REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL COSME Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs 2014-2020 Monitoring Report 2014
Date: 2016-08-24
Institutions: Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU financing, EU programme, aid to undertakings, business start-up, commitment of expenditure, competitiveness, financial control, market access, small and medium-sized enterprises

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 24.8.2016  COM(2016) 526 final   REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL COSME  Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs 2014-2020  Monitoring Report 2014 {SWD(2016) 274 final} {SWD(2016) 277 final}  
 
 
Contents 

1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3 

2. Budget execution in 2014 ..................................................................................................... 4 

2.1 Access to Finance ......................................................................................................... 8 

2.2 Access to Markets ........................................................................................................ 9 

2.3 Improving Framework Conditions and Competitiveness ...................................... 10 

2.4 Promoting Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Culture ................................. 11 

3. Support measures ............................................................................................................... 12 

4. Administrative expenditures ............................................................................................. 13 

5. Contribution to the Climate Mainstreaming objective ................................................... 13 

6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 13 

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1. INTRODUCTION 

COSME is the programme for EU actions to improve the competitiveness of enterprises, with 
special  emphasis  on  small  and  medium-sized  enterprises  (SMEs).  It  builds  upon  the 
Entrepreneurship  and  Innovation  programme  (EIP)  established  for  2007-2013  under  the 
Competitiveness  and  Innovation  Framework  Programme  (CIP).  COSME  actions  seek  to 
optimise synergies with other EU spending programmes, in particular the European Structural 
and  Investment  Funds  (ESIF)  and  the  Horizon  2020  programme  which  includes  the 
innovation activities which were previously part of the EIP.  

COSME brings added value by addressing transnational issues and market failures in four key 
areas defined by the legal base1: 

1.  Improving access to finance for SMEs in the form of equity and debt (at least 60% of 

the global budget envelope); 

2.  Improving access to markets inside and outside the Union (21.5%); 

3.  Improving  framework  conditions  for  businesses  and  the  competitiveness  of 

enterprises, including SMEs (11%); 

4.  Promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture (2.5%). 

In addition to the 28 EU Member States, the following third countries participated in COSME 
in  2014:  Iceland,  Montenegro,  Turkey,  Moldova  and  the  former  Yugoslav  Republic  of 
Macedonia.  

The Commission is responsible for the overall implementation of COSME. The first objective 
is  implemented  through  the  financial  instruments  that  are  entrusted  to  the  European 
Investment  Fund  (EIF).  The  implementation  of  the  actions  under  objectives  2,  3  and  4  is 
largely  delegated  to  the  Executive  Agency  for  SMEs  (EASME).  Indirect  management  by 
international  organisations  is  also  envisaged  for  certain  analytical  and  benchmarking 
activities.  

This  report  presents  an  overview  of  the  COSME  budget  implementation  in  2014,  in 
accordance  with  Article  15  of  the  COSME  regulation,  including  support  measures  and 
expenses  of  an  administrative  nature.  The  details  of  implementation  for  each  objective  are 
included in annex 1. Annex 2 contains the list of beneficiaries for calls for proposals. 

1 Regulation (EU) N° 1287/2013 of the European parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013. 

3 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
2. BUDGET EXECUTION IN 2014 

The  COSME  legal  base  specifies  an  overall  indicative  budget  of  EUR  2.3  billion  for  the 
seven-year  period  of  COSME  (2014-2020).  The  budget  follows  a  spending  cycle  with 
commitments planned to increase progressively up to the last year of the programme in 2020.  
Payment credits are expected to follow the same trend but with a lower level in 2014 as the 
programme  had  yet  to  create  the  legal  commitments  needed  for  generating  payments.  The 
COSME  legal  base  specifies  that  the  programme  is  implemented  through  an  annual  work 
programme  and  through  support  measures.  The  budget  also  includes  administrative 
appropriations for managing the programme. 

