​​​​​​​On 1 July, the second day of the 145th plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions, members adopted Mikel Irujo's opinion on the EU Action Plan for the Social Economy.

In the opinion, Mr Irujo, who was recently appointed Minister of Economic and Business Development in the Government of Navarre, stresses the potential of the social economy to transform the European economy but also points out a lack of adequate financial instruments and existing legal strains in certain member states. He dedicated particular attention to the promotion of education in social entrepreneurship at all educational levels from primary to higher.

There are currently 2 million social economy enterprises in Europe, representing 10% of all businesses in the EU. More than 11 million people – about 6% of the EU’s employees – work for social economy enterprises.