Short Description 

This study gives an overview of the State Aid rules applicable to social service providers, including for persons with disabilities, and to social economy enterprises, as well as covering the most recent developments regarding the revision of the EU State Aid Framework. The explanation of State Aid rules contained in Chapter 1 is complemented by a more thorough description of those rules in Annex 2. The study, then, assesses the opportunities that the EU-level legal framework on State aid in force offers to providers of social services and social economy enterprises, focusing in both cases on those delivering training and offering employment for persons with disabilities. It also presents and analyses the most recurrent challenges encountered by key stakeholders when making use of four main instruments of the EU State Aid Framework (Chapter 2). Moreover, the study presents promising practices which in this context in the application of State aid rules for the development of the social economy and of service providers for people with disabilities (Chapter 3). Finally, Chapter 4 presents key findings from the research and proposes a range of policy recommendations addressed to the European Commission, to policy makers and public authorities in the EU Member States, and to those social economy/not-for-profit organisations delivering social services, with a focus on the field of disability. Annex I contains the list organisations interviews and a short description on the interview partners from the 8 EU Member States covered by this Study.

Report

Executive summaries

English German GreekItalian Bulgarian Portuguese

Author 

Valentina Caimi (CEO and founder of LinkinEurope SPRL), Mathias Maucher (independent researcher)

Citation  

EASPD (2023). Impact of State Aid on the Development of the Social Economy and on Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities. Brussels.

Date 

Brussels, November 2023.