Tina Sommer, FSB Chairman of EU and International Affairs
Frederic Soudain, ESBA (facilitator)
Gustaf Skulason, Sweden
Katarina Jagic, Croatia
Gabriel Goucha, Portugal
Vida Kozar, Slovenia

ESBA distributed a copy of their quiz 'Who wants to be a Member of the European Parliament?' to workshop attendees.  The quiz can be used to test your local candidate MEP's knowledge of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and can be found on the ESBA website. Attendees were also pointed to the new FSB EU Manifesto and ESBA's latest EU publication.

The aim of the workshop was to use the experience of the panel for a lively and interactive discussion session about small business issues in Europe and how individual EU countries are coping with the current financial crisis.  Croatia, for example, has 99% of its business community made up of small businesses and is very much aware of the importance of protecting this community.

Katarina made a plea that pre and post accession funding should be much more effectively communicated to accession countries as there is currently a lack of knowledge and understanding about how these funds can be accessed. 

Vida from Slovenia commented that the Slovenian government is more effective at laying measures for big businesses than it is for small businesses. There was some discussion around the fact that the EU designs legislation with big business in mind which often has unintended consequences for small businesses, particularly where only partial regulatory impact assessments are carried out.

The panel gave advice on how attendees could test the knowledge of MEP candidates to test their knowledge of small businesses. Businesses should ask whether MEPs are SME friendly, and if so, how? Have you ever run a small business and what you would do to reduce admin costs for businesses were also good questions.  Attendees were encouraged to meet with their local MEP candidates and get involved particularly given that 80% of legislation comes from the EU, it is important that businesses influence the process.

Gabriel talked about his experience working with an EU group to reduce admininistration burdens for businesses.  It isn't just about influencing DG Enterprise within the Commission but all of the other directorates such as Environment where their legislation impacts on businesses also. Positive steps have also been made in rolling out exemptions for small and micro businesses for certain regulations and these have been applied in some cases already. Gabriel invited attendees to send ESBA their experience of specific pieces of EU legislation that have a negative impact on their business. 

It was agreed that small businesses are the backbone of Europe and that the Small Business Act, recently agreed, would go some way in helping these businesses. It should all be about the EU following the 'Think Small First' principle.