Strasbourg24 May 2012
We could save many young people from unemployment with a greater entrepreneurial spirit, knowledge and courage. It is essential for education systems to pay more attention to entrepreneurialism.
Another issue is that we still have two different speeds: the speed and drive of companies to survive, develop and enter new markets; and a somewhat lower response rate of financial and other institutions in responding to their needs. For businesses, the most important elements are institutional response time and the simplification of procedures.
We also need to communicate with all of the roughly 23 million European enterprises. In all Member States, there are centres of the Enterprise Europe Network. InSlovenia, it is located inMaribor. However, from the data that is available on their website, only a few hundred companies are connected with them (out of the roughly 50 thousand companies inSlovenia). What is the reason for this lack of information in businesses about the opportunities offered by the European institutions? In many cases, even the representative agencies that are located in the different Member States, are not active enough. Quite probably, businesses themselves are not innovative enough to find the information of European opportunities themselves.
Europeis at a crossroads in the crisis. European institutions, including the European Parliament, are very much aware that small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the European economy. The Commission is preparing an action plan for investment, growth and jobs. The Parliament has supported these ideas from the start. Member States are now better prepared to act. Country-specific recommendations will be issued at the end of May, at the same time as the Stability Pact. Member States will be asked to fulfil their commitments and to stimulate growth and employment. For this of course, we need healthy channels of finance. The resources that we spend on repaying debt, unfortunately, cannot be reinvested.
For job creation in particular, we need a good atmosphere and a belief that we can achieve.
