Brussels, 27/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - In an own-initiative opinion adopted at its last plenary session (rapporteur: Henri Malosse, Employers' Group, France) on small and medium-sized enterprises' access to the future European company statute, the Economic and Social Committee called for the creation of a European statute for SMEs to promote entrepreneurship and the creation of new economic activities and be an incentive to cross-border partnership within the single market. In a press release, the ESC explains that the system that should be set up must satisfy the following basic aims: 1) be open and easily accessible to both natural and legal person; 2) be simple, flexible and reduce red tape; and 3) should be a truly European business structure not linked to national company law.
The ESC argues that a European company statute for SMEs would help them trade in the single market, enabling firms from different countries to pool their resources and giving a European scale from the outset to the creation of a new company or changes in company statues. It stresses that a single statue is all the more necessary since enlargement will further increase the differences between national laws.