Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-05-11-Speech-3-526-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110511.34.3-526-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, there is a fundamental paradox in EU policy on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). On the one hand, there is almost unanimous support for their importance to the economy, to employment, wealth creation, innovation and flexibility, and their overall sheer size within the economy. If positive rhetoric could be converted into orders and cash in the bank, then the Union’s SMEs would be in great shape. However, the big challenge – which is addressed in this resolution – is how to convert warm words into useful deeds without just throwing money at SMEs – money that is not available in today’s economy. On the other hand, the EU combines this positive sentiment with plenty of legislation on employment protection and environmental requirements: legislation which is well-intentioned but all of which bears most heavily on SMEs, increasing the administrative burden on small business when we should be reducing it.
There are many constructive suggestions in this resolution. I particularly like the proposal for combating the practice known in my country as ‘gold plating’, whereby national authorities add layers of regulation to European measures. My personal view, as one who worked in a small business for 25 years, is that actually, while it would be nice to reduce this burden of administration, the best we can do for small businesses is to improve access to information and to finance."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples