Clune vows to fight red tape for SMEs at European level
Deirdre Clune MEP, a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Small and Medium Enterprises, has called on the European Commission to honour its promise to be “big on the big things but little on the little things”. Clune was speaking as the European Commission launched a call for submissions from interested parties to decide on future EU policy for Small and Medium sized businesses,
“99% of all European businesses have fewer than 250 employees. Small and Medium sized businesses create jobs in our local communities. They are often family business that are rooted and connected within the community. They create sustainable local jobs. They are the furniture shops and restaurants that you see every day on your high street that are an integral part of our communities. One of the issues they face is a growing burden of pointless regulation that costs money and takes up time.
“Commission President Jean Claude Junker has made clear commitments forbetter regulation when he outlined his priorities before the European Parliament last month. Better regulation works on the premise that less is more. I will, during my term in office, fight cumbersome legislation and regulations that are coming from Europe and putting an unnecessary burden on our SME community.
“The European commission have now launched a consultation to help upgrade the EU’s Small Business Act (SBA). The SBA – a wide-ranging set of measures designed to make life easier for small companies – has already proved to be a good basis for SME policy. As it is built upon the exchange of best practices, support for internationalisation and entrepreneurship as well as access to finance. The commission is calling from input from all interested parties, including entrepreneurs and business organisations, to help the European Commission ensure the SBA is fit to meet future challenges. I will be making a submission calling for better regulation and I would encourage all SMEs and interested parties in Ireland to do the same
“SMEs are the pillar of our Action Plan for Jobs. Better regulation can strongly contribute to improving European and Irish competitiveness, growth and creation of jobs. Reducing EU red tape is also key to ensure a business environment that small and medium sized companies can grow in. Mr Juncker has appointed Frans Timmermans as First Vice President of the European Commission. His mission will be to fight against the “excessive bureaucracy” of the EU institutions. This is a great opportunity to promote and build Europe’s smart regulation agenda. We need to show citizens that the European Union can solve large-scale problems and refrain from intervening on minor issues.
You can find the European Commission survey on SMEs here…
http://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/NewSBAsurvey2014?surveylanguage=EN
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