Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-18-Speech-3-417"
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"en.20060118.25.3-417"2
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".
Mr President, honourable Members, I am very much obliged to the rapporteur for her balanced reports and constructive proposals.
On the whole, we have reached a point at which the right ideas, plans and strategies need to be put into practice across the board. This is not primarily the responsibility of the European institutions: our options and means are limited. In essence, it is up to the Member States. For this reason, I would appeal to the Member States to increase still more their recognition of the opportunities and potential lying precisely in the promotion of SMEs.
I should like to take this opportunity to say a few quite fundamental words about the Commission’s policy for small- and medium-sized enterprises. The rapporteur has just spoken of the ‘orphanage’ of SMEs in Europe. I myself use the expression ‘shadow existence’, and of course both expressions imply massive criticism: criticism of the fact that, even though there has been constant discussion of SMEs in the past, none of the European institutions has really done any serious work on improving their situation. I resolved to change that, and I am pleased to be able to tell you that last year saw a political breakthrough for European SME policy. Not only has there been recognition at all levels of the priority given by SMEs to growth and jobs but, at long last, serious work is now being done across the board on taking the necessary steps to enable SMEs to really fulfil their tremendous potential for growth and job creation.
The achievement of Europe’s objectives – stable, sustainable growth and full employment – will only be possible with the help of SMEs. Large enterprises will not help us to achieve these objectives, as their tendency to cut jobs is also set to continue in future. For this reason, I do not quite agree with the rapporteur on one point. I differ fundamentally from her in that I am firmly convinced that it was not until the Charter policy was integrated into the new growth and jobs strategy that the policy for SMEs became top priority in Europe. I simply cannot understand how it is possible to say that large enterprises should have their place in this growth and jobs strategy but the smaller ones should not. In Europe, two-thirds of the workforce are employed by SMEs. It is not the large enterprises but the smaller ones that are the employers. Small and medium-sized enterprises are at the heart of this strategy, which can only succeed if SMEs actually continue to be central.
I really am firmly convinced that the clear improvement in the political environment for SMEs that has been achieved over the past year can be traced back directly to our having accorded this policy its rightful place in the European Union’s growth and employment policy.
In the interim, the Member States have also reported on their national reform programmes in implementation of the new growth and employment policy. I am pleased to be able to tell you that more than half of the Member States have designated the policy for SMEs a priority in these national reform programmes. I do think that there is still room for improvement; we shall be reporting to Parliament on this in a few weeks’ time. For example, at least on occasion, a lack of detail on the measures taken is still evident, which could lead to an overly optimistic assessment, but this is just the start of the process, of course, and this process will become even more effective, and is, I believe, capable of succeeding. At any event, the Charter itself will be retained. Furthermore, it serves as a point of reference for the exchange of best practice and mutual learning. The main instrument, the annual Charter conferences, will be continued. Best practice in a selected number of SME policy areas will be presented at the annual Charter conference in Vienna on 13 and 14 June 2006.
Since Parliament started work on its report, a few things have changed. On 10 November of last year, the Commission adopted its Communication on a modern SME policy for growth and employment; which would not have been necessary, of course, had I been convinced that the current policy is sufficient. The Commission Communication on a modern SME policy for growth and employment now constitutes the coherent framework for the various instruments of enterprise policy, and goes much further than the 10 lines for action in the Charter. The Communication emphasises the importance of SMEs in the context of Lisbon and establishes the ‘
principle for all EU policy fields. It also specifies the daily challenges faced by SMEs and proposes measures for enhancing their ability to grow and create jobs.
The communication supports the European partnership for growth and jobs, which recognises the importance of promoting an entrepreneurial culture in Europe and creating a favourable political environment for SMEs. There are some special policy fields on which I should like to say just a few brief words. The Commission has adopted a communication on home state taxation, which it hopes will be carried through. That would help SMEs involved in international business. The Commission attaches the utmost importance to improving access to SME financing instruments, which is a fundamental problem. I shall do everything I can to ensure that, in the next financing period, too, the available resources are sufficient to enable the continuation of this successful project.
The Commission is preparing an initiative to further entrepreneurship education in Europe. There is simply not enough entrepreneurial spirit in Europe; there are not enough people prepared to become entrepreneurs. This is not only a matter of economic conditions, but also of the cultural, social and political environment. Endeavours to arouse entrepreneurial spirit and impart the relevant knowledge must start in schools and universities. Finally, I should like to point out that we are also currently in the process of drawing up proposals to make it easier for SMEs to pass from one owner to another. In the years ahead, we shall see millions of cases where enterprises pass into new ownership, and failure to manage these correctly could put millions of jobs at risk."@en1
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"think small first’"1
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