The General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) sets out how much public funding an actor may receive from national authorities without the European Commission assessing each individual case. This includes subsidies, public investments, loans, and other state aid supporting the social and circular missions of reuse, repair, and recycling social enterprises.
The ongoing GBER revision presents an important window of opportunity to ensure state aid guides investments in economic activities with positive spillovers. In fact, despite accounting for at least 6.3% of the EU-employed population, state aid policies are largely underutilised in supporting social enterprises and the broader social economy.
This highlights the urgent need for substantial improvements through the GBER revision before its expiration by the end of 2026.
RREUSE and its network members formally call on EU and national policymakers to incorporate the following provisions within the revised General Block Exemption Regulation:
Policy paper
