Brussels, 31/05/2010 (Agence Europe) - Two years after publication of the European Commission's Small Business Act (SBA) to stimulate the growth and employment potential of small businesses (EUROPE 9690), the UEAPME, the voice of craft and small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe, is sorely disappointed with how it has been applied. In a press release, UEAPME Secretary General Andrea Benassi explained: 'By promising to set up a comprehensive policy framework for SMEs with the Small Business Act, policy-makers have raised the bar of our expectations very high. Unfortunately, Member States have largely failed to deliver so far, with concrete dossiers still pending or unapplied due to national governments' lukewarm commitment.'
At the closing conference of European Small Business Week in Madrid on Monday 31 May 2010, UEAPME published its second annual SBA Implementation Scoreboard at European and national level. It reports that only two of the seven EU initiatives have been formally introduced - extending the EIB loan facility for small businesses and revising the reduce value added tax rates for highly labour intensive services (EUROPE 9858). Two planned items of legislation (on the setting up of a European private company statute and adjustments to EU rules on late invoice payment) are blocked at the Council of Ministers. Three other measures (making it easier for small businesses to bid for public contracts, derogations to EU state aid rules and derogations to the Erasmus project for young entrepreneurs) have not yet been implemented at EU level.
Despite the fact that most action has focussed on helping the banks and other big companies through the crisis, UEAPME has managed to find something positive - eleven Member States (Germany, Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia) have made tangible progress in 'Thinking Small First' in their business-support measures. (M.B. trans fl)