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EU Policy

With up to 70% of laws coming from Brussels, it is important that as an organisation, the FSB is fully engaged in what is going on at European level on behalf of our members.

We have a public affairs team providing a presence in Brussels working with the Commission, our MEPs, the British Government and other organisations.  We can therefore ensure that the interests of small businesses are taken into account, and that FSB members take advantage of the opportunities offered by the single market.

Maria-Barbara Noack, FSB Yorkshire and Humber spokesperson on EU Policy

Facts and Figures

• 99.3% of UK businesses have between 0 and 49 employees
• The small business sector employs 46.8% of the UK workforce
• 37% of UK turnover is generated by small firms
• There are 4.3 million businesses in the UK and of that 2.72 million are sole proprietors
• SMEs employ 12 million people (58% of the private sector workforce)
• Turnover from SMEs totals £2,400 billion (51.1 per cent of UK GDP)
• Over 60% of all commercial innovations come from small businesses
• EU Small Business Profile:
  • 99.8% of all EU companies are SMEs
  • 91.5% are micro businesses
  • 7.3% are small businesses (excluding the figure above for micro businesses)
  • 1.1% are medium-sized businesses
  • 0.2% are large businesses
  • SMEs provide 67.1% of all private sector jobs

It is believed that 60% of all innovations come from small businesses.  If only 50% of small businesses in the EU employed one more person there would be 10 million new jobs.  The more small businesses we save now, the more jobs we will be able to create on the other side of the recession.

Challenges for Small Businesses in Europe 

1. Administrative and regulatory burdens
2. Access to finance
3. Taxation
4. Lack of skills
5. Access to public procurement contracts
6. Unfair/too strong competition
7. Labour law
8. Access to Single Market
9. Access to EU programmes
10. Late payments
11. Access to international markets
12. Access to information and advice
13. Instability of world economy/energy costs
14. SME definition

What can we do?:

We want all UK MEPs to commit themselves to a simple five step approach for improving the way legislation is made.

1. Make less and make it better.  Article 137 of the European Treaty requires the EU to avoid passing social laws which hold back the creation and development of small businesses. We expect our MEPs to stick to this treaty provision.

2. Be accountable for your actions.  Legislators should not legislate until they know the consequences of their actions. MEPs should automatically reject any Commission proposal put to them without a full impact assessment.

3. Be consistent in your approach.  The inconsistent application of EU laws robs small businesses of a level playing field

4. Stop gold-plating.  The UK practice of turning innocuous EU directives into business-wrecking, job-crunching bureaucracy needs to stop

5. Speak Plain English.  Very few small businesses owners have law degrees. It is therefore important that legislation is in plain English if you want to be understood.

If you have issues you would like us to raise on your behalf please do contact us.

Useful Regional Contacts:

Names and contact details for Yorkshire and Humber MEPs can be found here.