It provides the conclusions of SEE’s Social Finance Working Group, which gathers organizations representing both the demand and the supply sides of social economy finance, the so-called social finance providers. Together they have highlighted the barriers faced by social finance providers in accessing and utilizing the InvestEU fund, particularly its Social Investment and Skills windows.
The paper emphasizes the potential of InvestEU to bolster the social economy ecosystem. Despite this potential, challenges remain that hinder the fund's effectiveness in promoting and sustaining the social economy. This is evidenced by a significant funding gap estimated at EUR 1 billion in 2022, with a microfinance gap of EUR 12.9 billion annually across the EU.
The paper highlights in particular 8 challenges and, to overcome these, it proposes concrete and practical recommendations:
Increased transparency : adding more information on operations approved and beneficiaries to the InvestEU portal
Harmonised requirements and process : standardised decision process and reporting mechanism and unify state aid requirements.
Simplify the application and granting process of InvestEU Guarantees and top-up the InvestEU Fund to reach 2027
Facilitate access to other windows for financial intermediaries : standardise the framework for product eligibility criteria.
Diversify the financial instruments granted under InvestEU : design different instruments.
Blending instruments and involve social economy actors in the design of new financial instruments
Consider a co-investment facility for foundations under Invest EU as was mentioned in the SEAP
Investment advisory hub : consider more SE actors including the different SE families.
The InvestEU Fund supports private and public investment in four policy areas that are important priorities for the Union and bring high EU added value: sustainable infrastructure; research, innovation and digitalisation; small and medium enterprises; and social investment and skills.