Cooperatives Europe’s position ahead of the mid-term review of the Social Economy Action Plan

On 16 July, Cooperatives Europe responded to a public consultation ahead of the mid-term review of the Social Economy Action Plan (SEAP) by the European Commission. This consultation aims to take stock of the implementation of the Action Plan in 2025, as well as identify progress and new developments.

We welcome this consultation and the intention of the European Commission to assess the progress made since the adoption of the SEAP in 2021. After consultation of our own members for several weeks, it became clear that the overall implementation of the Plan is very heterogenous across and within Member States. While several Member States are in the process of creating national or regional strategies for the social economy, many areas still require further and deeper actions at both EU and national levels.

Key challenges to advancing the social economy and cooperativism in Europe include: (i) a lack of overall funding, (ii) differing perceptions of the social economy across Member States and, (iii) a lack of interministerial coordination and fragmentation of responsibilities across different levels of government (due to the intersectoral nature of the social economy and its roots in local communities).

Our response to the consultation called for further actions to be taken at both EU and national level to accelerate the implementation of the Plan by 2030, such as (among others):

• Encourage the creation of specific national-level infrastructures specialized in the social economy with representative from all the families of the social economy and the State.
• Secure dedicated funding for the social economy in the next EU long-term budget (MFF) and increase access to public and private funding for SEOs in Member States, with the development of flexible financial tools that are compatible with the cooperative model and its ownership structure.
• Strengthen inter-ministerial coordination at Member State level for better coherence and visibility of support measures.
• Increase investments in data gathering and evaluation tools to allow public authorities and SEOs to assess their progress and improve performance based on evidence.
• Encourage Member States to adapt their legal framework, particularly when it comes to tax regimes, State aid and public procurement rules, to better reflect the specificities and public interest mission of social economy entities, including cooperatives.

Find all our recommendations in our position here.