28 Amendments of Salvatore DE MEO related to 2020/2131(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital 1 b (new)
Recital 1 b (new)
1b. Whereas European SMEs are currently experiencing unprecedented challenges because of the COVID-19 crisis that threatens their very existence;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital 1 c (new)
Recital 1 c (new)
1c. Whereas only 17% of SMEs have so far successfully integrated digital technology into their businesses and digitalisation is crucial for a strong economic growth and creation of jobs within the internal market;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital 1 d (new)
Recital 1 d (new)
1d. Whereas 78% of SMEs see administrative costs as one of the main barriers for their future growth;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WStrongly welcomes the SME strategy and shares the Commission’s view that SMEs, are essential to the European economy the backbone of the European economy and absolutely essential for economic growth and job creation as well as for a strong and well- functioning internal market; encourages the Commission to swiftly take further initiatives to properly support EU SMEs with the aim to address both the short- term consequences of the crisis and the long-term challenges such as the digitalisation and the transition to a more sustainable internal market;
Amendment 8 #
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 and, for this reason, too, considers the current definition of SMEs to be appropriate;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that the strategy makes no reference at all to COVID-19 and to the emergency that micro- and small enterprises are facing; considers it appropriate, in this regard, for it to be revised in order to take into account the impact the pandemic is having on European SMEs; points out that the implementation of the SME strategy should focus 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 Europeans;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses that the implementation of the SME strategy should focus primarily on supporting SMEs to help them maintain their existence and by aiming at their full recovery and growth, as the COVID-19 crisis has delivered a shock to many SMEs and their crucial role in the everyday life of Europeans; underlines that action should also be taken to support SMEs scaling-up and to enhance their cross- border activities in order to benefit the most from the internal market; recalls that further action should be taken to safeguard SMEs from unfair competition from third countries global players;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Highlights that SMEs in cross- border regions are more severely affected by the internal border closures due to the COVID-19 crisis and that the EU internal market must be made fully operational again as soon as possible; stresses that in times of crisis the free movement of essential goods and services must be guaranteed within the internal market; calls on the Commission to swiftly propose new permanent tools to avoid any disruption of the internal market in the event of a possible second crisis and to take into account SMEs specific needs;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a
Paragraph 2 a
2a. Welcomes the inclusion among the actions identified by the Commission that regarding measures to create an MSME-friendly environment; notes that fostering the generational transition in traditional craft enterprises, some of which are at risk of extinction, can not only be an effective way to encourage self- starting entrepreneurship, but is also a way to promote Europe’s heritage of craft-related knowledge, traditions and skills; points out that it would be useful to provide for incentives for cross-generational projects that can combine the master craftsman tradition with digitalisation, through the involvement of young people at the end of a training pathway;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Stresses that improved access to finance and liquidity are necessary to support SMEs and that EU funds together with national measures are necessary to allow companies to bridge liquidity gaps caused by the crisis; highlights that SMEs need support to compensate for loss in revenues, to finance fixed costs and avoid bankruptcies; calls for supporting possible access to diverse financial resources for SMEs in order for them not to be dependant only on banking system but also to consider the use of other means including private equity and crowdfunding;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 c (new)
Paragraph 2 c (new)
2c. Calls for the synchronisation of all financial tools aimed at supporting SMEs within the internal market; insists that programmes crucial for SMEs competitiveness, development and resilience to the crisis, must be included in the next Multiannual Financial Framework and guaranteeing a necessary level of funding that supports them; COVID-19 support schemes should be tailor-made to address challenges of the different sectors affected and to coordinate EU funding with national and regional initiatives; recovery funding also needs to address additional costs that SMEs in particular have to face when complying with additional safety rules during and after the crisis; the European Investment Bank must also continue to support SMEs in particular as part of the sustainable finance approach;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes that SMEs should not 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 by making use of all available tools and bodies, such as the SMEs Envoy and the Regulatory Scrutiny Board, in order to create a level playing field in cross-border business in the internal market;
Amendment 24 #
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; recommends, in this respect, that at both the EU and national levels, the fundamental principle of ‘one in one out’ should be properly applied, whereby each new rule must replace an existing one, as should the ban on ‘gold-plating’ – i.e. the introduction of burdens and requirements that go beyond those required by the EU legislation being transposed into national law (these could also be called European ‘minimum essential levels’);
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls for a roadmap towards achieving a major reduction in administrative burden and bureaucracy affecting SMEs in the internal market, to boost SMEs potential for investments and speed up EU economic recovery; this should include the following elements: - supporting SMEs to operate cross- border thus fully reaping the benefits of the internal market; - encouraging scale-up; - strengthening and mainstreaming the SMEs dimension in all impact assessments through a binding SME test performed at an early stage of the impact assessment to analyse the economic impact of legislative proposals, including the compliance costs; - applying of the one-in-one-out rule in such a way that for any additional compliance cost introduced by new legislation, the corresponding amount of compliance cost is reduced; - reducing the regulatory burden through concrete targets at EU and national level (such as a reduction by 30% or cut 1000 outdated rules and regulations), in order to make a real benefit for SMEs to grow and prosper within the EU internal market;
Amendment 37 #
