The opinion article "Mr. Barroso, Take Down Small Business Walls"published on September 10 is signed by Christophe Leclerq, EurActiv publisher and founder, and by Rick Zednik, EurActiv.com CEO.
Like school children across the continent, Jose Manuel Barroso last week delivered his summer homework for evaluation. But for the European Commission President to clinch a passing grade from the European Parliament and ensure his next term, he should do more for the parents of roughly three-quarters of those school children. Specifically, he must demonstrate a stronger commitment to Europe's 23 million small and medium-sized businesses, which account for roughly 75% of European jobs.
A good place to start would be slashing red tape that plagues bantam firms, making a real push so that innovators can finally obtain faster and cheaper pan-European patents, and using more muscle to pry open the single market for little players.Instead of multi-billion-euro bailouts for big banks and corporations, which small businesses will fund in subsequent years through higher taxes, support for more modest enterprises could better pull Europe out of its economic malaise.EurActiv representatives request that Mr. Barosso Barroso pushes for faster progress on the Small Business Act, which he grandly called "a step towards a Europe of entrepreneurs".
Unfortunately, when the Union's leader presented his program for the next five years, little guys seemed an afterthought, far behind markets, citizens and climate.
Little has changed besides a general deterioration of the business mood.Cut red tape: Reports estimate that while a big company spends an average of €1 per employee on regulatory duties, a small business has to spend up to €10. This is due partly to the fixed costs of regulatory filings, meaning a little firm must fill in the same form as a big
