Reduced burdens and better market access will help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to grow

"The green and digital transitions of the EU economy entails opportunities, but also challenges for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. Many companies will have to innovate and think of new ways of doing things to thrive in a new environment,” stated Henna Virkkunen MEP, Co-Chair of the EPP Group SME Circle after the launch of the SME Strategy by the European Commission.

“Therefore it is of utmost importance that we leave the SMEs sufficient time and space to transition to a carbon neutral and digital economy. Otherwise, we risk putting our SMEs at a disadvantage on the market and we will not get the investments in emerging technologies that we want,” Henna Vikkunen points out.

The EPP Group wants to reduce administrative burdens for SMEs and improve their access to the market.

Every new law proposal must first go through a binding SME test, which enforces the “Think Small First” principle and assesses the economic impact and the compliance costs of the new law on SMEs. In particular, the impacts of the Green Deal on SMEs must be evaluated. The one-in-one-out rule must be applied in such a way that for any additional compliance cost introduced by new legislation, the corresponding amount of compliance cost is reduced,” said Jens Gieseke MEP, Co-Chair of the SME Circle.

Jens Gieseke sees great potential in the planned appointment of an SME Envoy: "We need a central contact person for SME topics in the EU Commission. This is long overdue. But for the work to be successful, the envoy must be well connected and able to work horizontally in all EU Commission’s Directorates-General (DGs).

Other EPP Group priorities on the SME strategy includes, amongst others, better financing possibilities.