The European Commission for the Internal Market and Industry, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, and European Commission Vice President, in charge of Employment and Growth, Jyrki Katainen, presented a series of existing and future initiatives for facilitating the activity and expansion of start-ups in the European Union.
This raft of initiatives is, to a large extent, part of the Single Market Strategy (see EUROPE 11420) and is based on the results of a recent public consultation (see EUROPE 11524). Rather than announce a genuinely new, clear and distinct legislative package, this really involves a compilation and variety of different initiatives that are on-going or will be developed in the future to help entrepreneurial activities, particularly start-ups.
The announcement is therefore based around three major areas: improving access to finance; providing a second chance to companies in difficulty and simplifying tax statements. The European Commission and European Investment Bank (EIB) are therefore launching a “Pan-European Venture Fund of Funds” worth €400 million. Thanks to this support, the European Commission is hoping that fund managers will leverage private sources to the tune of €1.6 billion. This new tool comes on top of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the programme for enterprise competitiveness and small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME) and the research and innovation “Horizon 2020” framework programme.
The Commission is also announcing a legislative proposal on insolvency, which seeks to help companies experiencing financial difficulties (see other article). Objective: to enable bankrupt companies to set up again by way of a debt “discharge” over a three-year period.
The Commission is working on a raft of initiatives to simplify taxation, particularly the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) (see EUROPE 11670), which proposes to support start-ups that want to expand their business across borders. Other initiatives include plans for a simplification of the EU VAT system (see EUROPE 11646) and broadening the forthcoming guidance on best practice in member states tax regimes for venture capital.
The Commission is also creating a variety of related projects. In a non-exhaustive way, it is highlighting help for companies to take full advantage of the “Horizon 2020” framework programme. It also mentions the possibility of setting up a European Innovation Council (EIC) and strengthening the Start-up Europe network. The Commission is also looking at the Single Digital Gateway for 2017 and intends to adopt a range of measures for encouraging SMEs to use intellectual property rights and facilitate access to public markets.
SMEs warn about an equal treatment. The European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME) welcomed the Commission communication. Nonetheless, it did warn about unequal treatment for start-ups and SMEs that did not want rapid growth. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)