Activities of Paul RÜBIG related to 2014/2209(INI)

Paul RÜBIG, Maria SPYRAKI, Krišjānis KARIŅŠ

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas SMEs account for more than 98 % of Europe’s businesses and provide more than 67 % of jobs in the Union; whereas they constitute the backbone of the European Union’s economy and are important drivers of European long-term economic growth and sustainable job creation opportunities within the 28 Member States; whereas they thus play an important role in the industrial ecosystem together with mid-cap and multinational companies; whereas nine out of ten SMEs are small businesses employing 10 people or less;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas the European Union committed itself to reindustrialising Europe by investing in and supporting the principles of sustainability, competitiveness and innovation, in order to achieve a share of at least 20% in industrial production as part of the European Member States´ GDP until 2020;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas despite recent efforts, SMEs continue to have difficulties with access to finance as a sufficiently diversified choice of equity instruments needed along the growth path of a company is not yet available throughout Member States and whereas EU programmes still fall short of significantly contributing to innovation;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Highlights the fact that ~~our~~the global economy will need to provide for an ever growing population – 9 billion people by 2050 – and that our natural resources are limited and therefore should be used in a very efficient way; points out new innovative solutions to these challenges such as new products, production processes, business practices and services, and a new supporting legal framework;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Believes that the EU needs to drastically change its entrepreneurial culture in order to contribute to economic growth by having more people starting up their own businesses and seeking more businesses opportunities, including in green growth, and by accepting failure and risk-taking; emphasises the importance of putting this issue at the centre of policy making; calls on Member States to cater for a softer landing after business failure, for instance by modifying and simplifying bankruptcy laws to allow people to start up a new business soon after failure of a previous venture, especially in new and innovative sectors; calls on the Commission to alleviate the fear of failure through awareness campaigns and education;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Points out that in the current circumstances where insufficient access to appropriate sources of risk capital, particularly in the early stages, continues to be one of the most significant constraints on the creation and development of growth-oriented firms, the Commission’s Action Plan on improving access to finance for SMEs places a lot of emphasis on venture capital as a possible mode of growth finance; underlines, nonetheless, that this kind of funding is adequate only for a small number of SMEs and that bank loans ~~remain the main~~still constitute an important source of funding, and that all alternatives should be developed by the private sector; points out the potential financing opportunities that should be explored through the European Fund for Strategic Investments;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Calls on the Commission to make sure that in the implementation phase of the ‘Investment Plan for Europe’ SMEs, in ~~particular~~cluding green and innovative ones, will be key beneficiaries of the support provided for under this proposal; Calls on the EIB and the Commission that all categories listed in the Commission recommendation 'concerning the definition of micro, small and medium- sized enterprises' (C (2003) 1422) benefit to an equal extent;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Highlights the importance of actively pursuing collaboration across- sector~~al collaboration~~s, along value chains as well as geographical areas, which offers the potential to spark innovation and new growth opportunities through cross- fertilisation of ideas and innovative concepts; welcomes the Horizon 2020 action ‘Cluster facilitated projects for new industrial value chains’, to better unlock the innovation potential of SMEs, including the eco-innovative and resource- efficient solutions they offer;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)

13a. Notes the growing gap between the needs of SMEs and the skills of employees; notes that 26% of employers in Europe face difficulties at finding employees who hold the right skills;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Stresses the need to further develop basic R&D ~~necessary f~~and to actively support further transformation of basic R&D outcomes into technological developments; highlights the importance of the reindustrialisation of Europe given the importance of the manufacturing industry for R&D&I and thus the EU’s future competitive advantage;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Highlights the importance of the commercialisation and valorisation by European companies of R&D output; calls on the Commission and the Member States to provide for a more stable regulatory framework and adequate financial schemes in order to enable economic initiative and entrepreneurship and to limit the time to market of new products, services and business practices, notably in the green economy;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Paul RÜBIG, Maria SPYRAKI, Krišjānis KARIŅŠ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17

17. Calls on Member States to avoid creating barriers to the internal market by gold-plating and to ensure consistent transposition into national legislation, among others by implementing an SME impact assessment, the SME Test, at Member State level; invites the Commission to step up its efforts in addressing gold-plating with individual Member States; stresses the need for a clear and uniform EU-wide interpretation by national regulators and open public procurement rules, including green procurement and e-procurement, which at the moment represents a substantial barrier for SMEs wishing to internationalise and at the same time a tremendous opportunity for Member States to be early adaptors;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)

17a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to take into account that no environmental legislation should be adopted or implemented in a way that might burden Small and Medium Sized Enterprises technically and economically unnecessarily; raises the example of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU);

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Paul RÜBIG, Maria SPYRAKI, Krišjānis KARIŅŠ

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Welcomes the Commission decision for withdrawing obsolete or overly burdensome legislative proposals; calls on the Commission to refrain from legislative proposals that would lead to an unnecessary administrative burden for large businesses and SMEs and to continuously review existing legislation with the objective of decreasing the current administrative burden and adapting this to new business models; stresses, nonetheless, the need for ambitious actions that are technically and economically feasible but equally for an adequate and timely implementation of already existing legislation in order to reach the EU’s environmental targets;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20

20. Notes that public funding needs to go to mature technologies, which can be put on the market at a significantly lower cost, rather than being used to push for large-scale deployment of immature and cost-inefficient technologies;deleted

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21

21. Notes that disruptive industries and technologies often indicate flaws in existing legislation; stresses the need for continuous monitoring of existing legislation and its implementation as well as the use of exemption clauses for certain innovative technologies to ensure that this does not hinder market entry for new technological developments;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. Believes that developing entrepreneurship skills and programmes to learn how the market, the economy and the financial system operate, function and interact, along with environmental awareness, should be included in basic education systems; believes that a well prepared business plan is the first step towards better access to finance and viability; calls on the Commission and the Member States to include financial education and entrepreneurship courses in their education programmes without delay; supports in this connection the ‘Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs’ programme, designed to promote an entrepreneurial culture and develop the single market and competitiveness;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Notes the importance of addressing unsustainable consumption patterns and promoting a change in consumer behaviour; stresses the need for adequate consumer education and the need to encourage ~~measures for greener~~incentives for more sustainable consumption;

2015/03/02
Committee: ITRE