Friday, July 12th, 2019

ESBA president at the SME Envoy Meeting

ESBA president, David Caro attend the meeting SME Envoy meeting on the 28th of June. He also had the occasion to present ESBA priorities for the new Commission.

European policies and rules impact upon the lives of the Union’s 508 million citizens and its millions of companies. Representing 99.8% of all European businesses, accounting for 66.9% of private sector employment, and responsible for 85% of newly created jobs in the EU, SMEs are the backbone of the economy. Their continued viability is essential for growth and job creation in European society. SMEs benefit from an open Europe and a functioning Single Market. In order to create a sustainable economy and strengthen the Single Market, improvements must be made to the EU’s regulatory system. Over the course of the 2012-2019 term, the Juncker Commission has made a strong effort to improve the regulatory system, especially by way of the Better Regulation Agenda. Through this, it has reduced drastically the number of legislative proposals that are tabled per year and has executed stringent fitness checks.

As the mandate of the current European Commission comes to an end, it is fitting to look to the future and examine what more could be done to improve the environment for SMEs in Europe. ESBA sees a number of priorities for the next mandate: further streamlining of regulatory and decision-making procedures to ensure transparency and added value; a more integrated Single Market; tackling Late Payment; making public procurement work for SMEs; promoting the entrepreneurial spirit; and improving SMEs’ access to technology and finance. It seemed to be generally well received by the various organisations present.

During the meeting, there were reports and discussions on – Digitalisation for SME’s; Single Market Forum 2018-19 and beyond; Public Procurement and SME’s, during which ESBA proposition to set European Project Bank Accounts was welcomed; The Future of SME Policy, including Financial and Institutional Reforms for Entrepreneurial Society (FIRES), Working Group on Access to Finance Report, Challenges for Future SME Policy and Finalisation of the Policy Manifesto and Support Services for Entrepreneurs study report.