This report was prepared by the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE) led by Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, Director, as part of the Programme of Work of the Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Programme. It was produced in collaboration with the European Union, as part of the commitments taken under its Social Economy Action Plan.
This report was drafted by Melis Aslan, Bruno De Menna, and Sofija Rakcejeva, Policy Analysts (CFE/LEED), under the supervision of Amal Chevreau, Head of the Social Economy and Innovation Unit (CFE/LEED). Nadim Ahmad, Deputy Director of CFE and Karen Maguire, Senior Counsellor in CFE, provided guidance, comments and suggestions.
The document benefited from inputs, comments, and country information from Brigitte Fellahi-Brognaux, Head of Unit for Inclusive and Social Entrepreneurship, Julien De Beys, Margit Perko, Miia Rossi-Gray, Baptiste Mandouze, Anna Galazka, Rúben Rebelo and Jaime-Manuel Duran Navarroas (Policy Officers) at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion as well as Pia Michelsen, Head of Sector at the VAT Unit and Albert Raedler, Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD).
The authors thank Sophie Harbour for her contributions to the background research and developing the chapters on care services and the country profiles on the institutional arrangements, Sandra Rego Ramos for her contributions to the background research and drafting of business support sections in the country profiles, and Anouchka Vié, Emmanuel Sadorge (Légicoop), Wojciech Bagiński, Michał Majcher and Krzysztof Góźdź (Impactiv.Law) for collecting the information for the taxation part of the country profiles. The following legal experts provided information for the taxation section of the country profiles: Bojan Huzanić (TPA Group, Croatian Chamber of Tax Advisors, Croatia), Martin Švalbach, Tomáš Janoško (PRK Partners, Czechia), Merlin Seeman, Kristel Tael-Same, Marit Kelgo (Hedman Law Firm, Estonia), Laura Straume (CORVUS, Latvia), Justinas Usonis, Audrius Bitinas (Vilnius University, Lithuania), Miriam Galandová, Samuel Kollár (PRK Partners, Slovakia), Levente Lajos (LLF, Hungary), Małgorzata Skawińska (WSPIA, University of University of Rzeszów, Worldwide Independent Lawyers League, Poland), Miłosz Piotrowski (Lexalis, Poland), Jarosław Krzysztofik (Rzeszowska Agencja Rozwoju Regionalnego, Poland), Wojciech Bagiński, Michał Majcher, Krzysztof Góźdź (Impactiv.Law, Poland), Emil Delchev (Delchev & Partners Law Firm, Bulgaria), Cristina Tararache (KPMG Advisory, Romania) and Roman Završek (Završek & Šnajder Law Firm, Slovenia).
The authors would like to thank the following people for their valuable feedback: Ana Llena Nozal, Senior Health Economist, and Ricarda Milstein, Health Policy Analyst, of the Health Division at the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs (ELS) for the care chapter, Marissa Plouin, Senior Policy Analyst, of the Social Policy Division (ELS), Camille Viros, Head of Unit, and Thomas Jimenez Kergonou, Policy Analyst/Economist (CFE/CITY), and Talia Melic, Policy Analyst (CFE/LEED) for their inputs on the housing chapter, and Bert Brys, Head of Unit, and Daniel Fichmann, Tax Policy Adviser, at the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration for their comments on the taxation chapter. Carolina Ferreira, Moe Shiojiri and Heesu Jang, Policy Analysts (CFE/LEED), and Defne Ulusoy, Léo Zimmerli, María Uceda López and Chiara Shimuzu, interns (CFE/LEED), performed additional research.
The OECD and the European Commission would like to warmly thank the 109 stakeholders who participated in the consultations and responded to the surveys circulated in November 2024.
The authors would like to thank Shayne MacLachlan, Jack Waters, and Bridgette Joyce for the layout and cover, as well as Elisa Campestrin for the infographics and Eloisa Cozar Navarrete for formatting assistance.