Enterprise Experience Programme - background information
Enterprise Experience Programme (EEP) is a unique action to give civil servants working in the European Commission's Directorate General for the Enterprises and Industry practical and hands-on experience of life in a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME).
The European Commission is the civil service of the Union. Its officials work under the direction of the 27 European Commissioners in a permanent and independent civil service.
Many of the activities of the Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry focus on the needs of small and medium sized enterprises (SME). It has developed and implements a range of policy measures specifically to assist SMEs in Europe. For more info about the EU SME policy see the European portal for SMEs
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A "Small Business Act for Europe" was adopted in June 2008 by the European Commission to promote entrepreneurship and SMEs in Europe. It includes a set of political principles but also concrete measures aiming at creating the right conditions for small firms to thrive.
But if EU officials are to address the needs of European companies most effectively, they need to build their awareness of these companies' needs and circumstances (in particular those of SME's, which play such a crucial role in innovation and growth). EEP does this in the most concrete possible way - by giving civil servants hands-on, on-the-job experience of life in a SME. The aim is that by 2009 a substantial number of officials in the Directorate General of Enterprise and Industry should visit an SME, shadowing key personnel and experiencing the different functions or departments of the company.