Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-09-13-Speech-2-672-000"
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"en.20110913.44.2-672-000"2
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".
Madam President, Mr Tajani, ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased that, at my initiative, this oral question has received so much support here in Parliament and that it is being answered so promptly by the Commission. Thank you very much, Mr Tajani, for your response.
As you know, because of globalisation, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing increasing competition from other countries, including from emerging economies outside the European Union. This involves major challenges, but also significant opportunities. In order to remain competitive, to secure growth and to support the sustainability of our companies, SMEs must take part in international activities. The Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is convinced of this. This concerns imports and exports, foreign direct investment and, of course, also acting as or using foreign subcontractors.
However, only a small proportion of European SMEs are doing business with third countries. A total of 99% of the companies in the European Union are SMEs. However, only 29% of the SMEs in the EU import products, of which 50% import from countries outside the internal market. Only 25% of the SMEs in the EU are involved in exports, of which 50% export to countries outside the internal market. This means that our SMEs are not yet fully integrated into the global market. There are still opportunities to be exploited in this area and we now need to consider how we can encourage SMEs to do more business outside Europe.
Not many SMEs are familiar with the public support programmes, such as the Enterprise Europe Network, or with information resources, such as the Market Access Database and the Export Helpdesk. There are also similar programmes available at a national and regional level.
We need to know what concrete measures the Commission is planning in order to ensure that SMEs are better informed about the available tools and programmes. We would also like to know what the Commission intends to do to make the confusing subsidy system more transparent and clearer for SMEs.
Following the decision made by the Court of Justice of the European Union on 10 December 2009, the Commission intends to include product-specific list rules in the implementing regulations for the Modernised Customs Code, in other words, to make these rules legally binding. The intention is to replace the current regulation, which has proved its worth over several decades and which specifies that the origin of a product is based on its last substantial processing or working, by countless product-specific origin rules for products imported into the EU. We are concerned that this will lead to an increase in red tape and, most importantly, will put SMEs at a disadvantage. We believe that this is not in line with the Small Business Act for Europe.
Therefore, we are calling for a simplified form of this system which is beneficial for SMEs. How does the Commission intend to ensure that safety-related adaptations and changes to the Modernised Customs Code do not conflict with the existing simplified procedure and lead to competitive disadvantages? This is all about the position of SMEs on the world market, which will ensure their continued existence and allow them to safeguard jobs here in the European Union."@en1
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