No C 159/38 Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 6. 89 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Decision relating to the improvement of the business 
environment and the promotion of the development of enterprises, in particular of small and 
medium-sized enterprises, in the Community (*) 
(89/C 159/14) 
On 14 March 1989, the Council decided to consult the Economic and Social Committee, 
under Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, on the 
abovementioned proposal. 
The Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services was instructed to prepare the 
Committee's work on the subject. In the course of the proceedings Mr Lustenhouwer was 
appointed rapporteur-general by the full Committee. 
At its 265th plenary session (meeting of 26 April 1989) the Economic and Social Committee 
adopted the following Opinion with no dissenting votes and one abstention. 
1. Introduction 
1.1. The Commission has been paying much closer 
attention to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) 
in the Community since the 1985 agreement by the 
Council on SME, and its proposal is the logical sequel 
to this. 
Since the European year of small and medium-sized 
enterprises in 1983 the SME important economic role 
has become clear in a number of fields. The ESC has 
referred to this fact in several reports—and particularly 
its Opinion on the SME action programme (rapporteur: 
Mr Calvet Chambon) (2)—and given the Commission 
both support and encouragement in its policy towards 
small and medium-sized enterprises. 
After 1983 SME policy rapidly acquired a place ot its 
own at the Commission. For the first time in the history 
of the Community the Commission which took up 
office in 1984 had a member specially responsible for 
SME policy. 
1.2. A special department—the SME task force— 
was also created at the Commission. 
The newly appointed Commission, in presenting this 
proposal, wishes to give its policy a proper legal basis 
(Treaty Article 235); by providing funds for a four-year 
period it also wishes to put itself in a position to pursue 
a medium-term policy. 
1.3. The Committee lends its general support to this 
aim of the Commission, as reflected in its proposal. 
However, in view of the deadline it was set, it is not 
able to form a considered opinion about the size of the 
budget being requested. It does note that at this stage 
the budget is justifiedly focused on 'information and 
assistance' but thinks that other policy areas should not 
suffer in consequence. 
(') OJ No C 79, 30. 3. 1989, p. 5. 
(2) OJNoC232, 31. 8. 1987. 1.4. The Committee would like to examine this pro­
posal in relation to a number of the aspects of the 
Commission's present and future policy towards SME. 
It was not able to make an in-depth analysis of the 
proposal because the Council's timetable left it with 
only a few weeks in which to deliver its Opinion. It is 
suggested that present and future policy should be 
discussed shortly in more depth in an additional 
Opinion. 
2. The task of integration 
2.1. The Commission which took up office on 
4 January 1989 also has a member with special respon­
sibility for SME. The Committee thinks that this Com­
missioner must make an effort to have the 'SME dimen­
sion' included in all policies. This means that SME 
interests should be borne in mind by all Commission 
policymakers and not simply by the responsible Com­
missioner. The latter should play a coordinating and 
supervisory role and should also have the power to 
address his colleagues on such matters. Only then will 
it be possible to incorporate SME policy in all elements 
of Community policy. 
2.2. The Committee supports the Commission's 
decision to create a new DG XXIII because this will 
improve the machinery for shaping and preparing SME 
policy on the condition that it is supplied with adequate 
means to properly fulfill this task. However, the Com­
mittee notes — with some concern — that the term 
'SME' has been replaced by 'enterprise policy' in the 
directorate-general's title. 
2.3. The Committee is opposed to this if it means 
that SME are not to be given as much special attention. 
The Committee does, however, believe that large and 
small/medium-sized enterprises are not automatically 
26. 6. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 159/39 
in opposition to each other. After all, they are regarded 
as complementary in very many cases — and should 
also be seen as such in Community policy. 
2.4. The Committee thinks that as least a directorate 
for crafts and small and medium-sized enterprises 
should be formed within the new DG XXIII; the distri­
bution sector must also be given a fully-fledged place 
within this DG in view of its economic importance in 
the Community. 
3. Policy since the 1986 action programme 
3.1. The SME action programme divided the pro­
posed policy into two, viz.: 
— improvement of the business environment, and 
— improvement of SME flexibility and adaptability. 
3.2. Action has been taken by the Commission in 
both areas, as its annual policy assessment reports 
indicate. This policy should also give thorough con­
sideration to social issues of importance to SME. The 
need to give SME a boost does not mean that less 
attention should be paid to social policy in firms which 
does justice to the employees' interests. SME policy's 
social component is thus linked to the implementation 
of the Internal Market's 'social dimension' which, as the 
Committee has already stated (February 1989), should 
progress hand-in-hand with the completion of the 
Internal Market in the economic, financial and tax 
fields. 
3.3. However, the Committee cannot get away from 
the impression that too many projects and pilot schemes 
are ad hoc and are not the result of a deliberate strategy. 
