Quote of the Week: "The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable
on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive."
Thomas Jefferson
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ESBA WEEKLY of Friday 11 May 2001 - VOL 3 - N° 23
Headlines of WEEK 19:
- TAXATION: Context and recent developments
- INDUSTRY: Quantitative enterprise policy targets on Council agenda
- UPCOMING EVENTS
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EU / TAXATION
Washington D.C. 09/05/2001: Context and recent developments
European Commissioner for Internal Market & Taxation, Frits Bolkestein,
gave an overview of the context in which European tax developments are
taking place, as well as the most important recent developments, in front
of the European American Business Council in Washington D.C.. The main
issues covered in his speech were on the current difficult debate within
the Council and the European Commission on the future cooperation on taxes
(harmonisation/competition) (see ESBA WEEKLY - Vol 3 - N 21), VAT on
e-commerce (the new US administration will probably seek to extend the
current existing moratorium on internet taxation in the US), taxation on
savings and taxation matters in the context of the upcoming enlargement.
More info (copy/paste full link):
http://www.europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&do
c=SPEECH/01/205|0|RAPID&lg=EN
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EU / INDUSTRY
Brussels 14&15/05/2001: Quantitative enterprise policy targets on agenda
Further to the conclusions of the informal Industry Ministerial meeting in
Manchester (see ESBA WEEKLY - Vol 3 - N 12) and the Stockholm European
Council (see ESBA WEEKLY - Vol 3 - N 17) the use of quantitative targets
will be addressed again during the upcoming Council of Industry and Energy
Ministers.
Real progress is needed now after words of good intentions. This can only
be achieved by the establishment of a set of commonly agreed indicators as
well as the commitment of concrete implementation and monitoring of those
indicators and quantitative targets.
The other key issues on the agenda for SMEs are:
- From 2002 onwards, progress made by Member States will be evaluated by
the European Commission (based on bilateral discussions and written
reports) with the European Charter for Small Enterprises as guidance;
- Progress on the BEST Procedure 2001 Projects
- The initiatives and developments related to biotechnology;
- Conclusions on ICT and e-business, including the Go Digital initiative
for SMEs;
- Progress and developments related to the integration of the sustainable
development concept into enterprise policy;
- Discussion on the Chemicals White Paper; and
- Policy debate on the proposal on the implementation of the rules on
competition laid down in Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty.
ESBA will come back to the above.
More info, see points 3, 4 and 5 of (copy/paste full link):
http://www.europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&do
c=MEMO/01/173|0|RAPID&lg=EN
More info, see lower part of (copy/paste full link):
http://www.eu2001.se/eu2001/news/news_read.asp?iInformationID=14785
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Brussels (B) 17&18/05/2001: Futurisme - the future of social dialogue in
SMEs; Theme: new forms of work relations, social dialogue.
Info: http://www.ueapme.com/docs/various/Programme0105_en_ex.doc
Brussels (B) 28/05/2001: Politics and Instruments for the competitiveness
of European Business; Theme: Enterprise policy, competition, SMEs.
Info: http://www.sme-union.org/activities/unioncamare.htm
Brussels (B) 29/05/2001: Make it simple!; Theme: Enterprise Policy, SMEs,
regulations. Info: http://www.unice.org
Brussels (B) 30/05/2001: Bureau meeting of the SME-Union on the political
priorities and future activities for SMEs in 2001/2002.
Info: http://www.sme-union.org/activities/congressPriorities.htm
Lisbon (P) 18&19/06/2001: New strategies for improved health in SME, role
of social partners, policy developments and creating supportive
environments; Theme: Health, competitiveness.
Info: http://www.bkk.de/gesundheit/health_at_work
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The ESBA Weekly is now sent to an increasing amount of persons with a
direct interest in SMEs.
This bulletin is made in cooperation with LOGOS (http://www.logos-eu.com).
