28 Amendments of Helmut SCHOLZ related to 2012/2114(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the Commission estimates that 99 % of all enterprises in the EU are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)92% of all European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are micro-firms employing 1 to 9 employees, 6.7% are small firms employing 10 to 49 employees and 1.1% are medium-sized firms employing 50 to 249 employees; these number 23 million and form the backbone of the Union's economy, providing two-thirds of private-sector jobs;
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas SMEs, including microenterprises (MSMEs), are diverse in nature and have different needs stemming from the specific nature of the industrial or services sector they operate in;, the Member State or even region they operate from, their size, their business model, entrepreneurial culture and business environment; whether it be internationally or within the single market, whereas they face disparate challenges across their respective business cycles;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas lack of finance, alongside weak entrepreneurial spirit (only 45 % of EU citizens wish to be self-employed compared to, for example, 55 % in the US), remains one of the main challenges to EU enterprises' competitiveness and entrepreneurship, and persistent regulatory fragmentation and red tape continue to limit SMEs' capacity to adapt to an energy- and resource-efficient economy and expand to markets beyond their home country, both within the single market and worldwide;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas a considerable number of European SMEs are engaged in international export activities (25% of total) yet only half of them are involved in export beyond internal market (13% of total), and only 4% of internationally inactive SMEs have concrete plans to start up international activities in the foreseeable future; whereas certain SMEs are incapable of internationalization due to their business profiles and size;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)
Recital F b (new)
Fb. whereas only 10% of microsized firms utilize the 300+ public support programs that are already available, and regarding to the large amount of support programs, SMEs find it difficult to identify and make use of the assistance that is actually available.
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F c (new)
Recital F c (new)
Fc. whereas in the last two years consistently almost a third of SMEs which applied for a bank loan did not get any credit or got less than they applied for; and whereas the highest rejection rate was among the micro enterprises;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F d (new)
Recital F d (new)
Fd. whereas the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) stresses to have enabled financial institutions to provide €30 billion of new finance for more than 315,000 SMEs in the period of 2007-2013; and whereas the European Investment Bank (EIB) provided around €40 billion of lending for SMEs, which benefitted more than 210,000 SMEs in 2008-2011;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the Commission's proposed new Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs (COSME) wouldill provide enterprises and SMEs a Loan Guarantee Facility, offering guarantees for debt financing via loans, subordinated and participating loans, or leasing, to reduce the particular difficulties SMEs face in accessing finance for their growth; will offer securitisation of SME debt finance portfolios, aimed at mobilising additional debt financing for SMEs; and will run from 2014 to 2020, with a planned budget of €2.5 billion;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas the Commission's Trade and Investment Barriers reports list examples of how the EU's market access to different countries in the world, including industrialised economies/major emerging economies/WTO members, is being constrained more by various non-tariff barriers (NTBs) than by trade tariffs, the latter tending to be waived substantially as globalisation progresses; whereas in general NTBs result from the democratic discourse and culture in a respective country and any changing of them must be subject to democratic legislative procedures;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas 44% of SMEs reported a lack of adequate information as an important barrier to internationalization;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the EU needs to actively defend its industries, including SMEs, whenever necessary, against violations of agreed rules, WTO standards and principles by its trading partners, using all available means, includ; whereas using multilateral and bilateral dispute settlement mechanisms and in particular WTO- compatible trade defence instruments (TDIs) should be a measure of last resort;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Urges the Commission, and where appropriate the Member States, to foster the participation of SMEs, and where relevant microenterprises, in the global markets by implementing appropriate measures for their internationalisation and in particular their further integration into the EU common market, including easier access to capital and regularly updated information on business opportunities abroad, as well as efficient TDIs aimed at ensuring their rightful protection against unfair dumping and subsidies and safeguarding lawful production in the EU and EU businesses' market share in third countries;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses the need to improve enterprise- level data collection in order to raise awareness of the needs of MSMEs, share best practice, and provide them with better targeted support at both national and EU level; calls also for regular cost-benefit analyses to assess the effectiveness of such support, with a focus on increasing MSMEs' innovativeness and competitiveness globally, but also assessing effectiveness of SMEs in the single market;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Stresses the need of a mapping exercise first to identify existing and missing support programs on national and EU level in order to avoid overlaps or gaps, incorporating existing service providers and support strategies in cooperation with national agencies; encourages member states' authorities to create similar single online databases of national and regional sources of finance;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2b. Stresses the need to evaluate the available market for growing internationalisation and further promote SME development within the internal market, and consider development of SMEs within the internal market as equally important to the development of SMEs abroad;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Points out that SMEs are particularly vulnerable to price fluctuations, like for example in the food processing sector, and calls on the Commission to work actively against financial speculation on food and raw materials;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses that recurrent difficulties in accessing capital are one of the key reasons preventing SMEs' internationalisation; calls on the national governments to support SMEs by means of export insurance and making credit available to them from Member States' ECAs, and also to earmark sufficient funding for SMEs (e.g. special loans, cofinancing and venture capital), so as to help overcome disinvestment and deleveraging by banks; stresses that such funding should be provided to SMEs that are already exporting and which can present a viable business plan for improving or consolidating their existing market share and creating jobs, especially for young people; considers that support for start-ups offering innovative goods and services and for SMEs in need of initial investment should not be overlooked; considers that start-up SMEs within the single market that are in need of further investment should be given equal opportunities to obtain funding when it would have a similar effect of bolstering the EU economy as would funding SMEs for growth through internationalization;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls for the support made available to SMEs for accessing capital to be modulated in accordance with SME demandrespective and specific SME demand in order to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach; notes, in this regard, that industry in the EU displays a wide range of business profiles and necessities reflecting SMEs' size, sector, structure, area of activity and geographic location;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Stresses that foreign market development should not result in negative impacts on other aspects of SME business;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Stresses the need to foster cooperation between European SMEs and third country enterprises in order to facilitate market entry as well as integration into third markets;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Calls on the Commission as well as banks and other financial institutions to provide clients with information about alternative financial instruments and actively support networks of mentors, advisors and business angels;
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Calls on the Commission to study the European business angel market and other informed markets in order to build up the capacity of business angel network managers;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Draws attention to a regulation for securing credits for SMEs in the case that banks might sell off or reduce high risk- weighted or non-strategic assets, in particular credits and lending to SMEs, in order to reduce their total risk-weighted assets; thus, they would engage in swapping high risk-weighted assets, mainly lending to businesses, for lower ones such as sovereign debt, inter-bank claims and residential mortgages;
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls for taxation reforms benefitting both, SMEs acting on the single market as well as on third markets to avoid double taxation, in particular with regard to intra EU cross border venture capital, tax treatment uncertainties, and administrative obstacles;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls for endeavours at national and EU level to simplify the business environment for SMEs, and create a map of support programmes in close consultation with EU SMEs' associations, chambers of commerce and industry, as well as other relevant stakeholders, in support of both cutting red tape and internationalising SMEs;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Calls on the Commission to involve SMEs in the establishment of international standards (e.g. ISO), since changes in regulatory regimes directly impact on their profitability; insists that tackling NTBs must be regarded as a top priorityCalls on the Commission's agenda to address NTBs, in particular through the harmonisation of technical rules based on relevant global standards;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls on the Union to fully exploit the investment opportunities for EU MSMEs that stem from the European Neighbourhood Policy, with a special focus on crossborder investment in the countries of the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean partnerships; considers that the Commission and the EEAS should develop synergies in order to further upgrade the Union's commercial diplomacy worldwide;