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UEAPME NEWSFLASH ISSUE NO. 275
17 OCTOBER 2014
UEAPME Newsflash
SMEs growing again amid optimism that the worst is behind
UEAPME published the EU SME Barometer showing that the confidence European SMEs express in the overall situation of their businesses has surged nearly four percentage points from six months ago. Indeed, the Business Climate
Index moved to 71.7 (from 67.9 last semester), a nearly 4-year high. Furthermore, the confidence gap between countries in the South and Periphery and countries in the North and Centre of Europe decreased to the lowest level seen in
four years. SMEs exceeded their own expectations for economic performance in the first semester 2014, and every size
class and sector of SMEs expects improvements in the second semester. Although there is growth in the SME sector,
this is only due to further utilising existing machines and work force hence leaving no room for investment or extra employment. However, there are also downward risks: access to finance may hamper investments and political crises may
affect the economy. Contact: Gerhard Huemer
UEAPME opposes aspects of report on administrative burden
The “High Level Group on Administrative Burdens” – the so-called “Stoiber” Group – presented its final report at the
conference on Smart Regulation in the EU. The report contains some recommendations for further improvements. During the follow-up debate, Enterprise Policy Director Luc Hendrickx stressed that, while UEAPME supports the majority of
recommendations as they are in line with what the association has been advocating for years, the exemption of SMEs
or micro enterprises of European legislation as a general rule goes against SME interests. Indeed, the Think Small First
principle does not equal exemptions for smaller enterprises. On the contrary, it requires legal proposals to be drafted on
the basis of SME requirements. Contact: Luc Hendrickx
Forward looking discussions on Skills & Vocational Training
The Directors General meeting for Vocational Education and Training organised by the Italian Presidency was held in
Rome with the participation of the EU Social Partners. Key topics discussed were: Education and Training 2020 stocktaking exercise, review of the Copenhagen process for 2015, Cedefop 2014 VET monitoring report, and future changes
within the EC. Social Affairs Director Liliane Volozinskis insisted on fully implementing reforms on E&T towards more
labour market relevant VET as one of the best means for matching Craft and SME skills needs and fighting youth unemployment. She called for streamlining and simplifying the various processes. Finally, she supported President Juncker’s plan to move the “Skills” portfolio from the Commissioner in charge of education to the one for employment with the
condition that this should not be at the detriment of parity of esteem and permeability between VET and general education. Contact: Liliane Volozinskis
CoR and UEAPME coordinate efforts for SMEs
Secretary General Peter Faross met Committee of the Regions Secretary General Jiri Burianek to discuss, among other
things, EU Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) for SMEs and the negotiation in the programming phase between
regional authorities and SME representative associations. To this effect, UEAPME suggested the creation of Help
Desks located in regional SME associations to enable SMEs to better engage in the ESIF Funds. Mr Faross and Mr
Burianek also discussed the joint November conference which will focus on the implication of the funds at regional and
local level for SMEs and micro enterprises and analyse the SME policies and implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy. At this event, UEAPME might sign the Charta on the multilevel governance, a CoR declaration underlining the
importance of including all decision making levels in the cohesion policy. Contact: Birte Day
“Cost of non-Europe” discussed at UNITEE Conference
UNITEE (Business Confederation of New Europeans) and the European Movement International organised a conference on “The Cost of Non-Europe”. The conference additionally dealt with the question of how to tackle Euroscepticism.
Secretary General Peter Faross stressed that in order to have a positive agenda for our SMEs, it is necessary to create
favourable environment for them, one which facilitates access to finance, reduces red-tape and includes initiatives that
enhance innovation (such as e-invoicing and cloud-computing solutions). Quantitative studies are not sufficient to
change the general mindset concerning the EU, instead qualitative evaluations and assessments are needed, concluded Mr Faross. Contact: Luc Hendrickx
Ambitious EU Climate Policy versus re-industrialisation
At a joint conference of the Austrian Social Partner Presidents, the inter-relation between EU Climate Policy and reindustrialisation for growth and jobs was discussed. At a panel with European Trade Unions Secretary General Bernadette Segol, Economic Policy Director Gerhard Huemer warned that a unilateral fixed reduction of GHG is not compatible with keeping jobs in Europe and will not reduce global GHG emission significantly. Furthermore, support programmes for renewable energy have to become more effective, competitive and less costly for SMEs. There is also the
need for more ambitious programmes to increase energy efficiency of private housing, to help SMEs improve their resource efficiency and explore new green business opportunities. Finally, he expressed the European Business Organisations’ request to next week’s European Council to make further GHG targets conditional to commitments from other
economic regions. Contact: Gerhard Huemer
UEAPME NEWSFLASH ISSUE NO. 275
17 OCTOBER 2014
--------------------------------- News from UEAPME Sector Fora ---------------------------------
UEAPME Food Forum meets Italian Presidency
A UEAPME delegation of the Food Forum met Italian Presidency representative Mr Licchinie – Counsellor for health
and food issues and main interlocutor for the file of the Official Controls Regulation in the Council. UEAPME underlined
once again the importance of public welfare in hygiene controls in the food sector. In some Member States there are too
many control authorities, controls which can then entail exuberant fees for SMEs. In other countries, where the controls
system functions well, the authorities are coordinated and sometimes centralised to avoid double employment and
hence double payment. UEAPME aims to find a compromise position between member viewpoints on the definition of
the enterprises that might be able to benefit from an exemption of fees. Contact: Birte Day
------------------------------------- News from UEAPME Projects ---------------------------------
SMEs consulted on the Vademecum on EU Standardisation
SBS took part in the Working Group of the Vademecum on European standardisation. The Vademecum is a guide for
EC officials, Member States and standardisation stakeholders addressing the general role, preparation and adoption
process of the standardisation requests, as well as common requirements for drafting harmonised standards. All Members and observers of the Committee of Standards were invited to contribute to the discussion. The aim of the meeting
was to discuss the text of the current draft of the Vademecum in detail. SBS promoted the fact that the market relevance’s principle is of crucial importance in putting forward draft mandates. The aim is to ensure the consistency of
standardisation and hence put SMEs at the core of the debate. Contact: Sandrine Laurent
EVENTS AHEAD:
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Competitive enterprises, successful regions (18.11, contact Birte Day)
6th European Forum Co-operative Banks and SMEs (01.12, contact Gerhard Huemer)
Registration now open
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UEAPME Newsflash
Compiled by: Jenny Manin
Press and communications officer
Phone: +32 2 230 7599
Mobile: +32 496 520 329