Brussels, 13/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - As part of the preparations for the Barcelona Summit, the European Commission held a joint meeting of the two groupings within its Enterprise Policy group. The objective of the meeting was to assess the progress achieved in improving the business environment and removing the obstacles in the way. It also looked at how companies could best realise the Lisbon objectives, in other words, how can the EU become the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. Participants pointed to the fact that EU policy had become much more receptive to the needs of small businesses but that it needed to continue to create the right environment for these businesses to thrive. According to the participants some of the many obstacles that continue to hinder the enterprise spirit of small and medium sized businesses include: complex regulations, unsympathetic fiscal systems, labour market inflexibility and an absence of social recognition of the role played by companies. International considerations, as well as the best exploitation of the internal market were considered as being key challenges to which small business had to face if they were to achieve their full potential.
The Enterprise Policy group is a high-level consultation group that brings together small business leaders and enterprise policy, as well as professionals from a wide range of businesses who have significant experience in the world of SMEs.