17 Amendments of Iuliu WINKLER related to 2012/2042(INI)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Recalls that, more than bigger businesses, SMEs benefit from internationalisation through exposure to best practices, better absorption of excess production, improved supply of inputs through imports, and thereby higher competitiveness, to the point that exporting SMEs consistently perform better than non-exporting peers and cause higher welfare gains for the whole of the economy and of the consumers;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1 b. Rejects the belief that sheltering EU SMEs from international competition could help them to grow and perform better on the international stage; believes rather in a positive agenda of the EU for its SMEs in international negotiations in order to lower barriers on a reciprocal basis in the interests of SMEs globally;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Welcomes the proposed mapping of the EU's and the Member States' strategies for providing services supporting the internationalisation of SMEs; expresses its hope that this long-awaited initiative will be followed by actions to ensure a harmonised approach that is in line with the principles of subsidiarity and efficiency to promote a rational sharing of actions between the public actors and prevent more administrative red tape from arising;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to draft a legislative proposal laying down binding commitments on the part of the Member States to simplify all national procedures pertaining to policies in support of the internationalisation of SMEs; believes that this proposal must be frontloaded; recognizes that the issue of simplification could be tackled partially through the SME test and competitiveness proofing of regulations and procedures that the Communication foresees;
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Regrets thatConsiders that although the Communication does nottry to address the difficulties that SMEs facefaced by SMEs in identifying foreign business opportunities, and that it does not proposeemphasize sufficiently that providing SMEs identified by governments with guidance and suggestions on internationalisationzation is a possible path of public action, which could fall within the responsibilities of the Member States; believes that the EU should support incentives to develop SMEs in strategic sectors in a proactive fashion, especially when it concerns high-value-added manufacturing activities offering a competitive edge over emerging economies; stresses the need, therefore, to identify promising niche-markets, which has already started to be integrated in other EU policy documents such as the report of the high-level group on Key Enabling Technologies;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Urges the Member States to adopt single export helpdesks at a local and regional level, run in cooperation with businesses, so that SMEs can receive, in their own language and for immediate use, information regarding assistance, export opportunities, barriers and competitors in third markets;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Recommends that more information be targeted to small and micro-enterprises, these being the SME grouping that is least active internationally and least aware of its export potential and of the benefits it would gain from internationaliszation;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Emphasizes that the Communication should have recognized the differences between sectors since services SMEs' internationalization is fundamentally different from manufacturing SMEs' internationalization; notes that many services SMEs, which represent the bulk of SMEs, often do not need to reach a critical size for starting exports and would benefit mostly from more open regulations and access to ICTs in the target countries whereas industry SMEs would benefit more from enhanced conditions in transport logistics and in trade facilitation;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9 b. Notes that most public policies in support of EU SMEs' internationalization are focused on manufacturing and recommends therefore that they are readjusted to take into account services SMEs' different needs; supports in particular rethinking the minimum size requirements for SME trade support programmes, which have usually been based on the industry SMEs' export model in which the potential of the firm for internationalising arises from reaching a critical size;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Regrets that the Communication does not foresee EU-level solutions to help SMEs in overcoming the shortage of working capital, especially capital to make the initial investment required and to start financing exports, which could take the form of EU solutions if the mapping deems that it is necessary and feasible;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls for a clearer definition of SME priority markets on the basis of the agenda for the EU's trade negotiations; recalls that priority markets should of course include high growth markets such as the BRICs but also take into account SMEs' perception of opportunities for internationalization in developed countries and neighbouring regions; therefore sees the growth of host markets and gaps in existing support structures as the main criteria for making the list of priority markets; recommends that EU's neighbouring countries be added to the list, since most SMEs initially export to trading partners in neighbouring countries, such as the Republic of Moldova and countries in the Western Balkan, such as Serbia, recently recognised as an EU candidate country;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Urges the Commission to ensure that the specific needs and interests of SMEs are reflected in all trade negotiations; observes that this would imply identifying the areas of negotiations where problems affect more SMEs than other categories of businesses and focusing on them in the process of negotiating commercial agreements with third countries; supports a reform of the multilateral framework for involving SMEs at the WTO and for ensuring faster arbitration and settlement of disputes for SMEs;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15 a. Stresses that investing abroad is the most challenging form of internationalization for SMEs; recommends that, when the EU comes in the future to negotiate bilateral investment treaties, the needs of SMEs to benefit from a higher safety of their foreign direct investments should be taken into account;
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Calls for concrete initiatives on the part of the EU to improve the protection of SMEs' intellectual property rights (IPR) in third countries, such as has been achieved with the SME IPR helpdesk in China and is now being extended under pilot testing for a selection of ASEAN and South America countries;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Expects the Commission to take an initiative to ensure that EU SMEs enjoy access to public procurement on third markets on an equal footing with other companies; hopes that the recently published proposal for a regulation on the EU public procurement market will foster reciprocity in openness which would benefit to EU SMEs;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17 a. Recalls that international cooperation on regulations and standards is highly beneficial to SMEs' internationalization by removing part of the upfront costs that these firms must invest in order to sell goods or services on third markets;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Appreciates the initiatives to foster business-to-business contacts foreseen in bilateral free-trade agreements; recalls that the challenges of locating and contacting potential customers overseas, and of establishing reliable supply chains, pose high hurdles for SMEs wishing to enter export markets and that in particular smaller and micro firms rely on intermediaries to sell goods abroad.