The COSME budget is implemented through four budget lines with appropriations specified 
by  the  corresponding  revised  financing  decision  for  20142.  After  adding  contributions  from 
third  countries,  unused  appropriations  from 
the  previous  programming  period  and 
miscellaneous transfers the budget available for 2014 was: 

(a) budget line 02 01 04 01 for administrative expenditures: EUR 5 118 063 

(b) budget line 02 01 06 01 for the functioning of the EASME agency: EUR 6 667 313 

(c) budget line 02 02 01 for all other operational expenditure: EUR 106 411 140 

(d) budget line 02 02 02 for access to finance operational expenditure: EUR 140 787 114 

The financing decision for support measures3 provides for a contribution of EUR 7 151 722, 
included in the budget line 02 02 01 of the general budget of the European Union for 2014. 

The total  budget  available, including the administrative appropriations, to implement  the 36 
actions in the work programme 2014 was EUR 258 983 630.  

2014 was a transition year from the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme 
(CIP)  to  COSME  with  the  delegation  of  implementation  to  a  new  executive  agency,  the 
renewal  of  one  of  the  main  components  of  the  programme,  the  Enterprise  Europe  Network 
and the setting up of two new financial instruments, one for debt and one for equity. The CIP 
programme (2007-2013) covered the transitional period for these two instruments in order to 
avoid any disruption of activities.  

The  externalization  of  the  spending  programmes  took  place  as  set  out  in  the  Commission 
Communication  on  the  delegation  of  the  management  of  the  2014-2020  programmes  to 
executive  agencies.4  The  Executive  Agency  for  Small  and  Medium-sized  Enterprises 
(EASME)  was  created  by  Commission  Implementing  Decision  on  17  December  20135  and 
the  Act  of  Delegation  adopted  on  23  December6.  DG  GROW  is  the  lead  parent-DG  of 
EASME.7 On average 92% of the COSME activities, with the exception of access to finance, 
were delegated to EASME. 

2 C(2014) 4993 final 
3 C(2014) 5590 final 
4 SEC(2013) 493 final  
5 Commission Implementing Decision 2013/771/EC of 17.12.2013. 
6 C(2013)9414  
7 Other parent DGs are: RTD, CNECT, ENV, CLIMA, MARE, ENER. 

4 

 
 
                                                 
2014 was a particularly challenging year for EASME. It managed a budget of nearly €1,100 
million  (compared  to  €586  million  in  2013).  The  number  of  staff  increased  from  144  (in 
2013)  to  300  Full  Time  Equivalent  (FTE)  by  the  end  of  the  year.  This  generated  teething 
problems resulting in implementation delays. As a result €78,8 million from the €95,5 million 
delegated from the COSME  programme  were  carried over for implementation in  2015. The 
agency eliminated the backlog in 2015 and reached an implementation level of 98.3% of the 
2014 actions carried-over to 2015. 

In total, 99.23% of the €258,983 million euros available were committed.  For payments, 
the implementation rate was on average 93.08% due to administrative expenditure rates while 
in the operational lines 100% execution was reached.   

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Table: COSME total budget available in 2014 for commitments 

Budget line 02 01 04 01 for administrative expenditures  

Voted budget, available after transfers:   
Other external assigned revenue: 
Contributions from third-countries: 

4.212.210 
               300.314 
   600.529 

Total Budget available for commitments: 

5.118.063 

Budget line 02 01 06 01 for the functioning of the EASME agency:  

Voted budget, available after transfers: 
Other external assigned revenue: 
Contributions from Third-countries:   

 6.496.350 
    166.769 
        3.984 

Total Budget available for commitments: 

 6.667.313 

Budget line 02 02 01 for all other operational expenditure 

Voted budget, available after transfers: 
Assigned revenue without carry-over of residual appropriations: 
EFTA contribution 

 102.709.687 
     3.619.285 
          82.168 

Total Budget available for commitments: 

  106.411.140 

Budget line 02 02 02 for access to finance operational expenditure  

Voted budget:  
Transfer to EIF capital increase: 
EFTA contribution 

Total Budget available for commitments: 

161.907.588 
 -21.250.000 
       129.526. 

