Commission Shifts Sme Policy Up A Gear

摘要

In a long-awaited step, the European Commission has adopted a package of initiatives aimed at making life easier for 23 million European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The so-called Small Business Act (SBA), unveiled on 25 June, is "a step towards a Europe of entrepreneurs, with less red tape and more red carpet" for SMEs, said Commission President Jose Manuel Bar-roso. The new initiative aims to anchor the 'think small first' principle in policy making both at the member states' and EU level. "It is high time that an SME-friendly policy becomes mainstream policy," said Enterprise Commissioner Giinter Verheugen. The SBA was adopted as a communication but aims to trigger four targeted legislative initiatives. The first, a regulation on a Statute for a European Private Company, was adopted alongside the SBA, on 25 June. The regulation will enable the entrepreneurs to form and operate a European private company (abbreviated as SPE from the French 'Societe privee europeenne') according to the same rules in all EU member states.