Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-12-17-Speech-3-359"
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"en.20081217.24.3-359"2
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"Madam President, in the Commission’s proposal for a Small Business Act, it fully acknowledged the problems faced by small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Finally, a ‘constructive dialogue’ meeting is to take place in January between the Commission, SMEs, their representatives and also the banks, to exchange opinions about the effectiveness of state aid, the current situation and the possible need to reinforce the decisions adopted in recent months.
With regard to access to finance, which is the subject of Mr Zwiefka’s question, the Commission, together with the European Investment Bank (EIB), has announced specific measures to improve the situation.
Of course, we agree with the need to provide SMEs with special help. The financial crisis has substantially impaired the financing channels available to businesses, particularly SMEs, in many Member States. The Community’s institutions and the Member States have taken concrete measures within their areas of competence to counteract these effects.
The Commission has introduced measures to stabilise the financial system, which will help the banks to start lending to their customers again. We have also supported certain changes to accounting rules and the fast-tracking of bank recapitalisation and bank deposit guarantee schemes.
In addition, as you know, on 26 November, the Commission approved the recovery plan to the amount of EUR 200 billion. This plan was supported and endorsed by the European Council last week. As our communication states, this sum of EUR 200 billion includes EUR 30 billion from the EU budget or from the EIB’s financing actions to help revitalise the economy.
Whether through budget resources or through financing actions, these measures clearly include financing and aid lines that will substantially benefit SMEs. That is in addition to the agreement reached at the informal Ecofin Council held in Nice in September this year, for the EIB to intensify and, at the same time, bring forward its specific financing lines for SMEs.
On top of those agreements, the EIB has announced that it will provide SMEs with intermediate finance – technically known as mezzanine finance – through the European Investment Fund to a total value of EUR 1 billion.
As I have said before, in the plans of the various Member States, and in the framework of the recovery plan endorsed by the European Council last week, there are already several examples of major EU countries in terms of economic size, such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain, that have put specific financing measures in place for SMEs, which we all know represent a substantial mass in terms of sales figures, employment and productive fabric in all our countries.
Lastly, I would like to mention the agreements that the Commission has adopted at this time of special economic difficulties, making use of the provisions laid down and provided for in the Treaty, to introduce the necessary flexibility in the framework of state aid. It will also especially benefit SMEs. An example is the agreement we adopted yesterday to raise the
rule on state aid."@en1
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