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 governments; underlines that SMEs must be given a fair share of the added value of the data they generate and highlights that interoperability and non-discriminatory access to data, including platforms’ data, are key to ensure a digital level playing field within the internal market and to successfully deal with challenges and opportunities emerging from data sharing, data security and cybersecurity issues across the whole internal market;
Amendment 41 #
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 governments; points out that against the background of a future push towards digitalisation in the post-COVID-19 era, real-time and legally secure data access for SMEs in the B2B area will become ever more essential when it comes to countering unfair competition; stresses that improving SMEs’ access to data should be a key issue in the implementation of the European data strategy; notes, in addition, that the role of organisations representing MSMEs is crucial for accompanying SMEs in their transition to sustainability and digitalisation;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Points out that there is the need to facilitate the SMEs’ uptake of Artificial Intelligence by promoting the creation of SME cross-border Alliances for AI in strategic value chains within the internal market, as well promoting investment in the next generation of standards, tools and infrastructures to store and process data; points out that it is important to ensure SMEs’ access to and awareness of ICT standards to innovate and provide more tailored digital solutions;
Amendment 50 #
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 as well as with the other Member States 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;
Amendment 53 #
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; points out, in this regard, that urgent measures such as the extended digitalisation of the relationship between government departments and enterprises, and the interoperability of government databases, are measures that can no longer be postponed;
Amendment 58 #
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 by eliminating inequalities in access to public procurement contracts and discriminatory, disproportionate or non- objective behaviour on the part of contracting authorities, by using digital tools and platforms to expand cross-border procurement, too; stresses that green public procurement can make an important contribution to building a sustainable economy; by promoting local contracts – also with a view to environmental sustainability – and providing for bonus-based criteria for local businesses, borrowing, in that sense, from EU legislation on agriculture and short supply chains; points out that this can also be done by providing for a minimum reserve of 50 % of public procurement from micro- and small enterprises that have their registered and operational headquarters near the place of performance of the contract, for works that are not of a cross-border nature and the contractual amount of which is below the threshold of EUR 150 000;
Amendment 63 #
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 newCommission’s new guidance within the EU’s public procurement framework and to enhance opportunities for SMEs in the internal market by using digital tools and platforms to expand cross-border procurement; stresses that greensustainable public procurement can make an important contribution to building a sustainable economythe transition to a more sustainable economy and that SMEs need the right support to bring forward this transition;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Stresses the need to increase the SMEs’ share of government contracts, enhancing their access to public procurement and combating tendering criteria that set requirements beyond the fundamental elements of the service or goods purchased, such as price, quality and sustainability;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Underlines the need for a significant increase in the SMEs participation in the EU public procurement market; recalls the importance of a European public procurement market for SMEs which is based on moderate-sized tenders that allow them to participate in the procurement process and where real and fair competition between market actors can take place within the internal market; furthermore underlines that is important to make the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) more accessible to SMEs; calls for the creation of digital tools such as platforms for enhancing the access to relevant public procurement information for SMEs;
Amendment 69 #
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 across the single market, including through an active use of infringement procedures in cases where the Directive is not properly implemented; to that aim, encourages Member States to appoint an independent enforcement authority in charge of monitoring the proper application of the late payment rules and empowered to impose penalties in case of delays in payment times. __________________________ 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 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Underlines the fact that late payments account for a quarter of all SME bankruptcies in the EU and that the situation during this pandemic has become worse; 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 across the single market, also by addressing the issue of unfair payment conditions and misconduct in the B2B relationship, too; points out that the trend towards shorter payment times for new debts – all the more so at this time of pandemic – should be seized more carefully through the introduction of direct universal set-offs between debts payable to and receivables payable by government departments. _______________________________ 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 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Encourages the Commission to place greater emphasis and importance on the role of the EU SME envoy than that afforded to it by the SBA. The establishment of a special envoy for SMEs is an important back-up measure for pro-SME policies insofar as the envoy has a genuine role of monitoring and driving the implementation of those policies. The European envoy should be appointed in cooperation with the European social partners with whom he or she will have to be in constant contact. The EU SME envoy, indeed, will have to ensure the de facto implementation of the European strategy and the application of the Think Small First principle in all EU policies. At the same time, national SME envoys need to demonstrate that they have established a structured ongoing dialogue with the most representative national trade associations in order to provide a contribution, at EU level, based on real practical experiences, to reflect as closely as possible the real needs of MSMEs.
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7b. Points out that midcap companies that exceed the criteria of the SME definition contribute significantly to growth and job creation with in the internal market, but receive too little support; calls on the Commission to consider a revision of the current SMEs definition and propose an additional separate midcap definition ensuring that small midcaps with 250 to 499 employees in particular can be better relieved and promoted, while making sure that SMEs funding is not reduced for those SMEs meeting the current criteria.