4th Regional Stakeholder Group Meeting

On Friday, 31 January 2025, a meeting was held at the offices of Regional Prefecture of Messinia, in Kalamata, Greece. In the context of the European programme Interreg Europe SECON, the Region of Peloponnese endeavors to develop a regional policy to support social economy enterprises.

The meeting was welcomed by Deputy Regional Director of Messinia Prefecture, Mr Anastassopoulos, who stressed the importance of the Social Economy for the economic development of the Peloponnese Region, and the role that Social Enterprises can play in helping to support entrepreneurship, while at the same time offering social services to citizens.

It is also important to note that Mr. Anastassopoulos referred to the ERDF 2021-2027 Programme of the Region of Peloponnese, from which, a call is planned to be issued soon and will concern the support of Social and Solidarity Economy (SES) entities, underlining the active support of the Regional Authority in such initiatives.

The meeting was attended by more than 20 Social Cooperative Enterprises (SCEs) representatives in person and online, as well as officials, who were briefed by the Programme staff on the actions, reports, and surveys produced under the SECON programme. In addition, good practices identified in the Programme's partner countries were discussed, and how they can be a source of inspiration for future implementation in local communities.

The SECON Programme is funded by Interreg Europe, has a budget of € 1,842,680.00, and involves 10 public Authorities and interested parties from 9 European countries, with the Peloponnese Region as the Lead Partner.