Brussels, 15/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - The efforts of SMEs to face up to the crisis have led, at European level, to growth without employment, as confirmed by the diverging tendencies observed in the 27 Member States of the EU. The Commission has pledged an action plan on entrepreneurship for November.
Unveiled at the opening of the European Week of SMEs on Monday 15 October, the latest report of the Commission on performances of SMEs stresses the need for “decisive policy action to tackle the factors that determine SME growth”. Despite a tough environment, the European SMEs have continued to play their role as the backbone of the European economy. With nearly 21 million units - 92% of them micro-companies (fewer than 10 employees), they represent more than 98% of businesses, more than 67% of total employment (87 million jobs), and 58% of gross added value. But in the face of the crisis, European SMEs have bounced back fully in just a small number of countries since 2008.
The differences between member states are considerable: only SMEs in Austria and Germany have registered very good results, as their sectors of activity are the only ones in which gross added value and employment have achieved levels higher than before the crisis. In the majority of member states, however, SMEs have still not managed to bounce back to pre-crisis levels.
The report notes that activity in the sectors of high-tech manufacturing and services with high intensity of knowledge constitutes a major asset for SMEs. However, access to funding for SMEs, which has tailed off in most member states in recent months, with companies no longer managing to obtain the bank loans they apply for, remains a major obstacle to the development of SMEs.
Lastly, although the number of national policy measures adopted to support SMEs has grown steeply and consistently in recent years (by 38 % between 2010 and 2011), with particular attention given to promoting entrepreneurship, reinforcing skills and innovation and improving access to funding, the implementation of support measures for SMEs remains unbalanced between member states, with some measures still overlooked by a large number of countries, such as measures to make it easier to give businesses facing initial insolvency a second chance. (EH/transl.fl)