European Commission
Bulgaria

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the European economy, and the most important creators of new jobs and economic growth. It is therefore of vital importance to improve the financial and regulatory environment for SMEs, to make it easier for them to do business. Compared to large companies, over-regulation hits SMEs the hardest, because they have to deal with much higher administrative costs per employee.

That is why in 2006 the initiative for reducing the regulatory burden for SMEs was launched. A detailed Action Programme [109 KB] was presented which identifies problem areas and presents suggestions for solutions. The aim is to reduce the administrative burden on businesses by 25% before 2012. According to estimationsa 25% reduction in the administrative burden on businesses would translate into an increase of 1.5% in the EU’s GDP – amounting to about €150 billion. The EU is now making unprecedented efforts to cut red tape – both in existing legislation and in future. These include reducing reporting burdens on SMEs under accounting rules, reducing the costs of cross-border payments, and simplifying customs procedures. All in all, 220 pieces of legislation and 1 400 related pieces of secondary legislation will be reviewed in the period 2005-08 and progress is being made: half of the laws included in the programme initially had been tackled by early 2007.

In addition to this, other priorities of the Commission include providing information on funding opportunities, developing of financial instruments to make it easier for SMEs to get loans from banks by providing guarantees, facilitating venture capital investment in SMEs.

Detailed information about funding opportunities you can get from the European Enterprise Network.

For further information:
http://ec.europa.eu/small-business/index_en.htm