The EU2020 strategy set the ambitious target of reducing 20 millions of persons living in poverty, but it is hard to find how the actions taken at national level will make it real. On top of that, the austerity measures adopted in several countries against the crisis created side effects further exacerbating the situation of people living in poverty and other vulnerable groups.

The Christian Workers movement in Wallonia, (MOC) and the Flemish sister organisation ACW undertook already in 2010 a broad process of consultation and reflection on the European policies against poverty with organised civil society and 

The Social Platform hosted an in-depth discussion of what is meant by social enterprise, social business and social entrepreneurship during its working group on 4th October. The discussion was led by CEDAG vice president Ariane Rodert who is also rapporteur for an opinion of the EESC on the subject, and by Bruno Roelants, General Secretary of CECOP. (Reminder: CEDAG will develop this theme further in an open meeting taking place on 25th November in Brussels)

The exploratory opinion by the EESC stems from the Single Market Act: social enterprise is one of the 12 levers; it’s also mentioned in the European Platform Against Poverty, one of the flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy. In the opinion the preferred term used is social enterprise, not social entrepreneurship. The thinking behind this is the desire to support all sections of lifecycle - not just the stage of entrepreneurship, is only one part of the whole concept of social entreprise.

 The key criteria linked to the definition of social enterprise are: