Article 26

In addition to the general objectives set out in Article 4, the specific objectives of the Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship axis shall be to: increase access to, and the availability of, microfinance for: vulnerable persons who have lost or are at risk of losing their job, or have difficulty in entering or re-entering the labour market, or are at risk of social exclusion, or are socially excluded, and are in a disadvantaged position with regard to access to the conventional credit market and who wish to start up or develop their own micro-enterprises; micro-enterprises in both start-up and development phase, especially micro-enterprises which employ persons as referred to in point (i); build up the institutional capacity of microcredit providers; support the development of the social investment market and facilitate access to finance for social enterprises by making equity, quasi-equity, loan instruments and grants of up to EUR 500000 available to social enterprises with either an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 30 million, or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 30 million which are not themselves a collective investment undertaking. In order to ensure complementarity, the Commission and the Member States shall, in their respective areas of competence, closely coordinate these actions with those undertaken in the framework of cohesion policy and national policies.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-01 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.