Community law, state aid and social services of general interest Bieke Comer For BFSE Milan 6/12/ 2011

Focus of the strand Application of the State aid rules in social economy: –Social Economy: Entreprise according to competition law Prohibition of State Aid! Which exceptions are used in relation to ESF and Social economy?

Exemptions on the state aid prohibition General Block Exemption Rules (GBER)ex. Training, Disabled workers De Minimis: no more than euro within 3 years Services of general economical interest (SGEI) or Social services of general interest (SSGI)

Aim of the Strand Examine how Member States apply state aid exemption rules in relation to SE Examine the problems/ questions that rised in applying the state aid rules Formulate recommendations to the Commission and the Member States

1. Examine how Member States apply state aid exemption rules in relation to SE Workshops with and by the partners of the network Study by an expert: Questionnaire and desk research

1. Examine how Member States apply state aid exemption rules in relation to SE Results So Far: State Aid exemption rules are little known and little used the main solution is the de minimis exemption and the GBER

2. Examine the problems/ questions that rised in applying the state aid rules Not every MS is aware that State aid rules are applicable and the consequences of the state aid rules Regulation is not clear and there is a lot of uncertainty on how to use the exemptions Procedures are difficult and conditions are heavy for smaller projects De minimis is a more popular solution, as it is flexible for ESF projects.

2. Examine the problems/ questions that rised in applying the state aid rules De minimis is the most popular solution BUT – main condition: transparancy? – if more than euros in 3 years: organisation can lose all state aid => High risque for the social entreprises that organise an ESF - project

3. Formulate reccommendations to the Commission and the Member States To the Member state (ESF Authoroties) When designing new ESF programmes, check on the State aid rules GBER en SGEI can be good solutions for Social Economy Get information about these regulations

3. Formulate reccommendations to the Commission and the Member States To the EU: –Make procedures and regulations more flexible so it can be more adapted to ESF projects Ex.: For the notification on the base of GBER, managing authorities need a legal base, a call is not enough.

3. Formulate reccommendations to the Commission and the Member States To the EU: Social entreprises are not the same as normal economical entreprises State aid rules should take these differences more into account

Next steps Make our reccomendations more precise More suggestions? More good practices? New regulations on the social services of general interest are announced Try to find out how they can be used in social economy