Member States throughout Europe are in the process of making life easier for small businesses. Thirty good examples that have proven to be particularly successful in reducing administrative and financial burdens on small companies will be discussed at the Charter Conference in Berlin on June 4/5, 2007. Among the cases outlined are initiatives for tax exemptions on re-invested profits and e-government services that let SMEs provide single-step reports of similar information content to various public institutions via a central contact point. Business associations and government policymakers from more than 40 countries will contribute their experience by describing how the growth of SMEs may be supported as efficiently as possible. The opening speakers will be Günter Verheugen, Vice President of the EU Commission, and Hartmut Schauerte, Parliamentary State Secretary in the German Ministry of Economics and Technology. They will provide details on support that SMEs will in future be able to count on at the EU level and in Germany.
The German Council Presidency and the European Commission want to bring about sustained improvements of conditions for SMEs and thereby set in motion a wave of growth, employment, and innovation. For the EU is increasingly relying on the vitality of the small and midsized business sector. Parliamentary State Secretary Hartmut Schauerte: "The champions league of companies in the EU is only possible on the basis of our wide ranging innovative and competitive SMEs, otherwise the foundations are missing. We should review whether statistics obligations and rules for authorized agents can be issued for small firms with up to 10 and 15 employees."
Vice President Günter Verheugen, responsible for companies and industries stressed: "Small and midsized companies are the life-blood of our society - they guarantee prosperity and jobs. We should therefore make every aspect of life as easy as possible for them, and exactly that is what the Charter is about. Throughout the EU there are good examples of modern, non-bureaucratic SME policy that are presented at Conferences such as this and that can provide pointers for others. At the end of the year, we will tally up a balance in the framework of our partnership for growth and employment and determine how SME friendly the EU has become."
Some 400 participants from all over Europe, including representatives from more than 30 European and national SME business associations, will be meeting in Berlin to exchange information and experience on measures to bring about sustained improvements for SMEs. The Conference presents cases selected from more than 100 measures submitted as examples by the Member States, among which are some that have been chosen from the areas "faster and simpler business start-ups," "e-government," and "taxes."
The Member States have increasingly learned from the good examples of their partners in the EU: In 30 cases, the Member States have indicated that the ideas behind the measures they have developed have either originated in another Member State or come from a so-called best-project of the European Commission.
The Greek example of a contact point for start-up entrepreneurs was, for example, inspired by the Irish measure, presented at an earlier Charter Conference. The Czech Republic, for instance, followed the Portuguese model of establishing a central registry for start-up entrepreneurs.
Before the UK introduced its electronic system for submission of balance sheets, the Danish registry office was visited for the purpose of acquiring helpful hints for structuring the system. Austria's tax exemptions for re-invested profits are based on a comparable Italian measures. The Bulgarian initiative for better and more efficient administrative services is based on corresponding provisions in Malta, in the Czech Republic, and in the UK. And finally, Finland's program for securing succession in family owned businesses was inspired by a best-project of the European Commission.
German companies and Germany's economic and SME policy have learned and benefited in practical terms from the Charter process over the years. Examples are the federal government's start-up offensive, the internet platform for start-up consulting (startothek), the introduction of the electronic trade registry, the amended GmbH Act, the creation of contact points for start-up entrepreneurs at individual state level (starter centers, start-up agencies, starter shops), and the corporate tax reform measures that have been decided on for the SME sector.
From the German perspective, it is above all important for the topic of SME friendly tax procedures and simplification for cross-border operations to remain on the agenda and to lead soon to good solutions.
Of special German interest at this Charter Conference are thoughts on better SME access to financing. For problems of company financing continue to act as strong brakes on growth in the EU. Discussions at the Conference will therefore focus special attention on the new approaches to company financing and to the funding of start-up entrepreneurs.
The Conference is jointly organized by the European Commission and the German Presidency.
For more details:
Website of the Conference, including the papers delivered by the speakers: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/enterprise_policy/charter/conf2007/index_en.htm
The European Charter for Small Enterprises: http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/charter/index.htm
