Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-18-Speech-3-416"
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"en.20060118.25.3-416"2
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".
Mr President, if I could only put forward one argument in defence of this report, it would be that there are around 25 million small enterprises in Europe, employing nearly 95 million people. They are the backbone of the European economy, a major breeding ground for jobs and growth, and we need to make the most of their potential.
Mr President, I am not going to go into the details of the proposals made, but the Commission and the Member States will find in my report a source of inspiration for action.
The European Charter for Small Enterprises is a symbol of their importance, and it is the only official document devoted entirely to them. This Charter has provoked many attacks from businessmen. Unfortunately, five years after it came into being, the results achieved are still very uneven and its implementation remains inadequate even though it has had some success among the professional organisations and 35 countries have signed it.
Nevertheless, Mr President, these small businesses consider themselves to be the orphans of a Europe that cannot manage to provide them with a system of consultation, dialogue and work. Whether in my home town of Marseilles or elsewhere, the heads of small and craft enterprises see Europe as a machine producing costs and restrictions. For these executives, the internal market – which is, in fact, undoubtedly a success – is not an opportunity, it is an illusion. And if these business leaders do not have confidence in European policies, that is a real problem. It is quite clear that the regulatory framework we are creating is not a success if 98 % of businesses in the European Union feel that it does not work for their line of business.
That is why the Charter needs to be an instrument that will enable us to regain the trust of small enterprises in Europe. Its implementation must enable us to assess the progress made by all the European states and institutions in improving the regulatory, financial and political environment in which small businesses operate. That is why we are calling for a more critical annual report. It is, however, regrettable that this year's annual monitoring report does not really make it possible to assess the progress made.
We are calling for better implementation of the Charter, so as to make a significant contribution to the European Commission's essential commitment to better regulation. That is why we suggest, firstly, strengthening the implementation of the Charter by ensuring that its small and micro-businesses dimension is retained with actions specifically intended for them; greater involvement from the professional organisations; maintaining the dissemination of best practices and exchanges of good practice; and retaining a specific annual report on the Charter.
We have no objection to a reflection on the implementation of the Charter, but we would ask you not to sacrifice the Charter for Small Enterprises by tying it into the Lisbon Strategy. This approach must remain complementary to and distinct from the other policies targeting SMEs and industry.
This also recognises a reality that we need to take into account: small enterprises have specific needs and abilities that are different from those of businesses with 250 to 10 000 employees. This principle, as set out by the Commission, is that we must think about small enterprises. This commitment now needs to be translated into reality, because that is not always the case.
If we look, for example, at the REACH proposal, we do not get the impression that this principle was applied. It was the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats that introduced the adjustments and measures intended to make REACH applicable to and bearable for small enterprises. It is for the benefit of these small enterprises that I have once again stressed in my report the importance of simplifying legislation. We would ask you once again to institute a clear and precise method for performing impact assessments, particularly for the smaller SMEs.
This defence of the Charter and of better regulation is at the heart of this report. It includes a number of other proposals from my fellow Members, and I would like to thank them for their positive contribution. What we propose is a complete work programme, first of all to get to know small businesses better, but above all to make progress in a number of fields, including taxation, aid for investment, innovation and research and so on."@en1
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