Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-24-Speech-1-140-000"
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"Mr President, I am grateful to you all for your questions and for the points that you have raised. I have listened to them very carefully and will, of course, communicate them to my colleague, Mr Tajani. I am going to try to respond briefly to each and every one of you.
I would say to Mr Luhan that, in every single area – I could go back over them in detail, but we are short of time – I and my colleagues, particularly Mr Tajani and Mr Šemeta, are looking at ways of introducing specific legislation for SMEs. Earlier we cited the example of public procurement, to which SMEs must have better access.
Mr Nicholson talked about bureaucracy. If we looked carefully, we would find that bureaucracy exists outside Brussels, too. Bureaucracy certainly does exist in Brussels; we can simplify the rules, and we are scrupulously attempting to do so, with one piece of legislation at a time, but I also think that an effort must be made to cut red tape at national level. I can confirm to Mr Nicholson and Mr Gallagher that we are carrying out this SME test. The European Commission does so for every piece of legislation that it drafts. As I said earlier, we are going to verify that this SME test is actually being implemented in every Member State.
Mr Bütikofer mentioned the problems relating to the dialogue and the good cooperation that he wishes to see between the Directorate-General for Research and the Directorate-General for Enterprise. We are, of course, working to establish this good cooperation within the Commission. This is the case with the work being done by Ms Geoghegan-Quinn together with Mr Tajani, traces of which you will find in the new financial perspective. There will be two new frameworks, Mr Bütikofer: one on competitiveness and SMEs, and another to help SMEs to access research funding.
With regard to the issue raised by Mr Morganti on standardisation, Mr Tajani’s proposal is being discussed. I can confirm that SMEs, through the organisations and the institutions that are participating in this work on standardisation, are not discriminated against. They have a say in the matter. They can make their opinion heard.
Mr Kariņš asked earlier where growth will come from. I believe, when we see how important SMEs are – they make up 99% of the economic base – that growth will come, first and foremost, from SMEs that are much more adaptable, much more mobile and much better able to withstand crises. Mr Kariņš called for the opening of borders. Borders do need to be open, but we must not be naive, ladies and gentlemen! That is why we are going to introduce this tool for providing reciprocal access to public procurement markets in the major regions of the world.
Mr Obermayr called for the renationalisation of European policies. I disagree with you, Mr Obermayr. If you go down that road, you are going to weaken, fragment the single market again, and we know full well that we need a large European market to restore growth. Believe me, when you are in China or the United States, the only reason we are respected by those quarters, by those major countries, new and old, is because of our internal market made up of these 22 million businesses and these 500 million consumers. I urge you, let us not go down the road of renationalisation or national withdrawal. I am well aware that this ideology exists, but I do not believe it is the right one for SMEs.
Ms Băsescu spoke just now about training credit. This is a subject on which we need to have European policies, since many Member States do not have sufficient credit for that.
As I was talking about growth, I will take the opportunity to say that Mr Tajani and I are working on an issue that is not straightforward, since, not so long ago, industrial policy was still a dirty word. I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that we should become bold again like we were at the start of the European project, with the Coal and Steel Community, and like a number of manufacturers have been with Airbus, by bringing in industrial sectoral policies.
There are a few strategic areas – new information technologies, public health-related biotechnology, new energy sources, materials, transport – in which we simply have to ensure Europe’s independence, our ability to stand alone and not to depend solely on technologies or products manufactured by others. As Commissioner for the Internal Market, I do not accept that Europe is simply a land of services. We are well aware that we need services, but we must remain a land of production and not settle for consuming or buying products manufactured in the territory of, and by, others.
That is why I believe that the time will come when we have to call together for new industrial policy initiatives – that is my personal opinion, but I am working on this with Mr Tajani. Mr Schwab is very familiar with this work that we have done together, particularly with Mr Grech’s report and the numerous pieces of work that have been carried out. I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, since you are all interested in the fate and the future of SMEs, to take a good look at this scoreboard, which is the scoreboard of the Single Market Act. I have worked on it with around 10 of my colleagues, the main one being Mr Tajani, but not just him. We have identified 12 tools for growth and made around 50 proposals, including 12 key ones. Some concern, I repeat, innovation and research, and, more specifically, the European patent, which we and the Polish Presidency hope to obtain in the next few weeks.
