European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

EU SME Policy

• Civil society dialogue – Trade and SMEs Brussels, 31 March 2011 Maarit Nyman, European Commission - DG Enterprise and Industry

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

SMEs in the EU economysome 23.000.000 SMEs = 99.8% of EU businesses

SMEs

Large

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

SMEs - EU’s growth engine

Gains and losses in employment (in %)

-20,0%

-15,0%

-10,0%

-5,0%

0,0%

5,0%

10,0%

15,0%

20,0%

25,0%

30,0%

Min

ing

Man

ufac

turin

g

Ener

gy

Con

stru

ctio

n

Dis

tribu

tion

Tour

ism

Tran

spor

t &C

omm

unic

atio

nB

usin

ess

Serv

ices

% c

hang

e ov

er 3

yea

rs

Micro Small Medium Large

Share of private employment

29%

21%

17%

33%

Micro Small Medium Large

67.4% of private jobs

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

SMEs - EU’s growth engine58% of total business turnover = €14.000 billion

SMEs Large 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Constru

ction

Hotel & re

stauran

ts

Busines

s Serv

ices

Distrib

ution/Reta

il

Manufactu

ring

Mining & Q

uarryin

g

Transp

ort & Communica

tion

Utilitie

s

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

What is an SME?

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

Horizontal approach in policy making

Competition

Research and Development

Consumer Policy

Fiscal Policy Environmental Policy

Social Policy

Regional Policy

Trade Policy

Internal market

SME competitiveness

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

The Small Business Act

Adoption in June 2008A set of politically binding principles

in order to

• Improve the overall policy approach to entrepreneurship

• Irreversibly anchor the “Think Small First”principle in policy-making

• Promote SMEs’ growth and competitiveness

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

SBA updated in February 2011

• Taking stock of what has been achieved• Assessing the needs of SMEs hit hard by the

economic crisis• Priorities: access to finance, cutting red tape and

internationalisation• New SME governance structure to speed up the

implementation in Member States.

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

Access external markets

• Bilateral dimension• EU-China SME dialogue

With the Ministry of Industry and Information TechnologyExchange of best practices aimed at better access to market

• EU-Russia Industrial and Policy DialogueSME and Enterprise Policy subgroupSeen in the context of Partnership for Modernisation.

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

Access external markets

• Multilateral dimension - ENP• Eastern Partnership • Platform 2 “Economic Integration and Convergence with EU

policies• Separate panel on SME policy

• EU- MED Industrial Cooperation• Work programme 2011-2012 and its link with Euro-

Mediterranean Charter for Enterprises

• Western Balkans and Turkey• SME Policy Index

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

Access external markets

• EU Business centres for China, India, Thailand and…

• EU China SME IPR Helpdesk

• Commission Communication on internationalisation

European CommissionEnterprise and Industry Civil Society Dialogue, EU SME policy 31/03/2011 |

More information

• http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/small-business-act/index_en.htm

Thank you!