Activities of Claude TURMES related to 2014/2210(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on family businesses in Europe PDF (200 KB) DOC (137 KB)
Amendments (14)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas, according to the Commission’s 2009 report, more than 60Ernst and Young Family Business Yearbook 2014, 85% of all European companies are family businesses and these account for 40-560% of jobs in the private sector;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas, while mostfamily businesses can be small, medium sized or large, listed or unlisted; whereas they have been widely equated to SMEs neglecting the fact that there are also very large multinational corporations that are family businesses are SMEs,; whereas in some EU Member States a few very large family businesses account for a large share of the total turnover of all businesses and thus make a significant contribution to job creation and growth and the economic success of the country concerned3 ; ___________ 3 In Germany alone, 17 percent of all employees who pay mandatory social security contributions work for ‘big’ family businesses with an annual turnover of at least EUR 50 million; while they account for a mere 0.1% of all companies in Germany, they generate 20% of the total turnover of all companies in that country.
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas there is no legally binding Europe-wide definition of ‘family business’;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Emphasises that family businesses may in positive cases demonstrate a high degree of social responsibility towards their staff and that they generally take a more sustainable and longer-term approach to the economic future of the business (by acting as ‘honourable businessmen’) than non- family businesses and thus make an important contribution to Europe’s competitiveness and create and maintain jobs;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Member States, with this in mind, to ensure that national rules on the taxation of inheritance and gifts and on corporate taxationdebt and equity do not discriminate against equity as a source of financing which is so vital for family businesses; points out, in this connection, that in Hungary inheritance tax on business assets has been abolished;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses that ensuring the long-term security of corporate funding has becomeaccess to financing for the real economy and in particular for SMEs and small family businesses is a key competitive factor; emphasises, in this connection, the importance of internationally stable financial market structures; calls on the Commission to ensure that it does not create any unnecessary burdens for businesses as part of financial market regulation;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that 35% of those companies that do not invest in foreign markets fail to do so because of their lack of knowledge of foreign markets; calls on the Commission and the Member States therefore to provide smaller family businesses in particular with information about opportunities for internationalisation and ensure that they have access to a better exchange of experience and good practices; calls on the Member States, furthermore, to provide support services for small family businesses that intend to invest internationally, for example by providing them with information or export credit guarantees and by removing trade barriers;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Calls on the Commission and especially the Member States therefore to improveassess the legal framework for the transfer of small family businesses with real economic activity and ensure they are not at a disadvantage, and create special financing instruments for transfers and thus prevent liquidity shortages so as to ensure the survival of small family businesses and prevent distress sales;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission to commission studies that analyse the importance of ownership for the success and survival of a business and highlight the specific challenges facing small family businesses; calls on the Commission also to collect enough data on family businesses in the various Member States both to allow a comparison of the situation of family businesses and to promote exchanges of examples of good practices;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to conduct an impact assessment of the extent to which a revision of the European SME definition from 2003 wcould be possible, moving away from purely quantitative criteria tofinetuned to include qualitative criteria that also take into account the ownership of a company, bearing in mind the interdependence of ownership, control and management and, generally, the personal aspect of running a business, and the consequences this could have on family businesses, for example, with regard to state aid and the eligibility of such businesses;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Commission in the meantime, as part of its regulatory impact assessment, to establish a ‘family business test’ modelled on the SME test, in order to be able determine the effect of certain legal acts on family businesses in advance and thereby avoid unnecessary red tape for family businessesdetermine as appropriate the effect of certain legal acts on family businesses ;
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15