Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-05-Speech-2-193"
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"en.20020205.10.2-193"2
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".
Mr President, the internal market has been of huge benefit to companies, but still more can be done. Progress in this area is being watched within the framework of the Commission’s Internal Market Strategy for Services, approved in November 1999. The Commission examines the Internal Market Strategy each year to evaluate the results achieved and suggest improvements. The evaluation was last carried out in April. One of the aims is to improve the operational environment for companies and special attention is paid to helping small enterprises in much of the action that is taken in association with this aim.
The Commission also monitors developments in the business climate for small enterprises with reference to the yearly report on the European Charter for Small Enterprises. The report for 2002 will be coming out in the next few days and will assess the action to help small businesses that the Member States and the Commission have said they are taking. The Conference of European Ministers responsible for SME policies to be held on 23 February in Aranjuez, in Spain, will be reporting on the conclusions of the report for 2002, and they will be submitted to the European Council when it convenes in Barcelona.
At this stage I might say that there has been progress. Progress has been made, for example, in such areas as access to finance and the exchange of good practice. In addition, in December, an SME envoy was appointed whose task it will be to step up exchanges with small and medium-sized enterprises and their representative bodies. He will work in the Enterprise Directorate-General and his job will be to act as liaison officer on issues such as opportunities for SMEs to acquire funding and exploit innovation as well as matters to do with competitiveness, better regulation, implementation of the internal market process, participation in EU programmes and how best to enhance consultation procedures.
Last year the Commission launched an initiative called ‘Helping SMEs to go digital’. The aim is to make SMEs aware of the opportunities offered by information networks. Six events have been planned for this year in different Member States and there is to be a large-scale conference in Brussels.
The Commission’s work to improve regulation is also making headway. There have been a number of proposals to improve the situation, both in a White Paper on Governance in the European Union and in the Laeken communication on improving and simplifying the regulatory environment. The proposals relate to the whole lifecycle of Community acts. Under discussion are, for example, the need for more effective consultation with interest groups and civil society, an evaluation of Community action and costs, and a simplification of current laws. By no later than June the Commission will have put forward a proposal for a straightforward action plan to simplify and improve the regulatory environment, after the Community’s institutions and other interest groups have been heard. The Enterprise Directorate-General will be actively involved in drawing up this plan and drawing on the experience gained from the business impact assessment system and the test project connected with it. The conclusions drawn, as a result of this project, will be ready this month."@en1
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