Articles related to "Small Business Act: Unlocking SMEs' potential?"

Small and medium-sized companies in Eastern Europe and candidate countries will receive almost half of the money for crisis loans disbursed by the European Investment Bank, according to data released today (22 February). 

A long-awaited report card on the Small Business Act has been delayed after the European Commission's Secretary General Catherine Day sent a December draft back, demanding that the final version contain concrete proposals, EurActiv has learned.

The European Commission recently said it was "on track to exceed its target of cutting red tape by 25% by 2012". But businesses shouldn't get their hopes up.

Entrepreneurs want governments to incentivise big businesses to sublet empty office space to smaller firms, as high rents in European capitals remain a barrier to growth.

As MEPs prepare to debate a beefed-up version of the EU's Late Payments Directive, small businesses across Europe continue to complain that governments are not meeting their own commitments to pay companies on time. EurActiv's network examines the situation across Europe.

The "green economy" will be at the heart of the EU's new industrial policy, according to Antonio Tajani, who has been nominated to the position of European commissioner for industry and entrepreneurship. Tajani will prioritise tourism, innovation and access to finance for SMEs in a bid to kick-start growth.

Governments across Europe must do more to address late payments and access to credit, according to Andrea Benassi, secretary-general of UEAPME, a small business lobby group. He said SMEs fear a W-shaped recession as public deficits grow and nervy consumers choose to save rather than spend.

The EU executive is turning the spotlight on European countries in its drive to cut red tape, effectively claiming that Brussels has kept its end of the bargain in reducing the burden on businesses.

Pharmaceutical and construction firms are facing lengthy delays in receiving payments from public sector clients, but business leaders are sceptical that the EU's revamped Late Payments Directive will solve this long-standing problem.

Europe should temporarily relax capital requirements for banks to ease lending activities and prevent a new fall after the recovery, Rodrigo Peduzzi, a top official at Italian industrial federation Confindustria, told EurActiv in an interview.

The best thing governments can do to support entrepreneurship is to step aside and become "invisible", Xavier Damman, CEO and founder of Internet company Tweetag, told EurActiv in an interview.

European procurement rules must be changed to allow small firms bid for public contracts, according to Irish Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan, who is reforming Ireland’s tendering system to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

EU member states must not delay implementation of Brussels' efforts to cut red tape for businesses, according to European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen, who is responsible for enterprise and industry.

Central and Southern EU member states are lagging behind their Northern European counterparts in meeting the ten principles of the Small Business Act (SBA), according to detailed research released by the European Commission.

Public authorities will have to pay contractors within 30 days or face financial penalties, as part of an amendment to the Late Payments Directive tabled by the European Commission.

More information, support and increased competitiveness: these are the main expectations of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) towards the EU, according to a survey conducted by the Parisian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIP). EurActiv France reports.

Up to 200,000 corporate insolvencies are expected in Europe this year, according to the European Commission's SME envoy, Françoise Le Bail, who said the reluctance of banks to lend to SMEs will force thousands of viable companies out of business.

Irish MEP Gay Mitchell (EPP-ED) has called on the European Investment Bank (EIB) to persuade China to invest billions of euro in the bank, which would then be repaid through additional customs duties collected from increased trade.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, responsible for EU affairs, has pledged to work towards devising an EU-wide Community patent. Describing the existing system as "fragmented and inefficient," he said Europe's intellectual property infrastructure is stifling innovation and holding back progress on the Lisbon Agenda.

The European Commission plans to ditch accounting requirements for the EU's smallest companies in an effort to ease the administrative burden and save each business up to €1,200 per year, or a total of €6.3 billion.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is ramping up its support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by making up to €30 billion available over the next three years and providing technical assistance to microfinance institutions.

MEPs have given the green light to a European Private Company statute aimed at facilitating the establishment and running of businesses across borders. But they also introduced hurdles that small businesses say may prove difficult to overcome.

Member states will be allowed to directly support small and medium-sized businesses with up to half a million euro under a broader fiscal stimulus package adopted on Friday (12 December) by EU leaders in Brussels.

As the credit crisis continues to lower public and private investment in R&D, experts argue that innovation can also be sparked by novel combinations of 'old' knowledge in non-technology intensive companies or sectors that do not undertake much R&D.