UEAPME Weekly News

UEAPME NEWSFLASH ISSUE NO. 293
20 MARCH 2015
UEAPME Newsflash
Social Partners must tackle competitiveness for growth & jobs
The Troika of the Heads of State, the President of the European Council and of the European Commission and the European Social Partners met at the Spring Tripartite Social
Summit to discuss how Social Partners can contribute to investments in growth and jobs.
At the TSS, and directly following the High-Level Conference on a new start for Social
Dialogue, President Gunilla Almgren insisted on the role Social Partners should play in
improving competitiveness – the only way to trigger the necessary investments for Europe
to boost growth and jobs. For SMEs, a major competitiveness component is a new Small
Business Act which should be the yardstick for an effective SME policy. Social Partners
need a common understanding and should cover all aspects of competitiveness for tangible results in growth and jobs, said Ms Almgren, such as skills needs, efficient administration and public services, access to finance, innovation and a better business environment. Contact: Liliane Volozinskis
Europe’s SMEs are stagnating rather than growing
UEAPME published its biannual EU SME Business Climate
Index demonstrating that the confidence EU SMEs express
is up to 72.3, which is a slight improvement of 0.6 compared
to last semester. This index increase is mainly due to a high
number of SMEs reporting a neutral stance and only very
few expect positive developments Moreover, it shows that
in most of the former programme countries reforms do pay
off, while the decrease in the North/Centre is caused by
countries lacking reform efforts. The fact that the results are
much less positive for the last semester than those expected
also contributes to a rather stagnating outlook. Indeed, the
Barometer suggests that small enterprises are out of the last
recession but are acting in a business environment characterised by slow growth and high levels of unemployment.
Contact: Gerhard Huemer
90.0
SME Business Climate Index
78.9
75.8
80.0
70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
78.7
78.6
72.7
75.5
72.5
71.0
74.1
72.3
73.2
69.2
64.765.5
72.1 70.5
70.8
67.5
60.7
59.3
55.1
56.2
71.7
67.9 68.8
66.1
65.3
63.7
58.5
55.8
51.7
CLIMATE
INDEX
North
South
07/H1 08/H1 09/H1 10/H1 11/H1 12/H1 13/H1 14/H1 15/H1
S.D. Committee: position on SMEs & Sustainability, COP 21
At the Sustainable Development Committee meeting, members agreed – among other things – on the core elements of
UEAPME’s new framework position on SMEs and Sustainability to be presented to the European Commissioners for Environment, Energy and Climate Change in the next months. Furthermore, the Committee members discussed, with a DG
CLIMA policy officer, the next steps leading to the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change in December 2015 in Paris, as well as the role of SMEs in the fight against climate change.
Contact: Guido Lena
UEAPME replies to Patents and Standards consultation
UEAPME published its reply to the Public Consultation on Patents and Standards: “A modern framework for standardisation
involving intellectual property rights”. UEAPME points out that the development and the implementation of standards involving patents typically require high investments that are a barrier for SMEs, especially micro and small companies. Furthermore, even though SMEs make valuable contributions to the standards making process, they are less likely to extensively protect their knowledge with patents than larger companies. UEAPME hence encourages a debate reflecting on
measures to facilitate SME involvement in the development of such standards through their participation in business networks. Additionally, public authorities should consider giving financial support to Standards Setting Organisations (SSOs)
in order to provide SMEs involved in standardisation with advisory services and training on intellectual property rights.
Contact: Chiara Aprea
UEAPME calls for more efficient social protection systems
UEAPME contributed to the Social Protection Committee’s Annual Report published last week. Although employment has
shown a small but consistent growth, the crisis has made more acute several pre-existing structural weaknesses, such as
higher long-term and youth unemployment. UEAPME stressed the vital role of SMEs for job creation and social cohesion at
local level and highlighted the need of support through a favourable business environment and investments. UEAPME insisted
on effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of social protection spending, arguing that better results with fewer resources
are needed. UEAPME also highlighted the role of well-functioning public employment services and individual support
measures through Active Labour Market policies. Finally, UEAPME put forward the urgency to address bottlenecks in the
Youth Guarantee implementation, to improve basic skills, to tackle mismatches, and to ensure focus on learning outcomes in
line with labour market needs. Contact: Arnold de Boer
UEAPME NEWSFLASH ISSUE NO. 293
20 MARCH 2015
European Economic Diplomacy discussed
Enterprise Policy Director Luc Hendrickx spoke at a meeting on “European Economic Diplomacy – consultation with business” organised by the European Commission. He welcomed the Commission’s new approach to also involve the national
business organisations, considering that the actors have to be as close as possible to individual SMEs. Furthermore, Mr
Hendrickx stated that the new strategy should not lead to duplication, but should respect the principle of subsidiary and
bring true European added value. The EU initiatives are not known by the SMEs and the portal needs to be improved, he
said. Moreover, advisory support should also go to the SMEs most in need of it. Finally, he called for more training on
internationalisation for SMEs and their organisations. Contact: Luc Hendrickx
EVENTS AHEAD:
• EU Social Partners seminar on ESF for capacity building of social partners – Riga (30.03, contact Liliane Volozinskis)
• “Fighting corruption in the EU: meeting business and civil society concerns” (26.03, contact Luc Hendrickx)
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UEAPME Newsflash
Compiled by: Jenny Manin
Press and communications officer
Phone: +32 2 230 7599
Mobile: +32 496 520 329