In a letter published on Friday 6 February, a few days before the EU27’s informal retreat on competitiveness, Europe’s SME envoys, forming the SMEunited association, also set out their expectations to European leaders and the presidents of the three European institutions.
“If the EU is serious about sovereignty, security and prosperity, ‘Think Small First’ must become a strategic principle guiding political choices”, stressed Davide Galli, president of SMEunited, in a press release ahead of the informal meeting on 12 February.
The 26.1 million craft businesses and SMEs in Europe account for 65% of jobs. “Yet today, too many SMEs are struggling to cope with regulatory complexity, fragmented markets, high energy costs, unfair competition and limited access to finance”, the association writes.
SMEs are therefore calling for concrete measures to ease the regulatory burden and limit legislative constraints. “Legislation must be designed from the outset with SMEs in mind”.
Energy resilience and accessibility, as well as better access to finance and a skilled workforce, remain “decisive for SME competitiveness“.
European preference. “The use of European preference as a criterion in public procurement, where appropriate, can support European SMEs growth and innovation, while better leveraging the size of the single market”, writes SMEunited. This preference should be applied strategically and precisely, within clearly defined value chains.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/kmr (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)