On Thursday 13 July, MEPs adopted a resolution on the “State of the SME Union” in which they call for a whole series of actions to support SMEs.
This includes, for example, the urgent revision of the Payment Periods Directive. “Late payment remains a major threat to the survival of SMEs”, says the European Parliament in its resolution.
Financial support for SMEs is also crucial and, on this point, the elected representatives are calling on the Member States to take full account of SMEs when implementing the temporary crisis and transition framework for state aid. In fact, the Commission should even assess the possibility of revising the rules on state aid in order to protect the interests of SMEs.
To improve access to finance, MEPs also stress the importance of completing the Capital Markets Union.
The European Parliament also “urges the Commission to appoint the promised SME envoy without delay”. Under the authority of the President of the Commission, he or she should oversee work on SMEs in all Directorates-General, according to the elected representatives.
These various requests were supported by SMEUnited, the association representing SMEs, in a press release following the vote. The organisation goes even further: where the European Parliament is calling for the “one in, one out” principle to be applied to legislative initiatives, SMEUnited is instead suggesting the “once only” principle to further reduce the administrative burden on small businesses.
See the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/81y (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)