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PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE - PRESS RELEASE
Brussels, 18th April 2005
SUPPORT OF INDEPENDENT SMALL BUSINESSES AND SELF-EMPLOYED
FOR THE SERVICES DIRECTIVE
TOTALLY IGNORED BY EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT REPORT
At a time when the European Parliament will present its first official report on the proposal for an European Directive on Services, ESBA, the European Small Business Alliance, would like to stress that the proposed report has so far totally ignored the views of small businesses and self-employed in Europe.
“All our attempts to meet with Ms. Gebhardt MEP, rapporteur on the Services Directive, in order to express the views of several million small entrepreneurs and self-employed failed” said Fred Soudain, Brussels Representative.
“Contrary to some arguments used by the rapporteur and trade unions representatives, most small businesses and self-employed are in favour of the main features of the European Commission Proposal, including the country of origin principle. ESBA, like many other small business organisations is only calling for minor changes to ensure proportionate application across the EU.
The Directive will bring key advantages to SMEs, including less red tape, simplification of establishment in other EU countries, facilitation of cross border trade, as well as new jobs and a reduction of “black market”. Small and medium size businesses ask for more clarity in terms of definitions, scope and consistency with existing EU Legislation. They also call for a proper system of enforcement and control, and are concerned that the quality of services and information requirements do not ad red tape. In short, small and medium businesses do definitely need the liberalisation of the services market, a goal that the Services Directive will help to achieve (Joint Declaration by Eurocommerce, Eurochambres, ESBA, SME-Union & SME Global - 16th March 2005).
Today, most small businesses carrying out service activities are not able to benefit from the Single Market because of the endless number of administrative duties incurred when internal borders are crossed”.
END
Note to the editor: ESBA is a non-party political Small business advocacy & benefits European group which gathers member organisations from 22 European countries. It is the only organisation in Europe to focus its representation on (fully) independent small business organisation needs (vs. statutory or compulsory membership groups). ESBA currently represents almost 2 million small business entrepreneurs and represents them through targeted EU advocacy activities. ESBA also works towards the development of strong independent lobby and benefits groups in European countries. ESBA is a member of WASME, the World Association of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. For more information, please contact: secretariat@esba-europe.org
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