COMMISSION PROPOSAL FOR SMEs AND ENTREPRENEURS 2015-2020

European SMEs are the most important source of new jobs. However, they can only create jobs when they grow. In order to do so, they need the right skills, relevant support and a favourable business environment to innovate and become globally successful.

 Reducing Administrative Burden

 The Commission proposes to

• Adopt an EU regulation on regulatory simplification ensuring that it is possible to start up a company at a maximum cost of € 100 and within three days, to have the necessary licences within one month, to make the application of the “SME Test” or an equivalent system mandatory in all EU Member States and to ensure a discharge within a maximum three years for entrepreneurs having gone bankrupt.
• Launch and EU-wide campaign on cutting red tape for SMEs
• Explore the possibility to lower the transaction costs/fees for SMEs to facilitate their access to industrial and intellectual property.
• Strengthen the consultation of SMEs and their representative associations to collect information on burdensome legislation with a focus on implementation procedures and to ensure that SMEs’ concerns are taken into account at a very early stage of EU and national policy making.
• Encourage Member States to adopt simplified tax regimes for newly created companies during the development phase with the aim of reducing administrative burden and accelerating their start-up process.
• Identify and address bottlenecks in national legislation which impede SMEs to grow

Accessing Finance

 The Commission proposes to:

• Strengthen the venture capital market in Europe, with the aim of attracting private institutional investors back to the market thereby increasing the weight of private investors in the asset class by 2020 also through appropriate legislation (Delegated Acts of the Solvency II Directive)
• Mobilise all the funds allocated to financial instruments under COSME that at least 220.000 SMEs in Europe benefit from improved access to finance through EU-supported Venture Capital funds, Guarantees and Counter-guarantees.
• Develop alternative sources of finance in cooperation with the European Investment Bank along the lines proposed in the Communication on Long Term Financing of the European economy in particular by: Removing obstacles to crowd-funding and raising awareness about its risks, benefits and how SMEs, in particular those who are struggling to obtain traditional financing, can access it through the development of information guides, dedicated events/workshops and the European Crowd-funding Stakeholder Forum; Further developing and spreading mezzanine financing as an additional source of finance, through exchange of best practices and the establishment of dedicated discussion fora; Disseminating good practices on supply chain finance as a unique source of finance through appropriate awareness raising activities. Supply chain finance can increase SMEs liquidity by leveraging the creditworthiness of large companies in their supply chain.
• Facilitate the revival of European securitisation markets through appropriate legislation (Delegated Acts of Solvency II Directive and Capital Requirements Regulation).
• Strengthen the collaboration with financial institutions, such as banks, to raise awareness about European financial instruments for SMEs and to encourage the provision of better feedback to clients whose credit applications are declined, through the signature of agreements with European and national associations of financial institutions.

Access to Markets

The Commission proposes to:

• Significantly upgrade the EEN by developing local cooperation with SME stakeholders in the region and by providing new services in order to ensure effective business matchmaking, technology transfer and innovation management for the beneficiaries of the SME Instrument. The Network will provide services with a yearly target of 500.000 SMEs by 2020.
• Set up a European Resource Efficiency Excellence Centre to provide SMEs with practical information, advice and support on how to improve their resource efficiency. The Centre and its partners should cover 80% of the European economy.
• Assist some 100-less advanced cluster organisations to develop customised support services for their client SMEs, including accessing markets through twinning actions with advanced cluster organisations by 2020.

Outside EU Borders

The Commission proposes to:

• Develop an integrated Commission strategy for SMEs internationalisation with the objective to increase up to 20% the share of SMEs accessing third country markets by 2020. Provide added value and complement the assistance provided at national and regional level with a clear geographic scope of actions. Foster stronger links between various EU support programmes and initiatives, including better positioning of the EEN servies in third countries, tailor-made training for EU SMEs, greater interaction between EU IPR Helpdesk, EU SME Centres, EU cluster internationalisation initiatives and Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Launch promotion campaigns to showcase successful EU SMEs operating in global markets and increase awareness of SMEs of EU financed initiatives aimed at improving European companies' access to third country markets. Promote direct SME support for internationalisation via Missions for Growth and international cluster co-operation. Support a more SME-friendly international environment by establishing and following-up SME dialogues with the public authorities of key EU trade partners.
• Explore the possibility of creating targeted policy measures for mid-range enterprises e.g. to support their globalisation.

Releasing the Entrepreneurial Potential for Growth

The Commission proposes to:

• Scale up the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme which so far has created 2.000 new businesses and 12.000 new jobs at very modest cost from 800 to 10.000 exchanges per year by 2020.
• Set up an EU-wide Early Warning Platform for stakeholders and experts to provide counselling to businesses in difficulties and help viable companies get past the crisis, save jovs and reduce the stigma of failure attached to bankruptcy.
• Set a target for all Member States to integrate entrepreneurship into secondary school curricula as a key competence by 2018 including a practical experience of entrepreneurship for young people to have before leaving compulsory education.
• Build on the on-line platform for women entrepreneurs that is expected to be launched by 2015 and ensure that it becomes a widely recognised and used one-stop shop actively involving local, national and European stakeholders and peer groups, and bringing together existing tools and initiatives to support women entrepreneurs.
• Consult entrepreneurs throughout Europe to collect ideas for new initiatives to promote entrepreneurship and youth start-ups; the best ideas will undergo a deeper assessment and be tested if they prove feasible.
• Support Member States and regions to develop models for effective start-up and growth centre, initiatives and strategies in cooperation with stakeholders and subsequently promote these models and their uptake across the EU using e.g. ESIF funds.
• Facilitate transfer of business by urging Member States to put in place national action plans on business transfers and have a one-stop shop  on transfers or a transfer element included in the existing one-stop shops by 2017; developing and disseminating 'Quality Standards' for effective online markets for business transfers and encourage the linkages between already existing cross-border matching platforms; facilitating EU wide netyworking with the aim to stimulate exchanges between researchers and practitioners and create a European Mentors Network on Transfers; supporting an EU-wide matching platform for universities/business schools focusing on business transfers.

Releasing the Innovation Potential for Growth

In order to support the innovation potential for growth as part of the European Cluster Strategy for Growth, the Commission proposes to:

• Promote and support business management innovative models, also through initiatives aimed at developing new managerial skills for SMEs
• Bring together cluster policy makers in a European Cluster Growth Policy Platform in 2015 aiming at exchanging policy experiences and working together to develop a shared methodology for cluster policies to boost growth by building on the advisory support of the European Cluster Observatory.
• Set up a dialogue on Emerging Industries in 2015 with SME communities and business support and cluster practitioners on how to best customize growth support to the needs of SMEs in emerging industries, including through incubators, co-working centres and accelerators.

Reinforcing Skills Development

The Commission proposes to:

• Launch a Commission wide co-ordinated initiative comprising the employment, education and enterprise dimensions to overcome the shortage of skilled labour, e.g. by promoting training schemes for skilled works directly involving SMEs from the sector concerned; the implementation of a dual system in vocatioal training; and a better image of skilled crafts and technical jobs i SMEs.