"Tomorrow [18 October], I will send a letter to all member states to ask the advance transposition of the late payments directive, which was initially scheduled for January 2013, but we decided to anticipate it," Tajani said, stressing governments are too focused on containing public debt and not enough on pushing for growth.
Delays in payments have long been an issue of concern for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially since disruption to cash flow can mean the difference between solvency and bankruptcy.
With the current economic crisis, the challenge of late payments is becoming ever greater, both because delays in payments are growing and because the other sources of finance which SMEs traditionally use to tide themselves over, such as credit lines and bank loans, are drying up
The Commission vice-president sees SMEs' internationalisation as a way out of the crisis as only 13% of these companies operate beyond borders. “Too many bureaucratic obstacles hamper SMEs competitiveness,” Tajani added .
Tajani's line was underscored by former commissioner and now president of Bocconi University, Mario Monti, and Vice-President of the Italian Senate, Emma Bonino, also present at the launch of EurActiv Italia. Monti reiterated the need to boost growth and move away from a short-termism which has affected not only markets, but also politicians. For the former commissioner there is a clear need for a fiscal union.
"This is not a crisis of the euro," he said, insisting that the symptoms for such crisis are not there: inflation is under control and the euro stands on an overvalued exchange rate.
Monti: Greek crisis will be remembered as a success
For Monti the Greek crisis will probably be remembered in the future as the best success story of the euro, as it has triggered an attack on nepotism and corruption, which were poisoning the stability of the country.
"Even if Greece will not do all that Germany asks, they are putting in place the restructuring of its own rules, which is what Germany asked," he said, underlining the positive aspects of such change.
A similar success, according to Monti, was also obtained with the ECB's intervention in Italy last August. "We must ask ourselves what has been done before and after the EU pushed us to adopt rules to contain debt. The crisis has demonstrated the effectiveness of the EU," he said.
However, for the president of Bocconi, governments should implement growth-driven measures, but not embark in a change of the EU Treaty, invoked by some member states, notably Germany.
"It would be a mistake to change the Treaty now, because it would give markets the signal that upcoming decisions on governance at the EU summit of 23 October are not enough. Instead, it should suffice for now," he said.
Bonino's exit strategy: a light federation for the Union
Emma Bonino spoke in favour of a Treaty change and the need for a "light federation" of European states, giving the Union a common fiscal policy, because – she said - the only way out of the crisis is the way forward.
"You cannot have Eurobonds without having a European finance minister. To operate, Europe must go towards a more political union and spread to other areas," she said, adding that the euro managed to sustain itself for years because of the positive climate, but could not weather its first crisis, which exposed the critical lack of instruments to protect it against the storm.
Bonino insisted that if we open the debate on the Treaty we might as well enlarge the scope of changes.
"We need a common policy on defense, foreign policy, infrastructure, research and innovation. The ability of a political system depends not only on its economy but on its capacity to contribute to the government of the world in an active way. In addition, there are sectors that can benefit from significant economies of scale," she added.
