28 Amendments of Phil BENNION related to 2012/2042(INI)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas almost onea third of the administrative burdens deriving from EU legislation stems from primarily from disproportionate and inefficient national implementation, which means that up to EUR 40 billion could be saved if Member States would transposed EU legislation more efficiently6 , up to EUR 40 bn could be saved.;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas more than 96 % of SMEs in the European Union have fewer than 50 employees and less than EUR 10 Million in annual turnover and whereas their ability to export goods and services outside their national borders is limited, mainly due to high fixed costs linked to international trade, legal insecurity and regulatory fragmentation;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Underlines the contribution of ERDF and CF to the development and improvement of transport, energy, environmental and broadband infrastructure and thus to the creation of a favourable businesses environment, encouragement of investments and strengthened competitiveness;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. StressNotes the need to tackle SME market failures such as limitedcommon structural and regulatory challenges faced by SMEs, such as access to financiale, human capital and organisational resources; in this respect welcomes the fact that the Commission endeavours to promote and support SMEs's economic activities in foreign markets both inside and outside the EUthe single market and third country markets;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Believes that for the long-term competitiveness of European SMEs an approach based on sustainable and resource efficient economy is necessary and recognizes the need for increased support for R&D&I; highlights the role of the Structural Funds' support for technological, organizational and industrial innovation;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recognises that administrative burdens and financial risks often result in stress and other negative health impacts for employees and owners of SMEs and micro enterprises; emphasises the need for employment and social regulation to contribute to the well-being of entrepreneurs and their employees without creating additional barriers to their success;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Calls on Member States at the appropriate level to introduce e- governance solutions and to work towards the creation of single points of contact for information on the funding opportunities for SMEs in order to facilitate their access to finance;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Supports the proposal that a large number of local, regional, national and European support schemes should undergo a "mapping exercise"; believes that this exercise should also be accompanied with an assessment of the effectiveness of existing EU support schemes; believes that the mapping should be conducted in regular intervals and serve as basis for a benchmark and scoreboard system;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on Member States and on regional and local authorities to apply, on where appropriate, at their respective levels, the instruments promoted by the Commission, such as competitiveness proofing, fitness checkfor impact assessment, for measuring administrative burdens and SME tests, in order to guarantee the policies’‘ overall effectiveness. and to avoid negative impacts on SMEs;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Expects specific proposals by the end of 2012 to rationalise andfrom the Commission, on how to coordinate the EU support schemes and to create the best possible synergies for EU SMEs, based on existing structures where feasible, without creating unnecessary competition withfor SMEs in order to create effective synergies based on existing structures and complementary to measures carried out by national organisations;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6 a. Points out that European Territorial Cooperation programmes support networking, knowledge and know-how exchange activities between organisations in different European regions and could be a useful instrument for creating new business opportunities;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that developing e-government and one stop shops will reduce administrative procedures and create new business opportunities; notes that greater access to procurement markets can assist SMEs in unlocking their potential for job creation; notes that such e-government could be used to provide access to all relevant information on compliance with employment legislation and tax regimes, as well as information on accessing different levels of European, national and regional funding and support schemes for SMEs and micro-enterprises;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6 b. Considers that Structural Funds, and in particular ESF, play an important role for the acquisition of knowledge and skills, networking and exchange of good practices; believes that investments in human capital and cooperation projects make a major contribution to strengthening European SMEs' competitiveness;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Notes that lack of appropriate infrastructure in rural areas, e.g. broadband internet access, presents a serious barrier to employment and growth, particularly for SMEs, micro- enterprises, the self employed and "self- starters", which could otherwise benefit from location outside cities and high rent areas;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls for increased and more efficient support for SMEs in access to the single market and third country markets at the EU, national and regional level particularly regarding promotion and access to information, the protection of intellectual property rights, participation in public tenders, ICT, standardisation and regulatory issues; believes that the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) is an effective tool to achieve these objectives; shares the view that, based on a thorough evaluation, a new governance model for EEN should be put in place with the view to increase effectiveness and to help it to provide tailor made support;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Notes that costs associated with compliance have a disproportionate effect on SMEs, especially on micro-enterprises; and that these costs can present a major obstacle to expansion of these businesses and their capacity to employ and retain staff; encourages Member States to take this into account when reviewing their national tax and social security regimes;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 c (new)