  140.787.114 

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Table: COSME budget execution in 2014 

Budget Line 

Commitments8 

Payments9 

Budget 
available 

Budget 
implemented 

Implementation 
% 

Credits 
available 
for 
payments 

Payment 
executed 

Execution 
% 

02 02 02 

Access to Finance 

140.787.114  140.787.114 

100,00 %  74.244.830  74.244.830  100,00 % 

02 02 01 

Access to Markets, Business 
Environment & 
Entrepreneurship  

implemented by GROW 

10.836.633 

10.665.116 

98,42 % 

4.936.221 

1.299.946 

26,33 % 

delegated to EASME 

delegated to other DGs 

95.111.545 

94.950.764 

99,83 % 

6.000.720 

5.994.571 

99,90 % 

462.962 

462.962 

100,00 % 

33.100 

22.521 

68,04 % 

total budget committed in 2014 
including carry-overs for 020201 

106.411.140  106.078.842 

99,69 %  10.970.041 

7.317.038 

66,70 % 

Carried over EASME  actions carried-over to 2015 

78.788.026 

77.449.753 

Carried over GROW  actions carried-over to 2015 

4.536.240 

4.349.528 

98,30 % 

95,88 % 

Final execution  after 
implementing in 2015 the actions  
carried-over 

106.411.140  104.553.857 

98,25 %  10.970.641 

7.317.638 

66,70 % 

02 01 04 01 

Administrative Budget 

5.118.063 

5.017.946 

98,04 % 

5.118.063 

2.103.647 

41,10 % 

02 01 06 01 

EASME - Administrative Budget 

6.667.313 

6.626.000 

99,38 % 

6.667.313 

6.626.000 

99,38 % 

Operational Budget committed 
in 2014 including carry-overs  

Operational Budget committed 
in 2014 after final 
implementation in 2015 of the 
carry-overs 

Total budget implemented, 
including adm. Expenses, after 
execution of the carry-overs 

COSME Total 

247.198.254  246.865.956 

99,87 %  85.214.871  81.561.868 

95,71 % 

247.198.254  245.340.971 

99,25 % 

258.983.630  256.984.918 

99,23 %  97.000.247  90.291.514 

93,08 % 

8 Including the voted budget, the credits carried-over from the CIP programme, third countries and EFTA contributions 
and transfers 
9 9 Including the voted budget, the credits carried-over from the CIP programme, third countries and EFTA 
contributions and transfers 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
 
  
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
  
 
  
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 
2.1 ACCESS TO FINANCE  

The COSME Regulation specifies that at least 60% of the total budget (EUR 1.4 million) 
has to be allocated to the financial instruments for 2014-2020. 

In  2014,  access  to  finance  represented  58%  (EUR  163.5  million)  of  the  financial  envelope 
available for COSME.  After transferring EUR 21.25 million to the EIF for a capital increase, 
the  budget  available  for  easing  access  to  finance  to  SMEs  through  the  Loan  Guarantee 
Facility (LGF) and the Equity Facility for Growth (EFG) was EUR 140.8 million. The total 
budget  committed  for  the  LGF  amounted  to  EUR  89.1  million,  while  the  total  budget 
committed for the EFG amounted to EUR 51.7 million. 

The  delegation  agreement  with  the  European  Investment  Fund  was  signed  in  July  2014.  
Subsequently,  the  EIF  published  two  continuous  calls  for  expression  of  interest  to  select 
financial  intermediaries  which  in  turn  will  select  final  beneficiaries  under  the  LGF  or  the 
EFG, in accordance with their normal business practice and taking into account the eligibility 
criteria  for  the  LGF  or  the  EFG.  First  guarantee  agreements  under  the  LGF  were  signed 
between the EIF and financial intermediaries towards the end of 2014, and the first loans were  
provided to SMEs early 2015. These agreements will provide financing for those SMEs who 
would otherwise not be able to obtain funding due to their perceived higher risk or a lack of 
sufficient  collateral.  Setting  up  fund  agreements  under  the  EFG  is  more  complex  and  takes 
considerable time. Despite the fact that the EIF carried out due diligence on several proposals, 
no fund agreement was signed before the end of 2014. 

Throughout  2014,  the  SME  Guarantee  Facility  (SMEG)  under  the  Competitiveness  and 
Innovation  Programme,  the  predecessor  of  the  LGF,  continued  to  support  SMEs  More  than 
56.000 SMEs received more than EUR 3 billion of financing supported by SMEG. Since its 
start, the SMEG has supported the provision of more than €19 billion of financing to almost 
368.000 SMEs.  

The  GIF  (High  Growth  and  Innovative  SME  Facility)  instrument  continued  to  provide  risk 
capital to SMEs, with more than EUR 288 million of equity finance mobilised to support 112 
SMEs.  Since  its  start,  the  GIF  has  mobilised  more  than  €  3  billion  of  equity  finance  for 
around  450  SMEs.  This  number  will  continue  to  rise  for  several  years,  since  many  of  the 
funds are still in the early part of their 5-year investment period. 

By  end  of  2015,  more  than  51  000  SMEs  had  received  financing  for  almost  EUR  1  300 
million  under  the  LGF,  also  thanks  to  the  enhancement  of  the  COSME  LGF  through 
additional  risk-bearing  capacity  provided  from  the  European  Fund  for  Strategic  Investment 
(EFSI)  which  was  made  available  in  July  2015.  The  implementation  exceeded  expectations 
and confirmed the high market demand for financing to riskier SMEs, especially start-ups and 
small businesses.  

Accompanying  measures  were  foreseen  to  promote  the  two  COSME  financial  instruments 
and to further promote access to finance for SMEs but also to gather useful facts and data for 

8 

 
 
monitoring as well as for shaping access to finance policy. The budget committed in 2014 for 
accompanying actions amounts to EUR 1 241 25210. 

2.2 ACCESS TO MARKETS   

The COSME Regulation specifies that an indicative 21.5% of the total budget has to be 
devoted to easing access to markets. 

In  2014  EUR  61.5  million  were  dedicated  to  the  Internationalisation  of  SMEs,  representing 
24% of the financial envelope for 2014. 

COSME  provides  support  to  European  enterprises  and,  in  particular,  to  SMEs  to  help  them 
benefit from the Single market by establishing business links outside their own country and 
also to export outside Europe. 

The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) supports SMEs locally with more than 600 offices in 
the  EU  and  beyond.  It  helps  SMEs  to  find  international  business,  technology  and  research 
partners in the EU and other participating countries. Through dedicated advisory services, the 
Network  promotes  the  participation  of  SMEs  in  EU  funding  programmes  such  as  Horizon 
2020 and the European Investment and Structural Funds. 

In 2015, about 450.000 SMEs received services via the Enterprise Europe Network in all EU 
regions ranging from the provision of information on the EU legislation and programmes, to 
specialised advisory services (e.g. on intellectual property rights and resource efficiency) and 
matchmaking events.   

Two calls for proposals were published in 2014, to renew the membership of the network and 
sign  the  framework  partnership  agreements  (FPA)  with  the  consortia  in  charge  of  the  local 
contact points.  The signature of the FPA and the subsequent specific agreements for the two 
first years of operations suffered from delays and continued until June 2015 for some of the 
agreements.  However, for the vast majority of partners that succeeded in the first call, EEN 
started its activities as from 1 January 2015. This is also the date from which the Commission 
contributed to their eligible costs.  

The activities of the EEN in 2014 were financed by the CIP 2013 Work Programme to ensure 
continuity  of  activity,  while  the  COSME  work  programme  2014  provided  co-financing  for 
2015 activities (budget of EUR 49.5 million). 

COSME  also  funded  several  activities  to  support  internationalisation  of  SMEs  in  third 
countries, including the IPR  SME  Helpdesks.  They  offered  advice  and support  to  European 
SMEs facing  intellectual  property rights  difficulties  in,  or  arising from,  China, and ASEAN 
and MERCOSUR member countries with a budget of EUR 7.2 million. The EU Japan Centre 
for  Industrial  Cooperation  (EUR  2.6  million)  facilitated,  among  other  things,  SMEs'  access 
the Japanese market.  

10 See the report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on financial instruments 
supported by the general budget according to Art.140.8 of the Financial Regulation as at 31 December 2014 
published the 13/11/2015 (COM(2015)565 final) 

9 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
2.3 IMPROVING FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS AND COMPETITIVENESS 

The  COSME  Regulation  specifies  that  an  indicative  11%  of  the  total  budget has  to  be 
devoted to improving framework conditions and competitiveness. 

In  2014,  EUR  24.3  million  were  directed  to  this  objective  from  the  Work  programme  and 
EUR 5.8 million from the Support Measures, representing 11.7% of the financial envelope. 

COSME funded actions aiming  at reducing the administrative burden, supporting smart  and 
SME-friendly  regulation,  strengthening  coordination  of  Member  States’  industrial  policies 
and reinforcing the use of the 'Think Small First' principle. COSME also promoted resource 
efficiency,  sustainability  and  corporate  social  responsibility.  Actions  to  improve  the 
competitiveness of strategically important sectors in the European economy were also carried 
out.  

Under the activities aimed at improving the framework conditions for SMEs the following 
activities were funded: 

  High-level Group on administrative burden: EUR 0.4 million. 
  Following  and  monitoring  the  Small  Business  Act  (SBA,  including  the  SME 
Assembly,  the  SME  Envoys  Networks  meetings  and  the  European  Enterprise 
Promotion Awards: EUR 1.8 million. 

  Small  Business  Act  implementation,  outreach  tools  including  Business  Planet,  the 
Small  Business  portal  and  the  publication  of  guidebooks  on  support  to  SME  policy 
from structural funds: EUR 1.3 million. 
  SME Performance Review: EUR 0,9 million 
  Resource-efficiency self-assessment tool for SMEs: EUR 0.5 million. 
  Organization  of 

the  Multi-Stakeholder  Forum 

(MSF)  on  Corporate  Social 

Responsibility (CSR): EUR 0.25 million 

Under the activities aimed at supporting the Competitiveness of EU enterprises, including 
the support of industrial sectors, the following activities were funded: 

  Enhancing European Tourism Competitiveness and sustainability: EUR 8.7 million 
  Cluster  Internationalization  programme  for  SMEs:  EUR  5.65  million  (Combining 

EUR 4.15 million from 2014 and EUR 1.5 million from 2015 Budget). 

  E-Skills for competiveness and innovation: EUR 2.5 million. 
  Cluster Excellence programme: EUR 1.5 million. 
 
  Promotion  and  support  of  the  European  strategy  for  Key  Enabling  Technologies 

Implementation of the action plan Construction 2020: EUR 1 million. 

(KETS): EUR 0.550 million. 

  Membership in international study groups for Rubber, Nickel, Copper, Lead and Zinc: 

 

EUR 0.2 million. 
Implementation of the action plan “A more efficient defence sector for a more secure 
Europe”: EUR 0.2 million. 

  Monitoring  of  the  implementation  of  principles  of  good  practice  in  vertical 

relationships in the food supply chain:  EUR 0.2 million. 

  Exchanges of good practices to support European Competitiveness: EUR 0.2 million. 

10 

 
 
 
The  High-level  Group  on  administrative  burden  contributed    to  the  exchange  of  good 
practices  and  the  follow-up  up  of  the  action  programme  for  reducing  the  administrative 
burden for business, through 7 plenary meetings, 12 visits to Member States, the publication 
of  a  report  and  the  organisation  of  a  final  conference  paving  the  way  for  the  EU  REFIT 
platform. 

The  SME  Performance  Review  provided  an  overview  of  the  European  SMEs  and  detailed 
information  on  the  implementation  of  the  Small  Business  Act  in  the  Member  States  and  in 
certain  third-countries.  The  Member  States-specific  information  was  fed  into  the  European 
Semester country specific recommendations. The network of SME Envoys, the annual SME 
Assembly and the European SME week provided fora for awareness raising and exchange of 
good  practices  in  all  areas  of  the  Small  Business  Act.  Last  but  not  least,  the  4th  season  of 
business planet on Euronews TV started the 12 June 2015. 

The  e-skills  for  jobs  campaign  covered  30  countries,  involving  384  organisations  and 
gathering  more  than  300.000  participants  with  some  115  million  people  exposed  to  the 
campaign. 

The  "Clusters  Go  International"  initiative  supported  the  establishment  of  15  co-funded 
International  gathering  88  cluster 
European  Strategic  Cluster  Partnerships-Going 
organisations  across  21  EU  countries  and  reaching  out  to  more  than  10.000  SMEs  across 
Europe. 

2.4  PROMOTING  ENTREPRENEURSHIP  AND  ENTREPRENEURIAL 
CULTURE 

The COSME Regulation specifies that an indicative 2.5% of the total budget has  to be 
devoted to promoting entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture. 

In 2014, a budget of EUR 12.9 million was dedicated to the promotion of entrepreneurship, 
in particular to the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs mobility scheme, representing 5% of the 
total financial envelope for COSME. The Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs call for proposal 
was  oversubscribed  and  received  an  additional  allocation  of  EUR  1  million  budgetary 
surpluses remaining after previous activities. 

So  far11,  nearly  12.000  entrepreneurs’  profiles  have  been  registered  and  3  900  matches 
involving  7  700  entrepreneurs  established.  A  survey  shows  that  more  than  a  third  of  the 
would-be entrepreneurs who took part actually started a business. 

Moreover,  the  COSME  programme  supported  exchanges  of  best  practices  to  promote 
entrepreneurship education in the EU. Specific support for Web entrepreneurs was provided. 
Some of the actions were targeted to specific groups such as young people, women or senior 
entrepreneurs providing mentoring and other tailored measures to facilitate entrepreneurship 
among these groups.  

The following activities were financed: 

  Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs EUR 7.3 million. 

11 Figures collected in 2015. 

11 

 
 
 
                                                 
  Digital Entrepreneurship Monitor: EUR 2.6 million. 
  Women Entrepreneurship on-line e-platform: EUR 1.05 million. 
  Senior Entrepreneurship best practice exchange: EUR 0.4 million. 
  Support for entrepreneurship policy implementation:12 EUR 0.6 million. 
  Entrepreneurship education (pan-European entrepreneurial learning initiative: EUR 

0.35 million. 

  Promotion of social economy in Europe:  EUR 0.1 million. 
  Other actions under the Support Measures: EUR 0.5 million. 

The  Conference  on  Second  Chance  for  Honest  Failed  Entrepreneurs  gathered  280 
representatives  from  national/regional  administrations  and  stakeholders,  followed-up  by  a 
second  conference  in  2016.  It  paved  the  way  for  the  initiative  on  the  European  network  of 
early warning and advisory services for a second chance to be set up in 2016.  

The  Digital  Entrepreneurship  Monitor  allows  to  measure  country  and  industry  progress, 
issuing specific recommendations. In 2016, a total of 9 industries have been represented in the 
scoreboard.  

3. SUPPORT MEASURES  

Support measures carry out analysis of the structural and micro-economic factors affecting the 
competitiveness of individual sectors as well as competitiveness and cross-sectorial issues in 
general. The aim is to enhance knowledge of the drivers of the competitiveness of European 
industry and the factors hindering it. Support measures are also used to assess impact of new 
legislation and to identify areas of existing legislation requiring simplification. 

Support measures  consist  of two types  of activities:  (1) studies  and impact  assessments and 
(2)  conferences,  meetings  and  dissemination  activities.  The  Commission's  annual  report  on 
the  competitiveness  of  European  industry  which  feeds  into  the  European  Semester  process 
was  financed  under  support  measures.  Other  studies  analysed  sector-related  aspects  of 
competitiveness  of  European  industry  (including  construction,  food  and  chemicals  sectors). 
Impact assessments and cumulative effects assessments were carried out, among other things, 
on  Climate  Change,  Energy  and  Environmental  Policies  and  on  the  EU  forest  based 
industries.  

