Less administrative burden for SMEs, says EC

Date: 30th September 2008

The European Commission has called on EU member states to help reduce the administrative burden on small businesses.

Small firms have already begun to save money through the reduction of red tape in areas such as company law for mergers and divisions; however, insist that the EU should do more.

One commissioner believes that during the current economic crisis, it is too easy to overlook the importance of small businesses to the EU.

Charlie McCreevy, the EU commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, said: "All the talk in the press is about banks, the big financial institutions, the mortgage lenders.

"What we must not forget is that for small businesses, life goes on. They remain the backbone of the European economy."

Since the measures on mergers and divisions were implemented in 2007, small to medium enterprises have saved about one billion euros.

A study last month revealed that employees of smaller firms were generally more satisfied than those working for large corporations.