Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-02-Speech-1-078"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001002.6.1-078"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, the rapporteur and all the other Members who have spoken in this Chamber have quite rightly stressed that more efficient risk capital markets have an important role to play in supporting economic growth, creating new and long-lasting jobs and promoting a European knowledge society. This of course also applies to encouraging SMEs and promoting entrepreneurialism. These are objectives that are repeatedly highlighted as being cornerstones, not only of our economic policy guidelines, but also of our employment policy guidelines.
The proposed implementation of the action plan is the right way to go and is part of the structural reforms still needed in Europe despite all the progress made in implementing structural reforms in the markets for products, capital and services. But there is more to be done here. It is a good thing that this clearly emerged at both the Lisbon Summit and the employment forum. Above all it has also become apparent that the European Investment Bank will play an additional positive role. Mr Skinner was right to draw attention to that.
Furthermore, the Commission communication also indicates, and this was also quite rightly taken on board in the report, that we have still not made sufficient progress in building an integrated pan-European risk capital market, and that this is a weak area for the EU. The figures speak for themselves. Risk capital investment in Europe has more than doubled over the last four years, but only EUR 7 billion was invested in Europe, compared with EUR 12 billion in the USA.
If we compare investment during the start-up period of companies, the picture is even clearer, with EUR 1.6 billion in Europe against EUR 4.5 billion in the USA. Europe's equity markets for high-growth companies may have grown significantly, but in comparison with the US NASDAQ we are just dwarfs.
We are all aware of the problems involved, but we are faced with obstacles that seriously stand in the way of our taking a risk-based and entrepreneurial approach. I have in mind not only cultural barriers, but also red tape, approval and licensing procedures, difficulties for SMEs in simply filing patent applications and having patents granted, not to mention the cost of maintaining patents, and also uncoordinated tax systems.
An entrepreneurial Europe needs rewards and opportunities which benefit everyone. So we must fully support the demands that have been made. There is also room for even more commitment. I would like to mention that expert networks also have an important and positive role to play. The provision of risk capital is an important area, but it is not the only issue in business start-ups and expansions: there is also the question of what working capital is available.
Lastly, I would like to stress that this is an area where women entrepreneurs should benefit from special support, and I wish to emphasise that we, the European Parliament, should be calling on the Commission to monitor progress in this field by means of benchmarking and a scoreboard process."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples