Debate: State of the SMEs Union – Implementation of better regulation agenda / Reduction target for administrative burden
Date: MONDAY, 7 JUNE 2021
Speaker: Nicolas Schmit
Language: EN

There is one issue which I haven’t heard so much about. This is the issue of entrepreneurship. I think we have to favour and promote entrepreneurship in Europe. This is, by the way, an important objective of our Skills Agenda. We need more entrepreneurs in Europe because without entrepreneurs, we have no companies, and without companies, we have no innovation, no new jobs. Let me assure you, the Commission is doing everything it can to support SMEs and cushion the impact of the pandemic. Now is the moment to relaunch, rebuild and support development, and we will take on board your concerns and your suggestions in rolling out these SME actions.  Many of you are calling to reduce the administrative burden on SMEs. Rightly so. The Commission is firmly committed to further cutting red tape, to reducing and simplifying regulations, and to making them as cost-efficient as possible for SMEs where they cannot be abolished. We will systematically apply an SME test in our impact assessments and look at further improvements. We need transparency in these processes. We also have to focus on the broader issue of quality legislation, as Mr Ferber said.  We have strengthened the role of the SME Envoy Network, which will actively contribute to the work of the ‘Fit for Future’ platform, and the Commission will be able to present an overview of all new costs and savings in the annual burden survey. You also asked about the nomination of an EU SME envoy. SMEs need a strong voice now more than ever before. They continue to be highly affected by the pandemic, from liquidity to solvency problems, and the need for digital and green transitions has only accelerated them.  While the Commission shares Parliament’s eagerness to appoint an SME envoy, we need the right experience and skill set, as well as balance in terms of the representativeness of the SME community across the EU. SMEs are, as has been sufficiently underlined, the backbone of our economy and deeply woven into the social and local fabric of our union. Only together with you, honourable Members, and all of our Member States and their regions, will we be able to effectively support SMEs in the recovery and make their path to a green and digital transition as smooth as possible. I believe that these transitions are major opportunities for the development of SMEs, but we need to provide them with adequate support to promote their innovative capacity.  I would like to insist on one issue which has perhaps not been mentioned so much, although when I’m talking to SMEs, when I’m talking to employers, I hear that one of their major problems – which is perhaps even more important than the regulatory burden – is not being able to find the right skilled people. This is a major issue. We have to make sure that the SMEs get the right skilled people because they will not be able to master, to manage, the digital transition, the green transition, without having the right skilled people. So we have to help them, to support them, to invest in their people. That’s precisely the purpose of the Pact for Skills, that’s the purpose of the Skills Agenda, as the big companies can afford it, while the smaller companies have more difficulty in devoting more money to upskilling and reskilling their employees, and in finding the young people they need with the right skills.  Here also I want to insist on another aspect which is important when we are talking about SMEs. They play a fundamental role in training, in educating and skilling young people. Their role in vocational training is key; therefore, we have to support them when we are talking about vocational training. Everyone is now in favour of vocational training, but who is doing the vocational training? The thousands and thousands of SMEs are doing the vocational training and therefore, precisely in this crisis, they had trouble taking on more apprentices. They were in trouble continuing apprenticeships, so we have to support them. Incidentally, one of the initiatives under the Commission’s Young Employment Support (YES) programme was precisely to support SMEs in order to offer sufficient apprenticeships despite the crisis, despite their financial difficulties, to young people. They are playing a fundamental role precisely in giving good employment prospects to the young.  We all share these endeavours and we all want to strengthen the European economy. We all know that to strengthen the European economy we need strong SMEs.