Brussels, 05/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - As previously indicated, on Monday after the public debate of almost two hours, the "Competitiveness" Council adopted conclusions on "the promotion of entrepreneurship and small firms" (see EUROPE 4 March pp 8-9). The Fifteen have made a particular appeal to "speed up implementation of the European Charter for Small Enterprises". In the context of promoting the spirit of enterprise, the Council is calling on the European Commission to propose an action plan on the subject by the end of the year. This plan should be devised in a way that helps Member States in the following ways: better involvement and consultation of small businesses in policy and law making; education and training for entrepreneurship; improved access to rise and seed capital finance for small firms, such as guarantee schemes, venture capital funds and bank sector micro loans, to address financial market failures by increasingly focusing on incentives and risk-sharing; innovation and technology transfer to small businesses; small firm' access to the internal market, in particular with regard to services, as well as to international markets; transfer of business.