SME lobby groups called on EU Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani to renew loan guarantees which are due to expire at the end of the year, and are demanding a continuation of risk capital funding streams introduced in 2008.
As part of a temporary relaxation of state aid rules in the wake of the crisis, the measures were intended to be a sticking plaster designed to nurse SMEs through the darkest days of the financial crisis.
However, business organisations speaking at the EU's first SME Finance Forum in Brussels yesterday (28 September) said smaller firms are still finding it harder to obtain finance compared to "pre-crisis conditions".
Companies applying for bank loans face higher premiums and strict demands for collateral, while innovative start-ups continue to struggle for the funding needed to get their businesses off the ground.
Industry is calling for better use of structural funds to back loan guarantees and for more attention to "mezzanine finance" to support SME equity.
Commissioner Tajani said cash-starved small businesses are facing two problems – late payments and access to credit. A new High Level Group on SME Finance would help address the latter, he said, adding that MEPs would pass a revamped version of the Late Payments Directive in Strasbourg next month.
Tajani said new rules on late payments would help SMEs who have contracts with public sector bodies by forcing governments to pay small firms €180 billion in outstanding bills. MEPs have amended the Commission's proposal to include business-to-business contracts.
The SME Forum suggested businesses facing temporary difficulties be given a grace period during which they can postpone repayments, an idea already piloted in Italy.
The use of credit mediators - already in operation in France, Belgium, Germany and Italy - to help SMEs whose loan applications have been turned down, has also been proposed.
