On 5 December 2025 the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions & Cities), together with the European Commission (EU Employment and Skills), launched their new report “Social Economy in Europe – Contributing to competitiveness and prosperity”.

Taking as a point of departure two major challenges our society is currently confronted with – ensuring (access) to quality care and housing – the publication, in its first part:
–         analyses a number of sub-challenges the care and housing sector are currently facing;
–         highlights – also through reference to good practices in various EU Member States – the potential of the social economy in developing and implementing innovative solutions in different type of territories (including rural areas), without nevertheless also
–         stressing constraints the social economy is facing;
–         outlines possible policy solutions that would allow the potential of the social economy to be fully exploited and expanded for the benefit of cities, regions and Member States.

The publication clearly presents the social economy not as a stand-alone player, but an actor rooted within and acting with and for (local) communities. Also, multiple references are made to the integrated approach (focusing on multiple needs) social economy organisations take in their activities – with regard to the two focus topics this means going much beyond mere housing or/and care-related services.

The second part of the report takes a closer look at framework conditions for social economy development, with a specific focus on institutional arrangements, business support and taxation at different levels (Member States, regions and municipalities). Again, on the basis of a number of practice examples, concrete proposals for improving existing policies are made.

A must-read for local, regional and national governments – including those working on local, regional and national social economy action plans and others which are still hesitating to do this.

Finally, given the current debate around the MFF and the future of EU Cohesion Policy, including the role of the regional level, we would like to quote the following passage of the report:
“Strengthening governance structures at the regional level helps national governments better manage overlaps between policy areas and design interventions that are more aligned with the unique characteristics of different places. As regions take on a more strategic role in the economic, social and territorial development of their areas, they can become pivotal partners in implementing targeted solutions to complex, cross-cutting challenges, to which many social economy entities contribute.”

Find the report here:

https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/social-economy-in-europe_3432de93-en.html