Currently, there are 23 million SMEs in Europe representing about 75 percent of the European market. It is estimated that it takes more than 10 euros per employee  on company spend compared to only around 1 euro in a large enterprise. These costs are partly due to regulatory filings, because a smaller company still must fill in the same forms as a big company. Another factor is large enterprises’ ability to hire compliance specialists.

In 2008, the EU passed the Small Business Act which aims to reduce the small business administration responsibilty by 25 percent by 2012. Mr. Leclercq and Mr. Zednik take issue with this Act already. They note that although the European Commission has good intentions with this Act, it’s still challenging for some European countries to have the quick turnaround as promised by the Commission to the SMEs. For example:

In Germany, company registration is supposed to take three days. But after agreeing all details in German, it still took us five hours of notary time and three months of waiting for notice or approval from five different authorities – the court, the business register, the chamber of commerce, tax authorities and the labor administration – to set up EurActiv.de, a simple joint venture.

Another point Mr. Leclercq and Mr Zednik both believe is that SMEs should be encouraged to cross-border trade. Only 8 percent of SMEs trade outside its borders, and 5 percent receive subsidies from aboard.

As the new European Commission President moves forward in his elected position, many SMEs will be eager to see what changes are to come.

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