Brussels, 31/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - At its meeting in Brussels on 25 and 26 January, the European Small Business Alliance (ESBA) deplored the lack of progress for small businesses in the context of the Lisbon strategy, especially regarding implementation of the European Charter for Small Businesses which was adopted at the Feira Summit, and called for the presentation of a strategy to simplify the number of regulations to which small businesses are subjected.
In a press release, ESBA stresses that, for several years, European Councils, the Commission and European Parliament have constantly stated that "SMEs are the backbone of the European economy". Despite that, ESBA goes on, "European institutions have proven, only 18 months after the launch of the Lisbon reform calendar, that they continue to ignore the real needs of small businesses". A situation that ESBA President, Brian Prime has difficulty in understanding. ESBA thus calls on the Barcelona Summit to "address this delivery gap", "otherwise, the Lisbon objective could become another myth for 99.8% of the 19 million enterprises in Europe".
Founded in 1998, ESBA includes member organisations from Sweden, Portugal, France, Austria, the UK, Germany and Gibraltar. It represents over 500,000 small business entrepreneurs in the traditional manufacturing, commerce and services sectors, as well as from the new economy. ESBA is one of the largest organisations comprising voluntary and free affiliation and a member of the World Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (WASME).