EASI performance in 2017-2018 : executive summary of the EaSI performance monitoring report 2017-2018.
Date: 2020-03-25
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
Subjects: EU programme, employment aid, fight against unemployment, humanisation of work, innovation, microloan, monitoring report, poverty, social integration, social security, working conditions

EASI PERFORMANCE 
IN 2017-2018 

Executive summary of the EaSI 
Performance Monitoring Report 2017-2018 

Written by PPMI
June - 2019]

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Directorate F - 
Investment
Unit F.3 - Programming and Planning 

Email: EMPL-F3-UNIT@ec.europa.eu 

European Commission 

European Commission 
B-1049 Brussels

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

EASI PERFORMANCE 
IN 2017-2018 

European Commission 
Directorate-General for Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion 
Directorate F - Investment and Planning

LEGAL NOTICE 

Manuscript completed in June 2019

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EASI PERFORMANCE IN 2017-2018 
Executive summary of the EaSI Performance Monitoring Report 2017-2018 

The European Union Programme for  Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) provides 
financial support to promote a high level of quality and sustainable employment, guarantee 
adequate and decent social protection, combat social exclusion and poverty and improve 
working conditions across the EU. EaSI is structured into three axes: 

• Progress  axis  focuses  on  providing  support  to  the  policymaking  and
implementation process through production of policy evidence, organisation of
information  sharing  and  mutual  learning  activities,  funding  social  policy
experimentation  projects  and  providing  capacity  building  support  to  EU  and
national organisations.

• EURES axis aims to improve geographical labour mobility in the EU through
making  information  on  placements  more  transparent  and  accessible  as  well  as
funding the actual services for jobseekers and employers.

• Microfinance  and  social  entrepreneurship  (MF/SE)  axis  aims  to  improve
access to finance  for vulnerable  people, micro- and  social enterprises by
providing  funding  for  financial  intermediaries  and  capacity  building  of  relevant
actors.

In  particular,  the  Programme  aims  to  act  as  a  catalyst  for  innovative  solutions 
through  social  policy  experimentation  to  assist  Member  States  in  improving  their 
policies  in  employment  and  social  affairs  that  respond  to  social  needs  and  challenges. 
Another important goal of the Programme is to foster transnational partnerships and 
networking between public, private and third-sector actors as well as supporting 
their involvement in designing and implementing new approaches to cope with pressing 
social and economic trends. 

This executive summary presents the key takeaways from the third EaSI monitoring report 
covering the years 2017 and 2018. The report incorporates stakeholders’ views on EaSI 
operations in 2017 and 2018. 

EASI PERFORMANCE IN 2017-2018 

FINANCIAL IMPLEMENTATION 

On 18 July 2018, Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 on the financial rules applicable to 
the general budget of the Union1 provided that the allocation of funding foreseen in the 
original EaSI Regulation should be treated as indicative and not binding, so that EaSI is 
able to  ‘swiftly provide  adequate resources to  support changing political priorities’.  This 
regulation has also altered the indicative percentages that shall apply on average over the 
whole period of the Programme to the axes, namely: 

•
•
•

at least 55 % to the Progress axis;
at least 18 % to the EURES axis;
at least 18 % to the Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship axis.

In  2017  and  2018,  the  Commission  has  committed  more  than  EUR 257  million  for  the 
implementation of all the programme’s activities. Table 1 shows the detailed distribution 
of financial commitments per EaSI axes in 2017 and 2018. An additional EUR 5.6 million 
was allocated for administrative support of the Programme. 

1 Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the 
financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) 
No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 
223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 
966/2012 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32018R1046 

1 

Table 1. Total commitments of EaSI in 2017 and 2018 per axis2 
Progress 
€ 63 710 913 
€ 68 140 021 
€ 131 850 934  € 54 459 675  € 65 777 119  € 5 606 966 

EURES 
€ 24 523 682  € 36 019 100  € 3 447 704 
€ 29 935 993  € 29 758 019  € 2 159 262 

Total commitments in 2017 
Total commitments in 2018 
Total commitments in 2017-2018 
Share in axis/programme in 2017-2018  51% 

21% 

26% 

2% 

MF/SE 

Administrative  Overall 

€ 127 701 400 
€ 129 993 295 
€ 257 694 695 

As shown in Table 2, the implementation of the EaSI Work Programmes in 2017 
and  2018  follows  the  indicative  allocations  of  funding  per  axes,  as  foreseen  in 
the  Omnibus  Regulation.  In  2017-2018,  the  Commission  has  allocated  slightly  less 
funding for the activities under Progress axis and slightly more for activities under EURES 
and MF/SE axes. Looking at the amounts  of  funding allocated per axes since 2014, the 
Programme is well in line with the indicative amounts provided by the Omnibus Regulation. 
It  is  understandable  that  the  share  of  funding  allocated  for  the  Progress  axis  tends  to 
fluctuate  from  one  year  to  another,  since  the  Progress  axis  aims  to  react  to  changing 
political priorities and includes many smaller and diverse activities (such as studies and 
events), compared to the other two axes. 

Table  2.  Share  of  total  commitments  of  EaSI  by  monitoring  period,  compared  to  EaSI 
Regulation 

Share in axis/programme in 2018 
Share in axis/programme in 2017 
Share in axis/programme in 2016 
Share in axis/programme in 2015 
Share in axis/ programme in 2014 

Average shares in 2014-2018 
Share planned in the Omnibus Regulation 

Progress 

EURES 

MF/SE 

52% ▼ 
50% ▼ 
59% ▲ 
56% ►  
60% ▲ 

56% ► 

55%  

23% ▲ 
19% ▲ 
19% ► 
19% ► 
18% ► 

20% ▲ 

18% 

23% ▲ 
28% ▲ 
23% ▲ 
25% ▲ 
22% ▲ 

24% ▲ 

18% 

Source: calculations from previous EaSI Performance Monitoring Reports for 2014m and 2015-2016. Note: Differences are 
compared to the shares indicated in the Omnibus Regulation. A difference of -1% to +1% is marked as ►. 

In what follows, the executive summary provides a review of the key achievements under 
each axis. 

PROGRESS AXIS 

Figure 1 shows the share of funding committed in 2017-2018 to achieving the specific EaSI 
objectives related to the Progress axis. 

Figure 1. Share of PROGRESS commitments per specific objective in 2017 and 2018 

50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

23,6%

22,5%

27,5%

22,3%

26,5%

40,7%

Analytical
knowledge and
comparative
information

Information-sharing
mutual learning and
dialogue

Capacity to
develop, promote
and support EU
instruments and
policies

21,6%

13,7%

0,7%

0,7%

Social policy
experimentation

Cross-cutting issues

2017

2018

In 2017-2018, EaSI continued to support the development and dissemination of 
high-quality comparative analytical knowledge. This is to ensure that EU policies in 
the field of employment and social affairs are based on sound evidence and are relevant 
to the needs, challenges and conditions in individual Member States and other countries 
participating in the programme. 

2 The calculations exclude actions sub-delegated to other entities, since actual and global commitments are 
unknown for these actions. 

2 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
-  Evidence  generated  by  EaSI  contributed  to  the  key  EU  policy  objectives  and 

initiatives. 

In  the  area  of  employment,  EaSI  funded  the  Classification  of  European  Skills, 
Competences,  Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) as the major analytical activity of 
both  2017  and  2018  (as  in  2015-2016).  The  European  Commission  also  continued  to 
substantially support the EU Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the OECD’s Programme for 
International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC) and the Analysis of tax  wedge 
and effective tax rates on labour. 

In  the  policy  area  of  social  protection  and  social  inclusion,  EaSI  continued  to  provide 
funding for some long-standing and some major new EU-level analytical activities, related 
to, for example: EUROMOD, Mutual Information System on Social Protection (MISSOC), 
European system of integrated social protection statistics (ESSPROS), European Platform 
for  Investing  in  Children  (EPIC),  and  the  European  Social  Policy  Network  (ESPN).  In 
addition, the EaSI programme supported the International Organisation for Migration with 
a grant to support the integration of refugees in society and the labour market through 
capacity building for local authorities. The Council of Europe received another EaSI grant 
to build capacity at local level for the integration of Roma. EaSI also supported the OECD’s 
Affordable Housing Database and the Social Benefit Recipients Database. 

Under the thematic section of working conditions, EaSI strengthened the knowledge base 
mainly in the area of occupational health and safety. It supported the International Agency 
for  Research  on  Cancer  (IARC)  Monographs  Programme,  International  Commission  on 
Non-Ionizing  Radiation  Protection  (ICNIRP)  and  Eurostat’s  pilot  project  on  European 
Occupational Diseases Statistics (EODS) and the European Statistics on Accidents at Work 
(ESAW). 

Much of EaSI-funded evidence fed directly into the key EU policy processes such 
as  the  European  Semester,  including  its  Annual  Growth  Survey,  country-specific 
recommendations,  employment  guidelines  and  joint  employment  reports.  In  the  policy 
area of employment, the evidence generated by the programme also contributed to the 
New  Skills  Agenda  for  Europe,  the  Youth  Guarantee,  the  Quality  Framework  for 
Traineeships and the European Framework for Quality and Effective Apprenticeships. 

In  addition,  EaSI  supported  evidence,  such  as  that  produced  by  the  PES  Network,  and 
facilitated  the  implementation  of  the  EURES  Regulations.  EaSI  also informed  the  design 
and implementation of the European Solidarity Corps initiative, Your first EURES Job and 
the establishment of the European Labour Authority. 

In the policy area of working conditions, knowledge produced by EaSI directly supported 
the enforcement of the EU law on occupational safety and health (OSH) and the terms and 
conditions of employment for posted workers in Member States. It also contributed to the 
follow-up initiatives of the European Pillar of Social Rights (e.g. Work-life balance initiative 
and the initiative on Transparent and predictable working conditions). 

In the area of social protection and social inclusion, EaSI-funded policy evidence supported 
Member States in the efforts to enforce the right to affordable long-term care services of 
good quality and adequate pensions, access to social protection for workers and the self-
employed. In addition, it supported the implementation of the 2013 EU Recommendation 
on Investing in children and policy initiatives for the integration of long-term unemployed 
into the labour market, social and labour market integration of migrants and refugees and 
active inclusion of people with disabilities. 

-  EaSI-funded evidence was deemed sound and highly useful for policymaking and 
advocacy  purposes  by  national,  regional  and  local  policymakers  as  well  as  other 
stakeholders. 

3 

 
 
A substantial majority of stakeholders (74%) considered the EU employment and 
social policy and legislation as based on strong evidence. This is slightly less than 
in 2017 (78%) and 2013 (80 %). The biggest share of stakeholders who thought that the 
EU  policy  was  grounded  in  strong  evidence  was  involved  in  the  policy  area  of 
employment (83%). 

According to the EaSI stakeholders, the most useful outputs were the following: 

•  EURES Job Mobility Portal; 
•  EUROSTAT Health and Safety at Work statistics; 
•  Labour Force Survey; 
•  Employment and Social Developments in Europe 2017 and 2018; 
•  European Code of Good Conduct for Microcredit Provision. 

More stakeholders declared that they have personally used or intend to use EaSI 
outputs. While in 2017, around 70% of the surveyed EaSI stakeholders said that they are 
going to use the familiar policy outputs, the share has increased to 73% in 2019. 

In 2017-2018, the EaSI Programme remained strong in facilitating effective and 
inclusive information sharing, mutual learning and dialogue on the EU policies in 
the target fields. 

In  this  area,  EaSI  funded  five  main  types  of  activities:  (1)  exchanges  of  good  practice, 
peer  reviews,  mutual  learning  and  training;  (2)  Council  presidency  events,  conferences 
and  seminars;  (3)  guides,  reports  and  educational  material;  (4)  information  and 
communication  activities;  and  (5)  information  systems  to  exchange  and  disseminate 
information. 

As in the previous years, most of the EaSI funding in 2017-2018 under all thematic 
areas  was  devoted  to  peer  reviews  and  mutual  learning.  EaSI  supported  the 
following activities in the relevant policy areas: 

•  Employment – peer reviews of the Mutual Learning Programme (MLP), the events 
organised by the PES Network; information sharing and mutual learning activities 
of  the  European  centre  of  expertise  in  the  field  of  labour  law,  employment  and 
labour market policies (ECE); 

•  Social protection and social inclusion – peer reviews in social protection and social 
inclusion  and  support  to  the  Electronic  Exchange  of  Social  Security  Information 
(EESSI); 

•  Working conditions: European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work and peer reviews 
in  occupational  safety  and  health  (OSH)  and  the  meetings  of  the  Senior  Labour 
Inspectors Committee (SLIC). 

- 

EaSI-funded  events  continued  to  provide  much-appreciated  platforms  for 
spreading  relevant  and  useful  knowledge  and  stimulating  dialogue  in  relevant 
policy fields. 

Overall, 86% of stakeholders declared that they have already used or intend to 
use  information  acquired  during  the  events  for  policymaking  or  advocacy 
purposes (85% in 2015-2016; 89% in 2014). Depending on the participants’ professional 
affiliation,  the  knowledge  informs  activities  ranging  from  the  development  of  strategic 
documents, legislation, advocacy material, design and implementation of programmes and 
projects at all levels, to research and teaching. 

- 

EaSI  supported  debate  on  EU  employment  and  social  policy  and  law  aimed  to 
include all relevant stakeholders. 

The  opinion  on  the  involvement  of  relevant  policy-  and  decision-makers  in  the 
debate  on  EU  employment  and  social  policy  and  legislation  remained  positive 

4 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
among  stakeholders.  In  total,  80%  of  stakeholders  believe  that  the  debate  on  EU 
employment and social policy and legislation included relevant EU and national policy- and 
decision-makers  in  2017-2018.  Participants  in  EaSI-funded  events  were  even  more 
positive: 81% of them  said that the EaSI-supported  events, in which they participated, 
involved relevant EU and national policy- and decision-makers. 

EaSI  provided  financial  support  to  test  social  and  labour  market  policy 
innovations and contributed to building up the main actors’ capacity to design and 
implement  social  policy  experimentations  and  to  make  the  relevant  knowledge  and 
expertise available. 

The Commission’s goal to support social policy innovations gained more visibility. 
A high share of stakeholders (73%) agree that the Commission is an effective source of 
guidance  and  support  for  social  and  labour  innovation.  In  addition,  the  reported  use  of 
social  and  labour  market  policy  innovation  has  increased.  Overall,  64%  of  stakeholders 
said that they have personally used or intend to use EU-funded social policy innovation for 
policymaking or implementation (49% in 2017; 62% in 2014). 

In 2017-2018, EaSI provided EU and national organisations with financial support 
to increase their capacity to develop, promote and support the implementation of EU 
policies and law in the area of employment and social affairs. 

EaSI-funded  events  increased  stakeholders’  capacity  for  policymaking  even 
more.  In  2017-2018,  88%  of  participants  reported  that  their  participation  in  a  specific 
EaSI-funded event improved their competence to further develop, promote and support 
the  implementation  of  EU  employment  and  social  policy  and  legislation  (84%  in  2015-
2016; 88% in 2014). 

In  2017-2018,  EaSI  continued  to  fund  the  operating  costs  of  the  key  EU-level  NGO 
networks active in the area of employment and social affairs. The appreciation of the 
key EU-level NGOs remained stable. The share of stakeholders acknowledging the key 
EU-level NGO networks supported via operating grants as a useful source of information 
on  EU  employment and social policy was 68%  (70% in 2017; 68% in 2015). The most 
well-known of these networks were Caritas Europa (61% of stakeholders were aware of 
this network), European Social Network (55%), Eurocities (37%) and the European Anti-
Poverty Network (36%). 

With  a  view  to  contributing  to  stronger  ownership  of  EU  objectives,  EaSI 
contributed to provide a better understanding of EU policies and strengthening 
the collaboration among policymakers at all levels. 

More than 91% of participants in EaSI-funded events gained a better understanding of EU 
policies and objectives as a result of participating in an EaSI-funded event (87% in 2015-
2016; 91% in 2014). 

The  sense  of  collaboration  between  the  national  governments  and  EU  officials 
remained high and stable. As many as 89% of EaSI stakeholders working at national, 
regional or local government institution said that they feel a sense of collaboration between 
their organisation and the EU institutions (88% in 2017; 86% in 2015). The percentage is 
high  for  all  groups  of  stakeholders.  In  total,  81%  of  shareholders  feel  a  sense  of 
collaboration between their organisation and the EU institutions. 

EURES AXIS 

As shown in Figure 2, the distribution of EURES commitments per specific objective was 
slightly uneven from  one year to another.  In 2017, the Commission committed itself to 
more  investments  in  services  for  the  recruitment  and  placing  of  workers  than  in  2018. 

5 

 
During this time, cross-border partnerships received a large share of funding. In 2018, the 
allocations in this area decreased, with more funding devoted to activities for transparent 
information on job vacancies and applications. 
Figure 2. Share of EURES axis commitments per specific objective in 2017 and 2018 

80,3%

68,1%

10.0%
8.0%
6.0%
4.0%
2.0%
0.0%

28,1%

17,0%

Services for the recruitment
and placing of workers

Transparent information on
job vacancies and
applications

2,7%

3,8%

Cross-cutting issues

2017

2018

In  2017-2018,  EaSI  aimed  to  ensure  that  job  vacancies,  applications  and 
corresponding information and advice, as well as any related information, such 
as  living  and  working  conditions,  are  made  transparent  for  jobseekers  and 
employers. 

EaSI funded the following key actions in this area: 

•  A multilingual digital EURES Job Mobility Platform for the clearance of job vacancies 

• 

and applications; 
Information  and  communication  activities  to  raise  awareness  of  the  benefits  of 
geographical and occupational mobility in general and of the activities and services 
provided by EURES; 

•  Mutual  learning  among  EURES  actors  and  training  of  EURES  advisers,  including 

EURES cross-border partnerships’ advisers. 

The use of the EURES Job Mobility Portal was somewhat uneven from one year 
to another, but the number of registered users increased. According to the latest 
data, the EURES Job Mobility Portal attracted around 0.83 million monthly users in 2017 
and  more  than  0.56  million  monthly  users  in  2018.  The  number  of  both  registered 
jobseekers  and  employers  also  increased  by  more  than  a  quarter.  On  average,  around 
60% of all national vacancies were posted on EURES. 

In  2017-2018,  EaSI  continued  to  support  the  provision  of  EURES  services  for 
recruitment  and  placing  of  workers  in  quality  and  sustainable  employment 
through the clearance of job vacancies and applications. 

EURES acted as a catalyst for effective recruitment and placing of workers. Cross-
border partnerships reported 105 302 contacts with jobseekers and 13 161 contacts with 
employers  in  2017-2018.  Targeted  mobility  schemes  (Your  First  EURES  Job  and 
REACTIVATE  schemes),  in  comparison,  provided  services  to  several  hundreds  of 
jobseekers per year/per scheme, but were more targeted and customised. While a cross-
border  partnership  translated  4%  of  contacts,  on  average,  into  placements,  a  targeted 
mobility  scheme  facilitated,  on  average,  more  than  30%  of  contacts  into  an  actual 
placement. 

