Bijeenkomst over de toegevoegde waarde van de "Small Business Act" (en)

Source: European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) i, published on Tuesday, November 23 2010.

Two years on from the adoption of the Small Business Act by the Member States, the European Economic and Social Committee will be holding a seminar in December to assess the added value of the EU initiative for individual business managers and small and medium-sized enterprises. This seminar will be organised by the Employers' Group with the partnership of BUSINESSEUROPE i, EUROCHAMBRES and the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (UEAPME).

Time: 9.30 a.m.-1 p.m., 2 December 2010

Place: EESC i, JDE Building, Room 52, Rue Belliard 99, 1040 Brussels

Speakers: Mr Henri Malosse, President, EESC Employers' Group

Presidents and chairmen of BUSINESSEUROPE, EUROCHAMBRES and UEAPME, and the Hungarian Socialist MEP Edit Herczog

High-level representatives from the European Commission and other EU institutions

The discussion will be moderated by two leading journalists: Cathy Smith and Jean Blavier.

Adopted in December 2008, the Small Business Act for Europe applies to all companies which are independent and have fewer than 250 employees, i.e. 99% of all European businesses. It lays down a set of 10 principles for improving the overall approach to entrepreneurship both at EU and national level.

As was clearly shown at last year's evaluation of the initiative, which was carried out by the EESC, EU measures aimed at promoting "thinking small first" have not yet removed the burdens hampering the start up and growth of these enterprises, which are at the very heart of European creativity. In addition, many European entrepreneurs tend to doubt their own abilities or have a lack of understanding of how the EU can really help them to create and manage their businesses.

Supporting SMEs and business managers offers a way out of the financial crisis. What's more, strong and healthy SMEs can also help to alleviate global social and environmental tensions.

Therefore, this seminar will be discussing how to improve market access for SMEs, improve their access to finance, how to better support their needs and in which direction the Small Business Act should be heading in the near future.

For more information, please contact:

Mr Artur Halas, artur.halas@eesc.europa.eu