Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-10-09-Speech-3-071"

Predicate	Value (sorted: default)
rdf:type	lpv_eu:Speech2
dcterms:Date	"2002-10-09"^^xsd:date2
dcterms:Is Part Of	lp_eu:Employment2
dcterms:Language	"en"^^xsd:language2
lpv:document identification number	"en.20021009.6.3-071"2
lpv:hasSubsequent	lp_eu:2002-10-09-Speech-3-0722
lpv:speaker	lp:Neena Gill2
lpv:spoken text	". – Mr President, SMEs play an important role, both from an economic and a social point of view. They are therefore a key political priority. The relevance of small and micro-enterprises was recognised by the Feira European Council. This is why they should benefit from the EU financial instruments to a much greater degree than they have so far. To achieve this, the Commission urgently needs to recognise and readdress three areas. I am not entirely satisfied with the explanations we have had from the Commissioner. The Commission needs to tackle the lack of information SMEs and micro-enterprises have about these programmes. Access to information about how to get financing is an essential starting point for encouraging entrepreneurship and SMEs' activities. Therefore, the Commission and Member States need to launch campaigns to give SMEs clear and simple information on how to benefit from EU projects and programmes. Second, there is too much red tape and too many complicated financing procedures. These need to be eliminated. In Europe, SMEs have to face many more obstacles when accessing financing than is the case for SMEs in the United States. We have heard about the Joint European Venture Programme and why it has failed. We must look at the figures. One of the reasons is that one in five projects was refused by the Commission or withdrawn due to the level of administrative requirements. This needs to be investigated. Also, the Commission failed to put in place the groundwork before they launched the JEV Programme because it was not marketed in some states, there were no intermediaries, and if you look at the UK, there was only one. This meant that the programme was doomed to fail from the start. I know that in my region there are many micro-enterprises and SMEs who would have welcomed the opportunity to be involved in this programme. I hope that its successor will address some of these problems because this programme is important, especially for the candidate countries."@en1
lpv:spokenAs	vice-chair; Delegation for relations with the countries of South Asia and the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) (2002-02-07--2004-07-19)3 unknown; Labour Party (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 member; BUDG (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3 member; PES (1999-07-20--2004-07-19)3 substitute; Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy (2002-01-17--2004-07-19)3
lpv:unclassifiedMetadata	"Gill (PSE )"1 "draftsman of the opinion of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy"1

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