Brussels, 03/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - On the occasion of Monday's Competitiveness Council in Brussels, the French Minister for SMEs, Renaud Dutreil, and British Minister for SMEs, Nigel Griffiths presented a joint initiative to develop "entrepreneurship" in Europe. This contribution states what the United Kingdom and France would like to see included in the action plan that the Commission is to present in May.
1) Encourage entrepreneurship and the role of the entrepreneur: the contribution suggests launching an information campaign, at local and regional level and intended to awake "among the young interest in and attraction to enterprise"; 2) improve guarantee mechanisms to finance SMEs: "the United Kingdom and France support the principle of a comparative study at European Union level so as to reach a better understanding of existing mechanisms"; 3) Improve SME access to public procurement: the two States undertake, "on the one hand, to ensure that small companies benefit from equal access to contracts in the public sector and, on the other, to increase the share of public procurement going to SMEs". They also encourage Member States and the Commission to review their adjudication procedures to facilitate SME access; 4) Improve the regulatory framework: the United Kingdom and France approve the work undertaken by the Commission in the framework of the plan "in favour of better regulation" adopted in June 2002, and are in favour of an "in-depth assessment of the effects of European regulation on SMEs from a survey of the obstacles at each stage of a company's development"; 5) Development of the social dialogue: the two countries consider that the Commission should examine how the action plan on simplification could be applied to proposals to emerge from the social dialogue. They also urge that in its future action plan on entrepreneurship it looks at ways to apply best practice to SMEs regarding worker consultation and participation, "if possible without that meaning a change to the Treaty"; 6) Encourage education and training: the signatories "would like all Member States to make a declaration aimed at establishing a nation-wide timetable to build up entrepreneurial skills, an understanding of the economy and business and financial qualification among all young people", as well as the development of new tools, especially educational; 7) Encourage entrpreneurship among the underprivileged public: Britain and France consider, notably, that "the Commission should take measures to direct European funds to a public that is not well represented or disadvantaged, as well as entrepreneurship with a social purpose"; 8) Facilitate the handing on of companies: noting that "the successful handing on of a business allows for five jobs on average to be preserved, there where creation only generates two on average", the United Kingdom and France consider that Member States should take more measures to facilitate these hand-overs and support measures proposed by the Commission to develop the exchange of "best practice in the matter"; 9) improve the regulatory framework: the signatories consider the report by the high-level "Winter group" on company law to be a "solid basis" to enable the Commission to prepare to develop its next action plan on company law, notably as it "highlights the need to distinguish different types of enterprises".