MICROFINANCE AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AXIS 

2017-2018  marked  a  strong  period 
for  the  Microfinance  and  Social 
Entrepreneurship  axis.  Figure  3  shows  the  distribution  of  MF/SE  commitments  per 
thematic sections. In 2018, the development of social enterprises received relatively more 
funding than foreseen, compared to the microfinance thematic section. This is because the 
financial implementation of the social entrepreneurship thematic section had a slower start 
in 2015-2016 and is now catching up. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 3. Share of MF/SE axis overall funding by thematic sections in 2017 and 2018 

100,00%

80,00%

60,00%

40,00%

20,00%

0,00%

53,4%

32,29%

67,59%

46,5%

2017

2018

0,1%

0,1%

Microfinance

Social entrepreneurship

Cross-cutting issues

EaSI continued to provide real added value to better access and the availability 
of microfinance. 

In  2018,  27  contracts  worth  EUR 57.4  million  were  signed  with  microfinance 
intermediaries,  which  resulted  in  47 684  microloans  worth  a  total  of  EUR 129.3  million 
(the leverage of 4.4 was achieved). 

Most of the funding supported micro-enterprises operating in the area of wholesale and 
retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (30 % in 2017 and 28 % in 2018). 
The highest amounts of funding were disbursed to the final recipients in France (25 % in 
2017 and 19 % in 2018). 

EaSI’s  support  for  increasing  the  overall  availability  and  access  to  finance  for 
social enterprises has gained momentum. 

In  2018,  12  contracts  were  signed  with  financial  intermediaries  in  the  area  of  social 
entrepreneurship. As much as 20 million EUR were used to guarantee the funding provided 
by these intermediaries to the final recipients. 

In total, 949 social enterprises received funding through the EaSI Social Entrepreneurship 
Window by the end of 2018. Approximately EUR 49.4 million of EU support was used to 
provide EUR 110 million of funding for social enterprises, averaging at EUR 127 300 per 
enterprise. Leverage of around 2.2 was achieved. 

Most of the funding went to social enterprises operating in the area of wholesale and retail 
trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (18 % in 2017 and 16 % in 2018). France 
continued to top the list in terms of the amount of funding disbursed to final recipients. 
However,  a  decrease  can  be  observed  from  2017  to  2018  much  like  throughout  2016-
2017. Conversely, the amount of funding for final recipients in Spain has increased. 

EaSI focused on supporting persons who are in a disadvantaged position to access 
the  conventional  credit  market,  such  as  women,  unemployed,  those  with  no  or  only 
primary education, young and older people. 

A large number of applicants for the EU microfinance and social entrepreneurship support 
are  legal  persons  (enterprises).  As  these  do  not  provide  their  social  data  (e.g.  gender, 
age, employment), it is not possible to provide a complete picture of the outreach of the 
EU  microfinance  and  social  entrepreneurship  support  to  vulnerable  persons.  Table  3 
outlines only data provided by natural persons, which provide an incomplete picture but 
suggest the distributional support trends. 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table 3. Vulnerable groups supported by EaSI financial instrument, cumulative 

Vulnerable group 

Women 

Unemployed for less than a year or inactive 

Long-term unemployed 

No or only primary education 

People aged 51 years and above 

Persons aged less than 25 years 

Disabled 

2016 

2017 

2018  

34.9% 

19.3% 

8.3% 

13.9% 

15.9% 

8.1% 

1.3% 

32.8% ▼ 

17% ▼ 

31.7% ▲ 

13.8% ► 

16.9% ▲ 

8% ► 

1.1% ▼ 

31.5% ▼ 

15.7% ▼ 

28.1% ▼ 

17.6% ▲ 

19.5% ▲ 

6.9% ▼ 

1.1% ► 

Non-EU country as country of origin 

11.9% ▲ 
Note: Changes are marked in comparison to the previous year, i.e. from 2016 to 2017, and from 2017 to 2018. A change of -
0.1% to +0.1% is marked as ►. Source: Annual reports from DG EMPL Microfinance Unit. 

