EU Giving More Attention to Entrepreneurship

Erkki Liikanen, the Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society, made a speech on the subject of "Entrepreneurship: an integral and vital part of the EU policy mix" at an extraordinary meeting with the Employer’s Group of the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, two days ago.

Here are some of his observations:

Entrepreneurship and small businesses are a key source of jobs, business dynamism and innovation. Some 25 million SMEs in Europe provide more than two-thirds of total jobs in the private sector. This means SMEs employ more than 100 million people. The EU's most dynamic SMEs account for around 80% of new jobs created.

There are still too many barriers stand in the way of entrepreneurs. With the new Entrepreneurship Action Plan, the EU intends to target practical issues such as:

> How do we encourage entrepreneurial initiative and are we doing enough to ensure small firms can grow?
> How do we handle the handover of family businesses from one generation to another?
> How do we make sure that if a business fails people are given a second chance?
> This initiative, together with our initiatives in the areas of industrial policy, innovation and competitiveness – together with our ambitious work to achieve better regulation – all have a positive contribution to make as key elements to ensure growth in Europe.

Here for more.