Brussels, 05/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 4 December 2008, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on measures to improve the environment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) included in the Small Business Act (SBA) for Europe (see EUROPE 9794 and 9690). Believing that the financial crisis has made the shortcomings in the current situation for SMEs even more flagrant, the resolution urges member states to formally endorse the SBA at the European summit next week and adopt tangible measures at national and regional level to supplement measures decided at EU level. In order to assess progress and check the effectiveness of the SBA, the MEPs say a supervision system has to be instigated and there should be a special chapter on the SBA in member states' national annual reports on implementation of the Lisbon strategy. The MEPs welcome the €30 billion of loans that the European Investment Bank (EIB) is earmarking for SMEs but point out that this will not be enough to solve SMEs' current financing problems.
We truly hope the European Council will look at this issue next week and prime ministers will make the SBA binding, explained Edit Herczog (PES, Hungary) during a debate in plenary at the EP on 3 December, to which French Secretary of State for European Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet said he was sure they would. He said that both the SBA and the European Commission' economic relaunch plan suggest that SME invoices should be paid within 30 days. He said that reducing the time SMEs had to wait to be paid would help solve their cash flow problems, particularly because one in four insolvency cases in Europe is due to the late payment of invoices. Joint author of the resolution with Edit Herczog, Nicole Fontaine (EPP-ED, France) recommended more imaginative solutions to enable SMEs to access public tender because the SBA's code of conduct on public tender is not binding. (M.B./transl.fl)