Evaluation of European Social Fund 2014-2020

Key points

The EESC:

• agrees that the European Social Fund (ESF) in the period 2014-2020 made a significant contribution to promoting employability, education and training, and to fighting social exclusion;
• calls for more investment in order to tackle labour market mismatches, especially for women, young people, the long-term unemployed, migrants, and vulnerable groups, such as those with disabilities;
• considers that resources for public employment services and resources directed at the governance and administrative capacity of the public sector should be increased accordingly;
• emphasises the need for more investment in inclusive, high-quality education and training in order to address skills gaps and underemployment, and to provide fair working conditions for workers, especially in new forms of employment;
• highlights the need to support genuine entrepreneurship and self-employment through access to credit and financial training, while earmarking an adequate share of ESF resources for projects led by smaller organisations;
• suggests that the programmes co-financed by the ESF should be integrated into the European Semester, in order to address Member States' economic and social challenges effectively;
• recommends better coordination among national authorities to prevent duplication between ESF programmes and other European funds;
• advocates for meaningful involvement of the social partners and civil society in decision-making at all stages, and calls for adequate ESF funding in order to enhance their capacity for social and civil dialogue;
• calls for simpler procedures and a less bureaucratic approach, in order to improve access to ESF funding for employment, training, education and poverty-fighting initiatives;
• believes that transparent communication at all levels must be an integral part of ESF programming.