Firstly, as Ms Sartori said, a large number of the problems faced by small and medium-sized enterprises do, after all, stem from the national administrative, bureaucratic and fiscal context or environment. Therefore, we must take action alongside the Member States, and first and foremost at that level, while also taking action at European level. I would also say to Ms Sartori that the text on very small businesses, which you know well, is now at second reading in the Council and should come here, before your Parliament, in February.
Ladies and gentlemen, all of these proposals that we are going to make, if possible, over the next two years – and as early as this year and the beginning of the next for many of them – are helpful, proactive proposals and regulations that are designed to ensure that the single market, which is too often perceived as an area of constraints, becomes an area of opportunities for SMEs.
Those who know me know that I am against theoretical or ideological legislation. SMEs need their lives to be made easier; they need investment, innovation, mobility and taxation to be made easier. That is precisely the aim of the work that my colleagues and I are doing to bring SMEs closer to the single market, as I said on the day of my appointment as Commissioner. SMEs feel that this single market is made for large operators and big players. I want that to change, as does Mr Tajani. That is the answer I wanted to give to Mr Schwab, but also to Mr Martin and Ms del Castillo Vera, who raised these issues.
I would also point out that we have launched a web portal specifically for SMEs so as to help them find information on everything that we are doing. We will return to these issues with Mr Tajani and put them all together so as to actually show what we are doing in all EU legislation, as a sort of SME-Europe contract. Our work is about bringing SMEs and the single market closer together, and that is also the way in which we must go about restoring growth. I am convinced that growth will come, first and foremost, from SMEs.
Mr Paška raised the issue of the Member States’ powers, and just now Ms Swinburne talked about micro businesses, for which we must simplify matters. Many of you, including Mr Bendtsen, Mr Provera, Mr Brons, Mr Rinaldi and Ms Gáll-Pelcz, raised the issue of financing, which took up a large part of my introduction earlier. I wish to confirm what I said about financing, namely, that we want to make it easier to export and obtain credit.
When I implement the Basel or G20 rules for every single one of Europe’s 8 300 banks, of which nearly 4 000 are cooperatives – many are small regional banks that are partners of businesses – I am, of course, very mindful of the impact of these recapitalisation measures on the economic base. This is also true of the internationalisation of SMEs, on which Mr Tajani, acting on behalf of the Commission, will be presenting a communication on 9 November.
I should like to say to Mr Watson and Mr Rübig that we are also paying close attention to taxation. My colleague, Mr Šemeta, will be addressing this issue of the complexity, or rather – I shall put it in positive terms – of the simplification of the VAT framework, in particular with regard to everything to do with cross-border constraints, in a Green Paper that he will present at the end of 2011.
Ms Merkies talked about a second chance for honest entrepreneurs and about the issue of non-fraudulent bankruptcies. I just want to say to her that, while only 4% or 6% of bankruptcies are fraudulent, there is obviously a fairly strong link between company bankruptcies and fraud in the eyes of the public.
In 2010, a Commission project established that the length of discharge procedures was one of the main obstacles preventing entrepreneurs from being given a second chance. The 2011 review of the Small Business Act calls on the Member States to impose a maximum three-year limit on the discharge of honest entrepreneurs who have gone bankrupt, so that they can be freed of all their debts and can start trading again. The Commission will be monitoring the progress made in this area. That is the response I wished to give to Ms Merkies on this important point.
I would also say to Mr Kelly that I am going to propose a measure, within the scope of the Single Market Act, to promote the mobility of venture capital. This does not change the fact, Mr Kelly, that there are fewer funds available for venture capital, as I was able to see again the other day when I was in Munich meeting some small business people who need this credit, but with this passport, we are going to try to promote the mobility of venture capital funds.
Ms Toia and Ms Handzlik mentioned the Late Payment Directive and its proper application. I can confirm that my colleague, Mr Tajani, has appealed to all the Member States to implement it before the deadline."@en1
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