On 23 February 2010, EFC secretariat met Grégoire Schöller, member of the Cabinet of Michel Barnier, EU Commissioner for the internal market and services, responsible for company law issues, and therefore questions related to the European Foundation Statute.

Mr Barnier’s Cabinet is considering potential action to promote social entrepreneurship and social innovation in line with the proposals announced by the Commissioner during his hearing at the European Parliament on 13 January 2010. In particular, he mentioned that he would consider a series of new initiatives among which a European Statute for foundations and philanthropic bodies and a social business act to promote businesses which also attempt to fight against social exclusion.

At this stage and before launching any work with the EC Directorate General for Internal Market and Services ,  the Cabinet  is sounding out various stakeholders to see how best to facilitate the development of social “entrepreneurship” at EU level. .

There is no specific position in favour or against any specific legal instruments, including the European Foundation Statute, as long as they can help achieve the set objectives i.e. to boost social innovation. The cabinet should agree upon a proposal to move forward by early April.  The EFC recalled that this is the right time to move forward for a European Foundation Statute

EFC members interested in obtaining further information are invited to contact the EFC secretariat at eu@efc.be   

For further details on the European Foundation Statute, please visit the EFS dedicated webpage at http://www.efc.be/EuropeanFoundationStatute/Pages/EuropeanFoundationStatute.aspx  

For further information on Mr Barnier’s hearing, see EFC Briefing “Commissioner-designate announces plans to work on European Foundation Statute” http://www.efc.be/EUAdvocacy/EU%20Communiqus%20%20Briefings/befc1008.pdf