Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-18-Speech-3-421"
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"en.20060118.25.3-421"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, Mrs Vlasto’s report on the implementation of the European Charter for Small Enterprises – a report that we endorse – reveals the main obstacles to development for small- and medium-sized enterprises, particularly fiscal, financial and bureaucratic obstacles. It also calls on the Commission to intervene with targeted Community measures because, as Mrs Vlasto has said, small enterprises still feel abandoned.
The report recommends simplifying taxation systems; providing incentives for innovative enterprises; reducing the bureaucratic burden, especially during the start-up phase of small businesses, but not only then; providing easier access to credit; and exempting them from paying corporation tax on the European subsidies that they are granted.
Unfortunately, the Commission report on the implementation of the Charter, which is the basis for this parliamentary report, contains a number of gaps: for instance, the data presented are not homogeneous and it is therefore difficult to compare situations referring to different countries. We should have preferred the Commission report to be more structured, more systematic and also more critical, with reference to progress on matters of entrepreneurial spirit and culture, for instance. In any case, we call on the Commission to act in concert with the Member States and above all with organisations representing small businesses. To that end, I stress the importance of involving such organisations to a greater extent, including through the establishment of standing working parties.
This is not the time to underline how useful the Charter is but, instead, I feel I must strongly emphasise something that Parliament has called for more than once, which is that the Charter needs to be made legally binding. That is the only way we can be sure that the Member States will take it into account when drawing up national policies; otherwise, we run the risk of the Charter becoming a mere list of good intentions.
It seems that this will be the last annual report on implementation of the Charter, because in future it will be incorporated within the overall report on the Lisbon Strategy. I can understand the reason for that – according to Commissioner Verheugen, it is to place SMEs at the heart of the Lisbon Strategy – but I can also see the danger of underrating the contribution made by the Charter, particularly in relation to the new Member States.
Finally, I should like to add that I find it difficult to comprehend why the Commission says that it considers small enterprises to be the driving force behind the revitalisation of Europe’s economy, when the initiatives aimed at them – as put forward in the Commission document on relaunching the Lisbon process – are pretty limited. How can they be key players in this strategy? That is not to mention the significant cuts in funding that the Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme is almost certain to suffer because of what I regard as the Member States’ miserliness over the Union’s budget. It is unthinkable to promote the future of small businesses in that way, let alone the future of Europe."@en1
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