Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

Network of SME Envoys

As part of the Review of the Small Business Act for Europe (SBA), the Commission invited Member States to nominate a national SME Envoy to complement the role of the European Commission's SME Envoy. Together with representatives of EU-level SME business organisations, the Network of SME Envoys will make up an SBA advisory group.

SMEs have traditionally found it difficult to get their views across to policy-makers due to limited resources, and time taken to reach a common position. The Network of SME Envoys will enable better consutlation with SMEs in the Member States.

The Commission is also encouraging Member States and regions to adopt measures to ensure greater representation of SME interests at all levels of policy-making.

Thinking Big for Small Businesses - What the EU does for the SMEs

EU SME Envoy

The Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani has nominated Mr Daniel Calleja Crespo as SME Envoy.

The SME Envoy's role is to:

open up channels of communication between the Commission and SMEs, and their representative organisations.
act as the promoter of SMEs' interests throughout the whole Commission, ensuring in particular that the "Think Small First" principle is being applied effectively as in the new Europe 2020 strategy.

More about the role of the SME Envoy pdf - 13 KB [13 KB] .

To this end, it has sought to identify and share examples of effective SME consultation and involvement in policy-making.

Member States' SME Envoys

Each SME Envoy is appointed by the national government and, in most cases, represent the Ministry or Agency with the remit of SME policy.

They promote SMEs' interests and in particular:

promote SMEs' interests throughout all government bodies, including those at regional and local levels, and ensure that the "Think Small First" principle is integrated into their policy-making and regulatory proposals.
act as the main interface between the European Commission and national polyc-makers for contributing towards the dialogue on SBA implementation.
contribute towards evaluating and reporting on the uptake of the SBA in the Members States, stepping up efforts to disseminate widely information on SME-policy actions and promoting the exchange of good practices.

Their role is similar to that of the Commission's SME Envoy. pdf - 13 KB [13 KB]

1st meeting Network of SME Envoy

The Network of SME Envoys held its 1st formal meeting in Brussels on 14 September 2011 together with the representatives of EU-level business organisations.