The social economy is gaining increasing recognition across Europe for its ability to deliver employment, social cohesion, and community resilience.
The social economy covers a variety of organisational models such as cooperatives, mutuals, associations, foundations, social enterprises, and charities, all sharing core values:
At EU level, the social economy is a vital part of the overall economy, representing 10% of all businesses in the EU and employing 11 million people. It is an integral part of the EU’s policy objective of delivering “an economy that works for people”.
The social economy makes a valuable contribution to the European social and economic progress through the creation of jobs and through the delivery of services in areas such as homecare, childcare, employment, retail, hospitality, environmental services, and social housing.
To ensure that its goals are met, the Commission supports the sector through initiatives and funding instruments. These include the Social Economy Action Plan and the exchange programme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, aiming to boost visibility, improve funding access, and foster cross-border collaboration.
The Social Economy Action Plan aims to boost visibility and understanding of social enterprises, ease access to EU funding and make social enterprises a part of the global political agenda.
Key Points:
How will it impact Irish civil society organisations?
Social enterprises as organisations are often struggling to find the right funding opportunities due to the lack of understanding of their functioning and their small size. By implementing the Action Plan recognition and understanding will be boosted and the access to EU funding programmes will be eased.
Social enterprises can benefit from a variety of European funding and support programmes such as:
Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs is a cross-border exchange programme which gives new or aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to learn from experienced entrepreneurs running small businesses in other countries. The exchange of experience takes place during a stay with the experienced entrepreneur, which helps the new entrepreneur acquire the skills needed to run a small firm. The host benefits from fresh perspectives on his/her business and gets the opportunity to cooperate with foreign partners or learn about new markets.
Key Points:
How will it impact Irish civil society organisations?
Social enterprises can apply as a new entrepreneur or a host entrepreneur and benefit from discovering new European markets, business partners and different ways of doing business.
European Funding Toolkit for Social Enterprises & their Support Organisations
Irish Social Enterprise Network
EU funding opportunities for the social economy
Decisions that are made at the EU level can have a big impact on our daily lives. At The Wheel we believe that citizens’ active participation in society is vital so they can play a part in influencing the decisions that affect them.
Here’s how you can connect with the EU:
Together.eu is an online community of pan-European active citizens interested in learning from each other and finding common ground on EU issues. Created by the European Parliament during the 2019 European elections, together.eu encourages everybody to participate in democracy through events and activities.
Together.eu connects people both locally and across Europe to meet, share knowledge, and learn new skills. The community has brought together more than 350,000 people who actively advocate the importance of voting, democracy and civic engagement. Today, together.eu stands as a vibrant, interconnected and growing community dedicated to advancing European democracy.
Check out the latest events organised by the European Parliament and the together.eu community, happening online and across Europe, by joining together.eu.
Following the European elections in June 2024, 14 MEPs representing Ireland's three constituencies, Dublin, South and Midlands-North-West, took their seats in the European Parliament on 16 July 2024 for Parliament's 10th term.
Due to demographic changes, Ireland gained one additional MEP, bringing the number of MEPs elected in 2024 to 14. The additional seat was allocated to the Midlands-North-West constituency. Going forward, the constituencies of Ireland South and Midlands-North-West will have five seats each, and the Dublin constituency will have four seats.
Who are your MEPs and how can you contact them? We have gathered the information for you!
Through involvement in EU-funded projects, you’ll deliver on current EU policy and programme goals while helping to shape future policy.
Learn more about the various EU funding programmes and the projects they support.
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