will run in parallel.
In addition, a module comprising 10 workshops for social finance professionals was organised in 2022 under the EaSI Technical Assistance for Social Enterprise Finance programme. These workshops covered topics such as social impact measurement and worker buyouts. Similar workshops will continue under the InvestEU Advisory Hub.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Assist Member States in the definition of their strategies and measures for the social economy and support the work of social economy coordinators with a view to the implementation and follow-up on this action plan.
Implementation
The Commission organised a series of mutual learning workshops from March to June 2024 to assist Member States in developing their social economy strategies. 21 Member States participated, representing Member States at various stages of social economy development. The discussions focused on the key elements of effective strategies, such as setting clear objectives and a vision, establishing administrative and institutional structures to coordinate across government departments and levels, consulting stakeholders, and enhancing the visibility and recognition of the social economy. All workshop materials are available on the EU Social Economy Gateway.
Furthermore, the Commission is supporting a multi-country project titled “Supporting the Development of the Social Economy as a Driver for Growth” funded by the EU via the Technical Support Instrument. This two-year project, which is supported by OECD expertise, enables the participating Member States – Belgium (Wallonia), Greece, France, Croatia and Portugal – to exchange experiences and learn from each other when designing, adopting or implementing their social economy strategies.
International cooperation
Integrate the social economy into external cooperation and international dialogues.
Status
Upcoming
Description
Embed the social economy in external cooperation and international dialogues by providing specific training, skills development and social entrepreneurship support to public authorities and deploying projects in non-EU countries, including (potential) candidate countries, such as the upcoming Social Entrepreneurship Fund for the Southern Neighbourhood, in line with the priorities of the Pact for the Mediterranean.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Strengthen dialogue and collaboration on the social economy with key international partners such as the OECD, the UN Task Force for Social and Solidarity Economy and the International Labour Organization. The Commission will build on those initiatives and further promote the social economy on the international scene.
Implementation
The Commission followed and contributed to the preparation of the ILO conclusions on decent work and the social and solidarity economy and the OECD Recommendation on the Social and Solidarity Economy and Social Innovation, both of which were adopted in 2022. On 13 September 2023, the Commission gave a presentation on its proposal for a Council recommendation at the OECD Global Action Board. The Commission also contributed to the preparation of two UN General Assembly resolutions on promoting the social and solidarity economy for sustainable development – the first was adopted on 18 April 2023 and the second on 19 December 2024. The ILO and the Commission jointly hosted the Just Transition Pavilion to the United Nationals Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, in December 2023. The Commission is also contributing to the work of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in developing a standard for purpose-driven organisations (ISO/37011).
Status
Ongoing
Description
Promote the targeting of social economy and social entrepreneurship in the programmes under the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instruments, for example by engaging with EU delegations and public authorities in non-EU countries, to facilitate the development of dedicated measures for the social economy.
Implementation
The Commission organised an online training session for EU delegations worldwide in Q2/2025. It plans to organise regional workshops for Member State agencies in 2026 under the Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX) instrument.
Through its Socieux+ programme, the Commission has also supported sharing of practices in a national dialogue in Guatemala on the social and solidarity economy, with a specific focus on opportunities to promote inclusive economic growth policies.
Through the TAIEX instrument, the Commission has also implemented targeted activities such as workshops supporting local authorities in empowering women entrepreneurship in Serbia and return-to-work and entrepreneurship schemes in Algeria, as well as a study visit on empowering women in circular entrepreneurship for a greener future in Moldova.
Status
Ongoing
Description
Improve access to finance for social entrepreneurs in third countries by launching actions to boost grassroots initiatives and support intermediaries to develop financial products adapted to the needs of social economy entities.
Implementation
Western Balkans:
The Commission supports regional programmes to help grassroot initiatives through the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) Entrepreneurship Academy, which periodically targets and supports social enterprises. EFSE’s recent programme in Ukraine provided grants to social enterprises (link in Ukrainian only). In September 2025, the Commission signed a grant agreement with Impact Europe to support social entrepreneurship in the Western Balkans. Additionally, a targeted project under the Instrument for the Pre-accession Assistance helps Roma entrepreneurs access socio-economic opportunities and income generation.
Southern Neighbourhood:
Two regional projects supporting the social economy have been approved by the Commission.
Impact Together! strengthens the social economy ecosystem in Southern Neighbourhood countries by building capacity, improving access to finance through regional and national impact funds, and initiating policy dialogues to promote recognition and support from public authorities and investors.
The Social Entrepreneurship Fund (SEF) will be established by the Commission and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). The SEF is a blending instrument that offers grants, loans, equity, debt and mezzanine financing to support social entrepreneurs in scaling up.
Eastern Partnership:
Collaborate for Impact was a regional programme that strengthened the social entrepreneurship ecosystem across five Eastern Partnership countries. It ended on 31 August 2025. It increased access to finance for social enterprises by establishing small financing vehicles and building investors’ communities. The programme provided financial and non-financial support to third parties and ran three impact funds (in Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine). It used innovative financing instruments by blending grants and zero-interest loans, while providing training and mentoring on impact measurement and investor-pitching.
Support to Microfinance Providers and Other Social Economy Actors in Ukraine supports micro and small entrepreneurs, focusing on vulnerable groups and non-profit or limited-profit social economy actors.
EU4Youth equips young people (especially disadvantaged and vulnerable groups) with entrepreneurial, digital and green skills. The programme expands social entrepreneurship education and provides financial and technical support to youth-led enterprises, enabling them to build sustainable, impact-driven businesses. Networking, mentorship and cross-border exchanges help embed social entrepreneurship in national systems. In Ukraine, targeted projects support young veterans, internally displaced persons and youth centres in launching social enterprises.
Women in Business (Phase II) improves access to finance for women-led enterprises by mobilising capital, strengthening financial institutions and providing training, mentoring and advisory support. The programme enables banks to develop products for women entrepreneurs and helps SMEs scale up, thus fostering inclusive growth and strengthening the social economy.