European boost to SMEs

European leaders meeting in Brussels last week agreed that the regulatory burden on SMEs needs to be further reduced, something that the UK has very strongly argued for in its agenda for growth.

The European Commission will therefore undertake to assess the impact of future regulations on micro enterprises and to screen the acquis to identify existing obligations from which micro enterprises could be excluded.

This is very good news.

The SME sector is a major driver for economic growth throughout Europe. According to a very comprehensive international survey of almost 6,500 SMEs run by Sage Group earlier this year, government bureaucracy and legislation was the key concern raised by small businesses across the globe.

Guy Berruyer, the CEO of Sage Group, is one of the UK business leaders who shared his views on how to improve Europe’s competitiveness in the global economy. In a publication released last Friday by Business for New Europe, Berruyer wrote, “in Western Europe there is a greater concern about a lack of access to funding than in North America. German, French and UK small businesses all rate this as the second least favourable aspect about doing business in their regions”.

Eastern Europe shares similar concerns. And, with over 4,000 British companies operating in Romania, most of them SMEs, clearly there is scope for a health-check on the flexibility of the business environment in Romania, in the UK, and across the whole of the European Union.

What do you think are the key barriers at present preventing a fast and sustainable development of the SME sector?