New EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation

The European Parliament and the Council have reached a political agreement on a Commission proposal for a new EU programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) with a proposed budget of €815 million for the 2014-20 period.

EaSI will support Member States efforts in the design and implementation of employment and social reforms at European, national as well as regional and local levels by means of policy coordination and the identification, analysis and sharing of good practice.

EaSI integrates and extends the coverage of three existing programmes, including PROGRESS, the Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity (this finances the activities of a number of social interest organisations such as AGE-Platform Europe). The total proposed budget for this programme is around €500 million for the period 2014-2020.

The political agreement should be endorsed by the European Parliament and Council before the end of 2013 to allow the launching of EaSI in January 2014. 

For more information:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52011PC0609:EN:NOT