Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-05-11-Speech-3-540-000"
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"en.20110511.34.3-540-000"2
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"Mr President, the Small Business Act adopted in 2008 was supposed to give impetus to the development of small business and the improvement of business conditions in Europe. A lot has been done to improve the business environment and simplify administrative requirements, such as the E-Invoicing Directive and the Late Payments Directive. However, this is not enough. Today, we can see that the outcomes are not what small business expected.
The main priorities, such as financing and simplifying regulatory systems for improving the business environment, have not been implemented in a systematic or consistent manner. Meanwhile, the business environment varies greatly across the Member States. The different legal regimes covering the protection of consumer rights, which still remain, reduce consumer confidence in the single market and do not encourage companies to expand their business in other Member States. Essentially, this prevents the creation of an internal market in the European Union that is more geared towards and favourable to small business.
It is precisely small business that has been worst hit by the economic and financial crisis. We see companies going bankrupt or with a huge debt burden. We did provide for measures to help them, but sadly, they have not always been successful. The European Progress Microfinance Facility set up by the Commission really was a very appropriate step for providing small business with opportunities to obtain financing during the crisis. However, as various studies have shown, instead of providing business with loans, the national banks in some Member States have tightened lending conditions even more.
The European Investment Bank, which administered these loans for two years, generally did not have information on the implementation of these instruments. This gives rise to the question: why do we need such an intermediary at all? The clear conclusion is that in future, the Commission must take responsibility for overseeing the implementation of such important initiatives in the Member States.
Hopefully, the revision of the Small Business Act will help us to understand and evaluate where we should increase our efforts so that we can establish an environment that works better for small business."@en1
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"(The speaker agreed to take a blue card question under"1
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