Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-05-11-Speech-3-537-000"
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"en.20110511.34.3-537-000"2
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"Mr President, at the end of March 2011, the European Union had an unemployment rate of 9.5%, with a rate of 9.9% in the euro area. What is of even greater concern is that the youth unemployment rate is almost double the unemployment rate for the whole population. Improving the business environment and access to funding, as well as facilitating SMEs’ access to the Structural Funds, will foster the development of an entrepreneurial spirit. SMEs need legislative and fiscal stability. Repeated amendments to tax legislation or changes to the conditions for accessing the various types of funds make it difficult for them to do business. Another issue, especially during times of crisis, is that SMEs are affected by the delay from public institutions in settling their invoices. All these factors affect SMEs’ forecasts for achieving their business plans, as well as their business and, most of all, their innovative capacity.
Between 2006 and 2008, SMEs managed to win just 33% of the total value of public procurement contracts. Given that public procurement contracts account for 17% of the European Union’s GDP, we think that SMEs need to increase their involvement in the public procurement market. This is why we call on the Commission and Member States to take the necessary measures by 2015 to ensure that at least 50% of public procurement transactions are carried out electronically, in keeping with the commitment made by Member State governments in Manchester in 2005.
I should point out that the single market is not in operation yet in the services sector, which is having an adverse impact on SMEs’ business activities in the European Union. In 2008, the Commission presented, as part of the European Economic Recovery Plan, the programme which involved the European Investment Bank offering a global package of EUR 30 billion in loans earmarked for SMEs. The EIB intended to supplement the loans for medium-sized businesses with EUR 1 billion a year. I would like to ask the Commission at what stage of implementation this programme is at, whether it intends to top up the funding, and whether these funds are distributed equally to all Member States."@en1
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