Risks, cost, time: What keeps Europeans from setting up business[fr][de] 

The Spring Summit agreed on a number of measures to ease the burden for people throughout the EU wanting to set up a business. In its conclusions , the following measures are outlined:

• Member States agreed to make dealing with the administration easier by establishing, by 2007, one-stop-shop (or arrangements with 
  equivalent effect), for setting up companies in a quick and simple way. 
• The same applies to the recruitment of a company's first employee, which should not require visiting more than one public administration point. 
• They agreed reducing the average time for setting up a business (typically an SME) anywhere in the EU to one week by the end of 2007.

At a Conference on 28 March 2006, experts discussed the deterrent effect that the risk of insolvency has on people otherwise willing to set up a business. Participants agreed that the fact of having gone bankrupt is exceedingly stigmatised in Europe and that the fear of ending up broke keeps many people from starting a business of their own. They debated possibilities of making risky investments and ventures more acceptable in society, but also chances of preventing insolvency by using early warning mechanisms and helping companies in distress, e.g using state aid. In the conference's final session, participants discussed possibilities of enabling and encouraging entrepreneurs who have taken the risk of insolvency and gone bankrupt to give it another try. Most of the conference's presentations are available on-line .