Paragraph 10 c (new)
10c. Notes the importance of the creation of a simplified and transparent EU regulatory framework for public procurement, so that SMEs gain better access to public contracts, both within the EU and in third countries;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 g (new)
Paragraph 10 g (new)
10g. Strongly urges the Member States to finalise an agreement on the common patent system under the Danish presidency as it is vital for the EU to offer businesses easy and affordable access to patent protection in the single market, similar to their competitors in the US, China and Japan;
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new) after subheading 4
Paragraph 10 a (new) after subheading 4
10a. Shares the view that support programmes funded with public resources should be delivered in the most cost effective possible form, especially at a time when the European economy is still recovering from its worst crisis for decades;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new) after subheading 4
Paragraph 10 b (new) after subheading 4
10b. Supports the Commission's suggestion to enhance cooperation between various company associations, chambers of commerce and other actors in outside-EU countries, in order to facilitate business partnerships, promote clusters and access to new markets;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Notes and strongly supports the focus on micro-enterprises in a strengthened SME test (see COM(2011)0803) through which all available possibilities such as exclusion from the scope, individual provisions, extended transition periods or lighter regimes are systematically assessed.; emphasises that new employment and social legislation which passes the enhanced SME test should be applied in the simplest form, creating the minimum necessary administrative burden required to achieve its functional objective, and respecting the subsidiarity principle; calls on Member States to carefully consider the intended objective of social legislation, and implement it without "gold-plating" or introducing additional requirements which are not explicitly required under EU law;
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Calls for the simplification of EU instruments for SMEs and for them to be made more accessible; notes that all too often, EU programmes can be too bureaucratic to be exploited by SMEs;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 c (new)
Paragraph 12 c (new)
12c. Calls for SMEs to be strongly taken into account in ongoing reform of the structural funds, where appropriate and where it contributes to regional framework conditions for growth and to create synergies with other EU programmes and initiatives; believes that red tape needs to be reduced, for example by accepting proportionate corporate auditing and reporting standards and by introducing common rules for all funds and programmes in the revision of the Financial Regulation;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 d (new)
Paragraph 12 d (new)
12d. Calls on Member States to implement as soon as possible the late payments directive into national law, to help give additional liquidity to SMEs in the current economic crisis;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 e (new)
Paragraph 12 e (new)
12e. Calls for more effective, simpler and better-coordinated EU instruments devoted to access to credit or risk capital in particular for SMEs with internationalisation plans;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 f (new)
Paragraph 12 f (new)
12f. Calls for efficient safeguards for SME portfolios, in view of increased capital requirements for banks, as part of the implementation of Basel III and the deleveraging process currently carried out by a number of banks, while considering the cumulative effect of financial services legislation.
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Welcomes the fact that the Commission has acknowledged the importaCommission's communication on reinforcing the competitiveness of Europe's industries; regrets that the concept of the manufacturing sector for sustainable growth and employment in the EU in its various strategies and communications; reiterates the need for an integrated industrial policy based on the principles of social market economycompetitiveness-proofing as well as the ex-post evaluation of legislation affecting industry is not mentioned; calls on the Commission to actively apply competitiveness-proofing in its impact assessment and to report regularly on progress achieved in this field; calls on Member States respectively to apply this test when transposing EU legislation into national law;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Considers that the way out of the economic crisis can only be paved by entrepreneurship and SME growth; underlines the importance of addressing the entrepreneurial potential of young people, women and migrantsonly entrepreneurship and the right framework conditions for SMEs competitiveness and growth can pave the way out of the economic crisis; underlines the need to address entrepreneurial potential where the level of SME start ups is below average across all segments of society as well as for specific target group, notably young people and women;