The EU authorities are trying to attract member states’ attention to the SMEs activity. Recent “action plan” shows some progress in doing business. SMEs play a decisive role in the European economy’s competitiveness and dynamic. To help them realise their growth potential, the EU is working towards promoting entrepreneurship and creating a friendlier business environment for SMEs.
The Commission’s ‘EU- 2020’ Strategy calls for improvement of the business environment in Europe. EU company law and corporate governance rules for companies, investors and employees must be adapted to the needs of today’s society and to the changing economic environment. Companies are going to be competitive and sustainable through European company law and corporate governance.
With its Green Paper in 2011on EU corporate governance (IP/11/404), the Commission initiated an in-depth reflection to evaluate the effectiveness of the current corporate governance rules for European companies. It also carried out an on-line public consultation on the future of European company law, which generated a large number of responses by a wide variety of stakeholders.
In traducing the Commission’s action plan, the EU Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said that the plan sets out the way forward for European companies (mainly through company law and corporate governance). It means that shareholders should receive additional rights, but also fully assume their responsibilities to make sure that the company remains competitive over the longer term. Companies should also become more transparent; that will contribute to effective governance of companies.(more)
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Source: The Baltic Course - Eugene Eteris, RSU, European Studies Faculty, Riga,