It would be better to be active in fewer fields rather 
than embarking on a large number of studies and pro­
jects which, in the Committee's view, are not always 
logically connected. 
3.4. The Committee also calls on the Commission to 
lay down a timetable for its programme for promoting 
enterprises and especially SME so that the time-scale 
and other relationships between the separate policy­
making areas become clearer and are easier to evaluate 
properly. 
4. Specific topics 
4.1. Impact assessment: although a reasonably posi­
tive start has been made with the business impact 
assessment, the Committee thinks that the quality of the replies leaves room for improvement. All too often 
organizations of entrepreneurs and employees still have 
too little chance to consult each other about the ques­
tions, and all too often the replies provided by the 
services of the Commission are vague or extremely 
brief. 
4.2. Consultations with the Member States: the 
Committee thinks that the Community's and the Mem­
ber States' policies for promoting enterprises (and 
especially SME) must operate in parallel. Only then can 
good coordination in the various policymaking areas 
be attained. The Committee thinks that it is imperative 
for the Commission, the Member States and the organ­
izations concerned to hold proper and continuous con­
sultations. In this way projects launched by the Com­
mission can fit in with the appropriate national machin­
ery and it will be possible to prevent policies from 
overlapping or—worse still—clashing. 
5. Information and assistance 
5.1. Almost 70% of the proposed budget is to be 
allocated to this area of policy. Apart from other 
vehicles for information (printed matter, seminars) the 
Euro Info Centre project naturally springs to mind in 
this context. Although the Committee sets great store 
by this project, some caution is called for. 
5.2. The growth in the number of centres will make 
it all the more necessary to fit in with the situation in 
each Member State. Otherwise there is a danger of 
information networks operating side-by-side and mak­
ing it difficult and confusing for small businessmen 
easily to gain access to the required information. The 
fees charged by the centres' operators for using these 
services should not be prohibitive, either. 
5.3. There is a clear relationship between the Euro 
Info Centres and, for example, the BC-Net, which in 
the view of the Committee should also be developed. 
This also applies to new activities announced in the 
explanatory memorandum of the proposal whose 
import is not yet fully clear to the Committee, i.e. 
the network of institutes for lending support to SME 
strategic management (a very important aspect for SME 
development) and the subcontracting centre to be set 
up by the Community. 
The Committee expects to be consulted on this by the 
Commission at a later date so that it can go into the 
more specific proposals in greater detail. 
No C 159/40 Official Journal of the European Communities 26. 6. 89 
5.4. The Euro-partenariat project could also be 
included under the heading of 'assistance' even though 
it is a cooperation project. The Committee would place 
a large question mark against the amount of energy 
devoted to this project which in consequence would 
seem to have produced hardly any results to date. The 
Commission should give thorough consideration to this 
project's impact before devising new activities. 
5.5. The Committee stresses the fact that infor­
mation and assistance policy should go hand-in-hand 
with stimulation of training, in all its aspects, of entre­
preneurs and employees in SME. 
6. Conclusion 
6.1. The Committee supports the Commission pro­
posal, which establishes a legal basis for the policy for 
improving the position of enterprises and particularly 
small and medium-sized enterprises but however 
stresses the fact that 'the removal of undue administrat­
ive, financial and legal constraints which hold back the 
development and creation of small and medium-sized 
enterprises' (Article 2) should respect the acquired rights 
of all parties involved. 
It notes that not all of the planned initiatives can be 
assessed at the moment since some of the finer points 
still have to be worked out. As soon as this has been 
done, the Committee would like to be consulted further. 
Done at Brussels, 26 April 1989. It also intends to take up the question of the Com­
munity's SME policy in the near future. 
6.2. On surveying the number of projects planned 
or already implemented, the Committee is certainly 
impressed by the Commission's diligence and would 
like to offer its congratulations. However, it would 
stress the need to furnish SME policy with a detailed 
vision of the task, the specific characteristics of all its 
components, and role of the SME in the Community. 
The heterogeneity of the SME in the Community should 
be reflected in such a vision. Many of the activities to 
date seem to focus on small craft and industrial firms 
and overlook the existence of small firms in high growth 
areas such as distribution and services. The Com­
mission should also pay the requisite attention to these 
important SME sectors by finding a place for them 
within the new DG XXIII. The Committee would refer 
in support of this call to the information report by its 
Section for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services on 
small firms in the services sector in the Community 
(rapporteur: Mr G. Regaldo) (27 May 1986.) 
6.3. Finally, the Committee would point out that 
Article 4 of the proposal makes no provision for the 
involvement of the Committee in the annual policy 
assessment. The Committee feels that it is an absolute 
necessity for it to be involved and notes with satisfaction 
the Commission's declared interest in ensuring this. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alberto MASPRONE