SMEs

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

New Microfinance initiative: a valuable tool to stimulate entrepreneurship and create jobs — 02 July 2009, 23:50 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

EU Finance Day for SMEs — 18 June 2009, 13:00 CET

EU Finance Day for SMEs is a series of events in the Member States that the European Commission is organising to inform about the EU financial instruments for SMEs together with the national financial intermediaries that implement these instruments locally. The aim is to raise awareness about different sources of finance and provide a forum for sharing good practices in helping innovative SMEs get easier access to finance. One-day event will be organised in all EU Member State capitals in 2008-2009. A list of dates is provided regularly on this site.

EPP - The best choice for SMEs in Europe! — 04 June 2009, 20:13 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

Commission’s proposals to tackle unemployment set the right priorities — 04 June 2009, 00:53 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

EUR 1 trillion EU regulatory burden on business: study — 27 May 2009, 23:41 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

SME UNION sets up 12 priorities for upcoming Swedish EU Council Presidency — 27 May 2009, 23:35 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

Europe's 23 million SMEs welcome breakdown in working time talks — 30 April 2009, 17:16 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

European Institutions must lead by example and support small firms by paying on time — 15 April 2009, 23:03 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

EP vote on self employment and equal opportunities leaves SMEs with mixed feelings — 01 April 2009, 23:45 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

Small businesses' confidence hits new record low: first EU SME survey — 12 March 2009, 17:23 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

EU Entrepreneurship Action Plan — 11 March 2009, 23:23 CET

In 2004, following the debate launched by the Green Paper on Entrepreneurship, the Commission published an Action Plan based on the extensive feedback received. The Action Plan established a framework of five strategic priority areas setting out Europe's agenda for entrepreneurship in the years to come. The Action Plan outlined a series of key actions related to five strategic areas. High on the agenda were fostering entrepreneurial mindsets among young people, reducing the stigma of failure, providing support for women and ethnic minorities, reducing the complexity of complying with tax laws and facilitating business transfers.

Extraordinary European Council: intangible outcome — 02 March 2009, 00:10 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

Exempting micro enterprises from filing accounts is not better regulation — 26 February 2009, 13:45 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

Enterprise Europe Network — 26 February 2009, 11:38 CET

The Enterprise Europe Network is an EU gateway to competitiveness and innovation, giving access to information to develop your business and find the right business partners. The Network offers support and advice to businesses across Europe and helps them make the most of the opportunities in the European Union. Its services are specifically designed for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) but are also available to all businesses, research centres and Universities across Europe.

EU support to fight the crisis in the automotive sector — 25 February 2009, 23:24 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

Recovery action must go beyond big businesses, SMEs urge Commission — 25 February 2009, 14:23 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

European Enterprise Awards — 13 February 2009, 00:10 CET

Policies that promote entrepreneurship and create a favourable environment for business, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises, are crucial if the European Union is to rise to its number one challenge of stimulating economic growth and creating new jobs. The European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen launched in November 2005 the European Enterprise Awards, which recognise and reward outstanding initiatives that support entrepreneurship at the regional level.

Economic crisis: SMEs warn against rising wave of protectionism — 12 February 2009, 11:58 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

Services Directive: General improvement, but concerns over impact - EUROCHAMBRES survey — 06 February 2009, 00:05 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

On-line tool for SME funding — 29 January 2009, 23:21 CET

This tool aims to present the main European funding programmes available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and contains brief information as well as the main web sites for each programme. Please note that the information included is not exhaustive.

Economic crisis must not be an excuse to stop reforms — 22 January 2009, 22:14 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

EU research programmes for SMEs help turn knowledge into profit — 11 December 2008, 15:28 CET

Getting involved in research projects can help SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) to develop new products and services and improve existing ones. It also provides a useful network of contacts in business and academia. In an interview with CORDIS News, members of the Research and SMEs unit at the European Commission's Research Directorate General explained how the role of SMEs in the framework programmes has evolved over the years, and how they believe access to all kinds of research funding for SMEs could be facilitated.

SMEs set out vision for 'innovation utopia' — 06 December 2008, 01:18 CET

A new report describes a vision of the perfect environment to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe's SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises).

Business organisations sceptical about revision of EUROVIGNETTE directive — 02 December 2008, 01:13 CET

News, background information and web links about European Union policies on SMEs (small businesses).

EU Services Directive — 13 November 2008, 14:47 CET

The objective of the European Union Services Directive is to achieve a genuine Internal Market in services by removing legal and administrative barriers to the development of service activities between EU Member States.