13 Amendments of Maria GRAPINI related to 2020/2131(INI)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Welcomes the SME strategy and shares the Commission’s view that SMEs are essential to the European economy as they play a central role for the economic recovery and for the digital and sustainable transition of the EU; stresses that it must go hand in hand with the Industrial Strategy; notes that it was adopted before the COVID-19 crisis; calls therefore the Commission to reassess the Strategy in light of the lessons learnt from the crisis and of the Recovery Package, and to swiftly revise it where needed;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. SUnderlines that the COVID-19 crisis has delivered a shock to many SMEs and their role in the everyday life of Europeans, jeopardizing their very existence in several cases; stresses that the implementation of the SME strategy should focus not only on supporting SMEs to help them maintain their existence, as the COVID-19 crisis has delivered a shock to many SMEs and their role in the everyday life of Europeanmicro and SMEs to prevent shutdowns, to help them preserve their existence and business continuity, to promote their resilience, but also to assess and restore disrupted supply chains so as to incentivise their integration in industrial ecosystems, to help them seize opportunities to grow; recalls that SMEs were already facing difficulties prior to the crisis, in particular as regards access to finance, information and markets; stresses therefore the importance of adopting an ambitious strategy to ensure SMEs can recover and scale up their activities;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that SMEs should be burdened as little as possible and encourages the Commission to use strong enforcement action to ensure that the single market benefits all businesses and consumers and to counter gold-plating and other regulatory restrictions which will lower costs and facilitate the improvement of SMEs’ activity;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Highlights the crucial role of data as the lifeblood of the digital economy; supports the Commission in establishing European data spaces for trusted and secure data sharing to ramp up data flows between businesses and with governmenpoints out to the existence of market power imbalances and obstacles to access to data that affect SMEs’ development; welcomes the Data Strategy in this regard; supports the Commission in promoting interoperability and establishing European data spaces for trusted and secure data sharing to ramp up data flows between businesses and with governments; considers that all products and services developed with public funding should be published under open- source licenses and be accessible to micro and SMEs; emphasises the strategic importance of ensuring SMEs’ digital transition and suggests therefore that the future common European data spaces should be developed in an SME-friendly way so that they can access large datasets;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Points out that SMEs face difficulties in protecting their Intellectual Property (IP) rights, which can threaten their development; calls on the Commission to increase IP awareness, develop external advice and ensure appropriate enforcement;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Underlines the opportunities offered by e-commerce to reach new customers and markets in supporting economic recovery for micro and SMEs; highlights the added value of legislation such as the Platform to Business Regulation in this regard and calls for its swift implementation and enforcement; warns that a persistent risk of unfair competition exists in e-commerce, also due to the presence of non-compliant, illegal or unsafe products in online marketplaces targeting EU consumers; underlines that the future Digital Services Act will play a key role in this regard;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Encourages Member States to implement the single digital gateway in an SME-friendly way by cooperating closely with regional and local authorities and by providing easy digital access to information, procedures, and services linked to doing business across borders, including advice on public procurement and funding sources; welcomes the SME Envoy system to better take into account the end-user into future legislation; suggests however a critical assessment of its appointment process and functioning in order to redress potential weaknesses and ensure it works efficiently in all Member States, in constant coordination with the relevant business associations and stakeholders;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. It is important for SMEs to have access to information and training sessions on the role of digitalisation in their activity;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on the Member States to simplify procurement tendering processes by using the flexibility of the EU’s new procurement framework and to enhance opportunities for SMEs, such as the possibility of subdividing procurement in smaller lots and the streamlining of administrative procedures, as well as by using digital tools and platforms to expand cross-border procurement; stresses that green public procurement can make an important contribution to building a sustainable economy;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines the fact that late payments account for a quarter of all SME bankruptcies in the EU; urges the Commission to swiftly equip the Late Payment Directive1 with strong monitoring and enforcement tools so as to ensure and promote prompt payments as a norm, in particular for government-to-business transactions, across the single market. _______________________________ 1 Directive 2011/7/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 on combating late payment in commercial transactions, OJ L 48, 23.2.2011, p. 1.
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Underlines that a sustainable and innovative Single Market can only be achieved if micro and SMEs can carry out their transition to digital and environmental sustainability; highlights the importance of efficiently providing financial and non-financial support to micro and SMEs across all Member States; welcomes in this regard the development of Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) as well as the Enterprise Europe Networks (EEN); recommends on the latter increased coordination between national and European level, as well as a stronger involvement of local SME associations; calls on the Commission to help micro and SMEs benefit from the various initiatives provided for in the Green New Deal, the Industrial Strategy and the Communication on Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, as digitalisation and sustainability represent important opportunities for them to grow; points out to the need of mainstreaming SMEs in all EU policies.
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7b (new)
Paragraph 7b (new)
7b. Welcomes the definition of SMEs as defined in Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC in the version of 6 May 2003, and calls therefore to maintain this definition in EU legislation and to ensure its consistent interpretation across Member State.