11.2% ▲ 

9.1% 

MAINSTREAMING HORIZONTAL ISSUES 

When  implementing  all  activities,  EaSI  took  into  account  horizontal  objectives 
specified in the EaSI Regulation. 

The  integration  of  all  EaSI  horizontal  issues  has  slightly  increased  since  2015.  Paying 
particular attention to vulnerable groups, such as young people was seen as the 
most  mainstreamed  objective  by  EaSI  stakeholders  (78%  said  that  it  is  taken  into 
account). Equality between women and men and non-discrimination also remained well-
integrated (76% agreed with this opinion). The data also indicated a strong increase in 
mainstreaming disability and accessibility matters. The share of stakeholders thinking that 
the  latter  issue  was  taken  into  account  increased  from  46%  in  2015  to  71%  at  the 
beginning of 2019. 

MAIN CONCLUSIONS 

The  main  conclusions  regarding  the  EaSI  performance  monitoring  2017-2018  are  that 
evidence  generated  by  EaSI  contributed  to  the  key  EU  policy  objectives  and  initiatives. 
Much  of  EaSI-funded  evidence  fed  directly  into  the  key  EU  policy  processes.  National, 
regional and local policymakers as well as other stakeholders considered EaSI-supported 
evidence  as  sound  and  highly  useful  for  policymaking  and  advocacy  purposes.  More 
stakeholders than previously declared that they have personally used or intend to use EaSI 
outputs.  

In 2017-2018, the EaSI Programme remained strong in facilitating effective and inclusive 
information sharing, mutual learning and dialogue on the EU policies in the target fields.  
The opinion on the involvement of relevant policy- and decision-makers in the debate on 
EU employment and social policy and legislation remained positive among stakeholders.  
Furthermore,  the  Commission’s  goal  to  support  social  policy  innovations  gained  more 
visibility. 

EaSI  also  continued  to  provide  EU  and  national  organisations  with  financial  support  to 
increase  their  capacity.  EaSI  events  increased  stakeholders’  capacity  for  policymaking 
even more than in the previous monitoring period. With a view to contributing to stronger 
ownership  of  EU  objectives,  the  EaSI-funded  events  continued  to  provide  a  better 
understanding of EU policies to their participants. The sense of collaboration between the 
national governments and EU officials remained high and stable. The appreciation of the 
key EU-level NGOs stayed stable.  

In  2017-2018,  EaSI  improved  transparency  of  labour  market  information.  Even  though 
the use of the EURES Job Mobility Portal was rather uneven from one year to another, the 
number  of  registered users increased.  EURES  acted not only as  a catalyst for providing 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
transparent labour market information, but also for effective recruitment and placing of 
workers.  

Finally,  2017-2018  marked  a  strong  period 
Entrepreneurship axis.  Support for social enterprises has gained momentum. 

for  the  Microfinance  and  Social 

9 

 
 
 
 
Getting in touch with the EU

In person

All over the European Union there are hundreds of Europe Direct Information Centres. You can find the address of the 
centre nearest you at: http://europa.eu/contact

On the phone or by e-mail

Europe Direct is a service that answers your questions about the European Union. You can contact this service

– by freephone: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (certain operators may charge for these calls),

– at the following standard number: +32 22999696 or

– by electronic mail via: http://europa.eu/contact

Finding information about the EU

Online

Information about the European Union in all the official languages of the EU is available on the Europa website at: 
http://europa.eu 

EU Publications

You can download or order free and priced EU publications from EU Bookshop at: http://bookshop.europa.eu.  
Multiple copies of free publications may be obtained by contacting Europe Direct or your local information centre 
(see http://europa.eu/contact)

EU law and related documents

For access to legal information from the EU, including all EU law since 1951 in all the official language versions, go 
to EUR-Lex at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu

Open data from the EU

The EU Open Data Portal (http://data.europa.eu/euodp/en/data) provides access to datasets from the EU. Data can be 
downloaded and reused for free, both for commercial and non-commercial purposes.