This timely Handbook offers a unique opportunity to consider the performance and national context of microcredit initiatives within the European Union.Drawing together authors from a multi-disciplinary background and including complementary perspectives and interpretative analysis, this original Handbook examines which strategies and policies may affect how a particular country initiative fights against social and financial exclusion or fosters entrepreneurial behaviour with the use of microcredit. It explores the development of an Eastern/Western Europe practical divide in institutional practices and business models, whilst analysing the state of European microcredit and how the continent is adopting and adapting this developing world model for economic development.This book will be an influential tool helping government and policymakers to target a new set of microcredit initiatives and programmes. It will also be an invaluable read for students and academics in economics, business, development issues and political science.