mr president the small business act was given a warm welcome by smes but that was two years ago
it is really important that we now show small businesses that this was not just a piece of paper
on the issue of administrative burden the target should not be a once-off which we reach and then abandon
it is something we have to keep working on
i am particularly concerned about the situation that micro-businesses find themselves in
it is all right or it is relatively all right for a small business of two hundred and forty-nine employees that has specialist administrative staff but for a micro-business with one or two staff over-regulation can actually make trading impossible
we should not forget that micro-businesses of less than ten employees actually make up over ninety of all eu businesses
micro-businesses really need to be treated like family units and in particular the eu and its member states need to work together to look at how small businesses can be given upfront support for energy efficiency improvements
indeed the broader question of finance for smes is vital
just before easter a number of meps from the committee on industry research and energy went to california to see how investment works in silicon valley
what we discovered was that venture capital was much more available than in europe and that those who provided it were much more risk-taking in their approach
californian venture capitalists expect nine out of ten investments to fail
the one in ten which succeeds pays for all the rest but the motto is fail fast
there is much we can learn about how we could better support our own innovative small businesses in europe
perhaps not least we should not stigmatise failure but rather use it as a step to success
