SMEs urge swift implementation of EU Small Business Act

Commission President José Manuel Barroso hailed the communication as a "crucial milestone" in the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs. 

Presenting the proposal, Commission Vice-President in charge of Industry and Enterprise Günter Verheugen, said it was "high time that a SME-friendly policy becomes mainstream policy in the EU". 

British MEP and Conservative Internal Market spokesman Malcolm Harbour also welcomed the Small Business Act, particularly giving SMEs more information and encouragement to access the Single Market for goods and services. 

"We have raised their expectations and now the EU and all its member administrations have to deliver," said Harbour, adding that "we are encouraged by this Commission initiative, and will continue our strong campaigning on behalf of SMEs". 

The EPP-ED Group coordinator on the Legal Affairs Committee, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, who is the author of the Parliament resolution, said "it is crucial that, if possible, [the SBA] does not contain any references to national law in order to avoid legal fragmentation". 

UEAPME,  representing the interests of European crafts, trades and SMEs at EU level, praises the Commission's efforts and urges member states to fully embrace them, saying that "despite some shortcomings to be redressed in the next months, the 'Small Business Act' has the potential to shift SME policy up a gear". 

However, UEAPME had also several thing to criticise, such as the reduction of stakeholder consultation periods to eight weeks, which would lead to "less than ideal results and ultimately to less than ideal rules," said UEAPME Secretary General Andrea Benassi. 

The organisation also criticised the chapter on environmental challenges for SMEs, saying it is "considerably shorter than what is needed". It also lamented the fact that it includes no reference to the recently adopted Environmental Compliance Assistance Programme (ECAP), which the organisation considers to be the "most important tool to translate environmental challenges into opportunities for SMEs". 

"Unless quickly redressed, this weakness risks outbalancing the benefits of the revised guidelines for environmental state aid," warned UEAPME. 

Moreover, UEAPME criticised the lack of financial support to back the Act's ambitious aims, calling on the Parliament to redress this situation and promote pilot projects. 

BusinessEurope, the European business lobby group, expressed satisfaction with the initiative, saying the SBA identifies "the right priorities to set SMEs' growth potential free," noting however that "implementation will be key". 

It also voiced support for the European Private Company, saying it will place SMEs "in a better position to contribute to and benefit from the development of the Internal Market. Thanks to the new statute, SMEs will be able to substantially reduce the costs they are currently facing when wanting to go cross-border within the EU". 

Eurochambres, representing over 19 million companies in Europe, generally welcomed the initiative, saying the "SBA has succeeded in identifying and addressing most of the issues of concern for European small and medium-sized enterprises" (SMEs). 

It particularly lauded the systematic SME cost-benefit analysis on all new EU legislation potentially affecting enterprises. 

On the other hand, it criticises the fact that the SBA does not make any reference to improving labour market flexibility, nor to creating a European skills observatory, "which would enable effective monitoring of the the skills demand in business". 

Eurochambres also regrets the lack of a commitment by the Commission to use e-procurement applications for its own tenders/proposals – "which could simplify procedures and make them more transparent" – and the absence of an SBA 'review clause' "to adapt the foreseen policy measures to the rapidly changing business environment and introduce new ones if necessary". 

It further questions the SBA's capacity to deliver concrete results given the non-binding nature of the document, which leaves it to the goodwill of member states to act. 

Reiner Hoffman, deputy General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), said he was "very concerned" about the participation rights of workers in a European Private Company. 

"The particular danger we see is if a firm simply moves its mailbox, the seat of the company will be moved abroad in order to escape from workers participation rights. We will not accept such evasion from worker participation."