mr president i welcome this report with just one or two small reservations
we have heard from my colleague mrs gill how important small businesses are to the economy and how they are bearing the brunt of the difficulties at the moment
the trouble is that the european union is geared entirely for big businesses whether it is about legislation access to markets or funding
we often talk about better regulation but what we really need is proportionality
we have to ensure that our legislation is proportional to the problems we are dealing with and particularly in the ippc which we have talked about today
it is really about big business not about small businesses and we should reflect that
i welcome initiatives like jasmine which i think are moving us in the right direction but we need to think in terms of funding market access and legislation and about the specific needs of small business
let me make one particular plea we have a single market but we do not have a single community patent
we have been at this for years and years now and it really is a disgrace that we cannot sort out this problem
it could by itself be the biggest help for businesses in the european union
let us have some action
