EU needs stronger policy for small and medium-sized enterprises

Ahead of the European SME Assembly in Luxembourg on 19-20 November 2015 BUSINESSEUROPE and UEAPME published a video message and a joint statement today calling for a renewed and strengthened EU policy for craft and SMEs (see below). Small and medium sized enterprises (SME) would benefit from a revision of the EU SME policy framework in the following areas:

• better access to finance
• improved access to markets
• supporting entrepreneurship
• cutting unnecessary burdensome bureaucratic hurdles
• eliminating skills shortages

While supporting the European Commission’s policy line to integrate SME issues into all EU policies, the Commission should rigorously respect its own smart regulation principles:

• “Think Small First” principle
• Principle of making a compulsory SME test in the impact assessment of any new EU policy initiative.

The basis for this European SME policy is the existing Small Business Act (SBA). The SBA needs to be reviewed and revised to establish the future SME strategy of the European Union.

Please find a video message of Markus J. Beyrer, Director General of BUSINESSEUROPE and Peter Faross, Secretary General of UEAPME here.

The joint statement is available here.