Munster local businesses to benefit from EU initiatives

Posted on 02/06/09 by Brian Crowley Brian Crowley, Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South and President of the UEN political group in the European Parliament, today said that the European Union is leading the way in terms of helping Irish Small and Medium Enterprises (SME).

Brian Crowley MEP who is the leader of the Fianna Fáil Group in the European Parliament said "over 55% of all employment in Ireland comes from the SME sector. This sector is the backbone of the Irish economy and we need to ensure that small and medium sized companies in Ireland receive the necessary credit to operate and expand their businesses.
The European Investment Bank is due to sign off deals at the end of March with a number of Irish banks which will be worth hundreds of millions of Euro and these EIB cheap subsidised loans will be for the SME sector alone.
This is in line with the political commitment given by EU Finance Ministers that €15 billion will be made available to the SME sector in Europe during the year 2009. We need to ensure that a strong level of liquidity is put into our financial system so as to guarantee that our small business sector will remain strong and competitive into the future.
The EU Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen has confirmed that the European Commission is going to cut red-tape for businesses by 25%. It is estimated that over 3% of EU GDP is lost due to unnecessary form filling.
Part of the new measures being introduced by the European Commission is the fact that small companies will no longer have to file detailed annual accounts and annual reports.
This is a huge step in the right direction to left the burden of red tape from small companies. Yet another initiative from the EU which helps small businesses."