Tajani meets the President of the Republic of Poland Komorowski and participates to the III Congress of SMEs along with Vice Premier Piechocinski
On 16 September 2013 European Commission Vice President, Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, had a bilateral meeting with the President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski. Discussions focused on the recovery from the crisis and on boosting the employment through the re-industrialization of Europe. In particular, Tajani and Komorowski focused on the need to make the EU more attractive for investments in the manufacturing sector, including through environmental policies attentive to industrial competitiveness and energy costs. Tajani presented the European strategy to be discussed at the European council dedicated to Industry which will take place in February 2014. The strategy calls for the need of an Industrial Compact next to the Fiscal Compact. Tajani and Komorowski agreed on the fundamental role of SMEs which need to find more and more support in the EU policies, including financial support. Tajani also stressed the strong ties between Europe and Poland, noting the key role that this country can play in Europe.
After the meeting Tajani opened the III European Congress of SMEs together with President Komorowski itself and with the former Prime Minister and former President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek. The panel opening was also attended by the President of the European People's Party, Wilfried Martens , and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Janusz Piechocinski. The conference is the main event on SMEs in Poland, with over 1,800 participants and 100 foreign guests.
In his speech, Tajani stressed that "support for SMEs must be a priority to create new jobs." In this regard Tajani noted that "if each of the 23 million SMEs employed one single person, we could give solid prospects to the new generations." For this reason" the Vice President added: "we must fully implement the Small Business Act and solve the obstacles faced by our entrepreneurs. I think for instance the issue of the access to credit, without which SMEs cannot recruit nor innovate, the stifling bureaucracy, the thousands of barriers that still limit the access to the European market and international ones and the problems related to the cost of energy which starts to become prohibitive." Tajani concluded: "I am pleased with the strengthening of the financial instruments of Cosme and Horizon 2020 in the next budget and with the introduction of a competitiveness test on new European measures."
