UEAPME Newsflash Tripartite Social Summit: competitiveness must be put first

UEAPME NEWSFLASH ISSUE NO. 276
24 OCTOBER 2014
UEAPME Newsflash
Tripartite Social Summit: competitiveness must be put first
At the Tripartite Social Summit, President Gunilla Almgren insisted on the need to make the best use of the growth
momentum by putting SMEs’ competitiveness at the forefront. Fostering private investments and implementing structural reforms, including labour markets, are the key conditions for growth and jobs. Referring to the EU SME Barometer
results, Ms Almgren confirmed a new SME optimism for the next months. However, this growth in the SME sector is
only due to existing capacities and workforce hence does not yet result in further investment or additional jobs. She also
highlighted potential risks such as the lack of SMEs’ access to finance that may hamper investments and new political
crises that may affect the economy. If the EU Council is not able to find a solution on the Climate and Energy 2030
framework and if 2015 commitments of other major economies are not at the same level, new possible burdens for
SMEs could occur, warned Ms Almgren. Contact: Liliane Volozinskis
Red tape discussed in OECD workshop
President Gunilla Almgren spoke at an OECD workshop in Paris on “Overcoming administrative hurdles for SMEs: new
strategies and instruments”. She stressed that, first off, we need a new legislative culture. Indeed, legislation should be
made with small enterprises in mind. It is our role, she stated, to convince public authorities and all other stakeholders
(trade unions, NGOs) that it is in everyone’s interest to have smart regulation, not only for enterprises but for all citizens
as well as the public authorities and administrations. On exemptions, Ms Almgren again warned that they can be counterproductive since they can hamper trust in SMEs and their products if they are not subject to the same rules. As such,
exemptions are pushing SMEs out of the market .Contact: Luc Hendrickx
EU 2020: Priority for competitiveness and implementation
UEAPME replied to the consultation on the review of the EU 2020 Strategy by saying that – from the first five years –
the following lessons were learnt: i) growth and jobs have to come from the private sector; ii) there is a need for stronger economic governance to avoid negative spill-over effects between Member States and iii) more efforts have to be put
towards an effective implementation of jointly agreed reforms and policies. Therefore, UEAPME asks for priority to be
given to competitiveness in order to make private investments in Europe more attractive; to better integrate the EU 2020
Strategy with the economic governance structures (such as the European Semester) and to involve national and European stakeholders (such as social partners) in the development of policies to create ownership on reform processes
and enhance their implementation. Contact: Gerhard Huemer
ECOFIS: economic situation, SME finance and EU2020
The UEAPME ECOFIS Committee chaired by Vice President Kentzler analysed the current economic situation of SMEs
in Europe as well as their perspectives. The discussion emerged from the quite promising results of the new EU SME
Barometer, but resulted in a more pessimistic outlook caused by the recent decline of the overall economic climate.
Furthermore, the Committee adopted the UEAPME reply to the consultation on the Europe 2020 Strategy (see article
above). Finally, the participants exchanged views on the new SME finance instruments with the Secretary General of
AECM (Credit Guarantee Organisations) and discussed possibilities to improve the regulatory environment for small
local banks in order to make them better able to finance SMEs and render the foundation of new small banks more
attractive. After the Committee meeting, the UEAPME Study Group gathered to discuss future projects for the Study
Unit. Contact: Gerhard Huemer
Multilevel Governance & Partnership require much more
Last week, Social Affairs Director Liliane Volozinskis chaired the employer’s group of the EU Social Fund Committee in
Rome. Negotiations, with the EC, of Partnership Agreements (PAs) and Operational Programmes (OPs) were the key
topic. With the new regulation, national and regional authorities have to involve economic and social partners in PAs
and OPs, as foreseen in the EU Code of Conduct on Partnership within the EU Structural and Investments Funds
(ESIF). According to UEAPME, the multi-level governance principle is far from being implemented as confirmed by the
Van den Brande Report. National social partners explained in detail how and why more efforts are needed on both
sides, so as to change the mind-set of public authorities but also for pro-activeness and more resources on the social
partners’ side. Again, UEAPME has called on the EC for more technical assistance and training for SME organisations
to make ESIF more accessible. Contact: Liliane Volozinskis
Horizon 2020 SME Instrument now be tested in praxis
Economic Policy Director Gerhard Huemer took part in the H2020 Advisory Group on SME participation. The group
discussed first encounters with the new SME Instrument in the Horizon 2020 Programme as well as the strategic programme for 2016/17. Mr Huemer argued that after the first two cut-off dates the presented projects have demonstrated
that more information and support at national level are necessary to attract the right innovation projects from SMEs.
These have to come from the Enterprise Europe Network and the national contact points for H2020 – in cooperation of
course with national and regional SME organisations. Furthermore, UEAPME demanded new financial instruments
(mezzanine loans) for the commercialisation phase, considering that classical loans are not able to carry the risk of
innovation and venture capital or business angels finance too often lead to a situation where the SME owner is losing
the control over the company. Contact: Gerhard Huemer
UEAPME NEWSFLASH ISSUE NO. 276
24 OCTOBER 2014
Sorbonne students visit UEAPME and CGPME
Students of the “Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1” taking a Master degree on Creation and Development of Enterprises visited UEAPME following the invitation from our French member CGPME. The mission and
working of the CGPME office in Brussels and the different European institutions it deals with were presented. Enterprise
Policy Luc Hendrickx gave the students an overview of SMEs in the EU and informed them about the manner in which
UEAPME defends SME interests towards the European Institutions. Contact: Luc Hendrickx
------------------------------------- News from UEAPME Projects ---------------------------------
Committee on Standards vote draft mandates
SBS Project Manager Sandrine Laurent took part in the 6th meeting of the Committee on Standards where Member
States voted draft mandates on space heaters, water heaters and material efficiency aspects. Participants also received
updated information on the status of the EC’s Vademecum (a document aiming to serve as a legally non-binding guide
on European standardisation), on the ICT platform as well as on the state of play of the independent review study –
SBS is actively involved in all three. Finally, the European commission also provided input on standardisation in the field
of services, another important topic for SBS. Contact: Sandrine Laurent
EVENTS AHEAD:
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TURKONFED EU Representation Office: Inauguration reception (17.11, contact Luc Hendrickx)
Competitive enterprises, successful regions (18.11, contact Birte Day)
Late payment information campaign (18.11, contact Luc Hendrickx)
6th European Forum Co-operative Banks and SMEs (01.12, contact Gerhard Huemer)
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UEAPME Newsflash
Compiled by: Jenny Manin
Press and communications officer
Phone: +32 2 230 7599
Mobile: +32 496 520 329