Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-10-Speech-3-302"
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"en.20020410.9.3-302"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, and those ladies and gentlemen who are not yet present, it is clear to all of us, how significant equity capital and risk capital are in terms of Europe's achievement of the Lisbon objectives. We are glad that clear indications were given in Lisbon of the important role played by efficient risk capital markets in respect of innovative, fast-growing small and medium-sized enterprises and thus also in the creation of new and lasting employment.
We are very glad that Lisbon saw the renewed demand made for full implementation of the risk capital action plan by 2003, and that it was made clear that small and medium-sized enterprises are the foundation of technological development and innovation on our continent. We are therefore also most heartened by the result showing that venture capital investments in Europe increased in gross volume from EUR 10 billion in 1999 to EUR 19.6 billion in 2000. Despite this report of success, we are saddened by the fact that we are still a long way behind the United States. Taken as a share of GDP, venture capital investments in 2000 accounted for only 0.23% of Europe's, as against 0.7% in the United States. We must catch up on America, or overtake them, if we want to achieve the Lisbon objectives in this area.
It is also important, in this connection to point out – as my predecessor on the floor has done – that the largest sources of finance are the pension funds, followed by insurance and banks. It is, then, all the more regrettable that the Commission proposal for Europe-wide enhancement of occupational retirement provision in the Internal Market as part of the Financial Services Action Plan has to this moment still elicited no official response from the Council, so that we are at the moment unable to negotiate.
I also regret the fact that we get the feeling that the so-called compromise proposals in the Council cannot and will not be adopted by either Parliament or the Commission, so that Commissioner Bolkestein, who is responsible for these matters, has now felt constrained to say that, if we make no headway here, the need to get things moving would force him to withdraw his Commission proposal. The Council's behaviour also goes against the Barcelona decisions.
We also know that small and medium-sized enterprises have difficulties when it comes to getting access to capital. That is why the Basle Process is so important, as is the fact that the Basle result makes allowances for the private business sector in Europe and does not make access to capital more difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises. We would, then, also request the Commission, not only to monitor the Basle Process in line with the Barcelona decisions, but also, in the interests of European economic structure and in view of the significance of small and medium-sized enterprises for growth and employment, to actively influence it."@en1
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