Conferences,  workshops  and  expert  meetings  were  organised  with  participation  of  various 
stakeholders  (including  national  authorities,  industry  and  consumer  organisations,  SMEs 
representatives,  non-governmental  organisations)  to  discuss  challenges  facing  different 
industrial  sectors.  Particular  attention  was  devoted  to  recommendations  on  how  to  better 
address  SMEs'  needs  and  how  to  further  foster  competitiveness.  In  addition,  information 
actions relating to the objectives of the COSME were carried out. 

The total budget committed for the support measures in 2014 amounted to EUR 7 million, 
leading to an execution rate of 100% of the total budget allocated for 2014. 

12 Including Conference on Boosting the Business of Liberal Professions, Conference on Second Chance for 
Honest Failed Entrepreneurs, Conference on Transfers of Business 

12 

 
 
 
                                                 
4. ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENDITURES  

The  COSME  Regulation  budget  includes  appropriations  for  expenses  pertaining  to 
preparatory,  monitoring,  control,  audit  and  evaluation  activities  which  are  required  for  the 
management  of  the  COSME  programme  and  the  achievement  of  its  objectives.  Those 
expenses shall not exceed 5 % of the value of the financial envelope.   

The administrative expenditure for DG GROW represented EUR 5.017.946, less than 2% of 
the  total  amount  committed.  The  budget  implemented  for  the  functioning  of  the  Executive 
Agency for  SMEs was  EUR 6.626.000 representing 2.6%  of the total budget  committed. In 
total, administrative expenses represented 4.6% of the financial envelope in 2014. 

The  administrative  expenditure  covered  studies,  meetings  of  experts,  information  and 
communication  actions,  including  corporate  communication  of  the  political  priorities  of  the 
Union  related  to  the  general  objectives  of  the  COSME  programme.  Moreover,  expenses 
linked to IT networks and other technical and administrative assistance expenses incurred by 
the Commission for the management of the COSME programme were covered.  

5. CONTRIBUTION TO THE CLIMATE MAINSTREAMING OBJECTIVE 

The contribution of the COSME programme to the climate mainstreaming objective, set for 
all  Commission  programmes,  has  been  estimated  at  €21.2  million  representing  8  %  of  the 
financial allocation in 2014.   

Relevant objective/output 

Enterprise Europe Network 

Financial instruments: Equity Facility for Growth 

Budget 2014 
(EUR Million) 

15.4 

5.82 

21.22 

Total 

For several COSME actions, such as the Loan Guarantee Facility, it is challenging to track the 
contribution  to  the  climate  mainstreaming  without  imposing  an  additional  administrative 
burden on financial intermediaries and, ultimately, the hundreds of thousands of participating 
SMEs  which  are  the  final  recipients.  Therefore,  the  method  for  tracking  the  contribution  of 
COSME needs to be improved, as it clearly underestimates the real potential contribution of 
this programme.   

6. CONCLUSION 

COSME  delivered  and  reached  very  good  levels  of  budget  execution  in  2014  despite  an 
important increase in externalisation of activities to the Executive Agency and the renewal of 
the two main actions: the financial instruments and the Enterprise Europe Network.  

The programme helped to finance a number of relevant actions to support European SMEs. It 
started  to  ease  the  access  to  finance  for  European  business  through  the  newly  established 
framework  with  the  EIF  and  financial  intermediaries.  Actions  financed  from  the  2014 

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COSME budget have helped entrepreneurs to launch their business. A significant number of  
companies  have  benefitted  from  services  helping  them  to  access  new  markets  and  several 
COSME  measures  have  contributed  to  the  creation  of  a  better  business  environment  for 
enterprises,  in  particular  SMEs.  The  Commission,  in  close  cooperation  with  EASME,  will 
continue  to  improve  the  dissemination  of  the  results  of  the  COSME  projects,  seek  further 
synergies  with  other  Commission  programmes  and  provide  up-to-date  information  on  the 
beneficiaries of the COSME actions. 

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