The issue of SMEs came up a lot on Thursday 10 February, when Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, presented the recent proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) (see EUROPE 12884/28) to the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI).
The Commissioner explained in her preamble that listed SMEs will be included in the process, “because they risk being excluded from investment portfolios if they don’t provide the same quality of information as large listed companies”.
But “proportionality is important” and listed SMEs will benefit from a lighter reporting regime, which should “avoid excessive burdens, because they (the standards) define the nature and amount of information that can reasonably be expected from an SME”, Mrs McGuinness said. They will have three years to meet the standards. Unlisted SMEs, which “represent the overwhelming majority of SMEs”, will have the choice to use the standards on a voluntary basis.
Angelika Niebler (EPP, Germany) expressed concern about the potential overburdening of SMEs, which already face other challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. This concern has been expressed by many MEPs.
Mrs McGuinness has therefore repeatedly stressed the value of this measure. “A number of our colleagues, by wanting to protect SMEs, are having the opposite effect”, confirmed Pascal Durand (Renew Europe, France), rapporteur of the CSRD text. “They risk cutting them off from funding tomorrow and they will pay a high price”, he warned.
MEPs also commended the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG), heard earlier in the committee, for its work as technical advisor to the Commission in preparing standards. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)