SMEs are at the core of the European Project

The Maltese Presidency looks forward to starting discussions on the legislative initiatives in the framework of the Single Market Strategy, and particularly welcomes the recently issued Services Package.

This was stated by Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business Chris Cardona, in his address at the BusinessEurope Conference in Brussels, entitled “Is the European Single Market SME-Friendly? What do SMEs Actually Need?”

The Service Package is an important and long awaited package, being an important field in which the Single Market still has to exploit its full potential. Pivotal elements of the Single Market include the freedom of movement of people and services, with SMEs and professionals alike benefitting greatly from the mutual recogni- tion of professional qualifications.

“Despite the adoption of the Services Directive, obstacles still remain and European service providers should be able to provide their services across borders without being confronted with unjustified and disproportionate regulation,” Minister Cardona said.

Minister Cardona also went into the five practical instances involving Industry and Services, on how the Presidency is actually giving particular importance to SMEs. These are: (a) Start-ups and Scale-ups, and tackling the market gaps and the missing links in the ecosystem; (b) European Industrial Competitiveness, and the need for an updated Industrial Policy to strengthen European SMEs; (c) Understanding the contribu

tion of Intangible Investment such as Intellectual Property Rights to the European Economy; (d) The integration of SMEs into the value chain of large European defence contractors as part of the European Defence Action Plan; and (e) The strengthening of the European Single Market as one of the priorities of the Maltese Presidency. These were also the basis of some of the discussions that took place at this week’s Competitiveness Council.

The Maltese Presidency is building on the good work carried out by the Netherlands and Slovak Presidencies, by opening the Competitiveness Council formation meetings to different stakeholders such as BusinessEurope, to ensure that SMEs be placed at the centre of the European agenda.