Brussels, 18/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - In the next three years 350 senior EU officials from DG Enterprise at the European Commission will, as we previously indicated, will be getting “a breath of fresh air” by working for one week in a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). The idea was developed by Commissioner for Enterprise Policy Günter Verheugen. The aim is to get these officials away from drafting legislative texts for a while and into the field to better understand the needs of SMEs and to better appreciate business-specific problems and dynamics. On 17 July at the launch of the initiative, the Commissioner explained that the Enterprise Experience initiative would help develop officials' understanding of the enterprise world and the different companies and for the latter to better appreciate the Commission's work.
Mr Verheugen explained that he and his private office would be participating in this programme and they wanted to show that they were serious about industrial policy. Proof of this is the Commission vice president's indication that he would be following a practical course at a family firm in Brandenburg, which specialises in mechanical construction and employs a staff of 100. His Head of Cabinet will be visiting the German-Polish borders to check whether Polish companies have been working in optimum conditions since joining the EU. Mr Verheugen affirmed that they wanted to send out a message and have a voice in this area. He added that they did not come from the enterprise world themselves and did not always have an instinctive feeling about what needed to be done. A pilot phase in “Enterprise Experience” in 2005/early 2006 had been very successful, explained the Commissioner.
For this programme, DG Enterprise is working in close cooperation with UNICE (European employers), UEAPME (European Association of Crafts and SMEs) and EUROCHAMBRES (Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry). It is these organisations that will draw up the list of potential host companies for the European officials. Mr Verheugen said that the aim was to involve as many SMES from the 25 Member States as possible, preferably those where trainees can establish contact with the enterprise community as a whole. The host enterprise should not have a workforce of more than 250 and SMEs from all sectors are allowed to participate. Civil servant trainees will preferably work in companies active in a sector other than the one in which they have direct responsibility in their normal work. Mr Verheugen was clear that the whole of the programme would be funded out of the DG Enterprise budget and that host enterprises would have nothing to pay. For more information on the programme: (http: //ec.europa.eu/enterprise/exp_prog/index.htm).
Mr Verheugen then introduced two members of his cabinet who had participated in the pilot phase in 2005/2006. Christian Macek, responsible for follow-up of legislative procedures at the EP and who had done a week's work-experience at a bakery in Aachen in Germany, which he described as “very enriching from a personal point of view”. As well as beginning work very early, Macek got to know about problems confronting bakers that involved EU and national food legislation. Valère Moutarlier, responsible for the environmental monitoring system (GMES), went to a Polish family SME for a week in Poznan (Poland), which specialises in design and modernisation of gas and oil extraction facilities and storage and transport installations for gas, oil and water. He noted that the rapid growth of this company was down to the directors investing in enterprise capacity and modernising and diversifying towards promising new sectors.
Programme partners have congratulated the Verheugen initiative. Pierre Simon, the president of Eurochambres said that this programme was a response to the lack of communication that Europe and its citizens suffered from. He explained that, “This programme will not only be a communication exercise for the Commission, but also a unique opportunity for SMEs to raise awareness about their concerns among the relevant decision-makers”. UEAPME Secretary General, Hans-Werner Müller said that he was pleased to note that with this programme, “how the small size of micro-businesses makes them more vulnerable to excessive, unnecessary or over-complex legislation”. Mr Müller said that he was confident this initiative would directly impact on the future of European policy on SMEs.