Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-03-Speech-3-171"
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"en.20081203.16.3-171"2
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"Mr President, small-scale enterprises are central to my region. The West Midlands’ industries will welcome the Think Small First principle. However, the current financial crisis has left many small businesses facing severe difficulties. As we have already heard, they are dealing with cash flow issues and unpaid debts and cannot access credit. The latest insolvency figures for my region point to 500 businesses going bust in the last three months. Therefore, I welcome the EIB funding.
However, I do not believe that the proposals so far go far enough in relation to their binding nature – which could really help the SME sector. So my question to the Council is: how are you going to address this next week? I have heard what the Competitiveness Council has said, but the important thing is that, unless the proposals have a binding character, it is not really going to help small businesses right now; it is not going to help them to access markets or to access finance.
I believe I have heard it said for very many years that it is very important that the Council clarifies that it intends to cut administrative burdens. Small businesses face considerable costs. Where big companies spend EUR 1 for each employee, a small business can spend up to EUR 10 for each one.
Finally, I would just add one point. Whilst it is very important to manage financial crises, more needs to be done for the SMEs right now, because they are the real economy."@en1
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