Archive:Industry and services statistics introduced

Latest update of text: April 2015. Planned article update: October 2016.

The European Commission’s enterprise policies aim to create a favourable environment for business to thrive within the European Union (EU), thus creating higher productivity, economic growth, jobs and wealth. Policies are aimed at reducing administrative burden, stimulating innovation, encouraging sustainable production, and ensuring the smooth functioning of the EU’s internal market. Policy reform in this area, and in particular the implementation of industrial and sectoral policies that form part of the Europe 2020 initiative, is designed to help turn the EU into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy.

The single market

European industry contributes to output, jobs, innovation and exports and is interrelated with service activities. Indeed, many service activities such as transport, information and communication depend on industry to produce the equipment and hardware which they use. The internal market for goods is one of the EU’s most important and continuing priorities which aims to create a user-friendly environment for businesses and consumers. Creating a single market for the service sector — one of the main drivers of the EU’s economy — relies largely on the opportunities available for businesses to provide services throughout the EU, and for other businesses and individuals to access such services.

In April 2011, leading up to the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the single market, the European Commission released a Communication titled ‘Single Market Act — twelve levers to boost growth and strengthen confidence’ (COM(2011) 206 final), aimed at improving the single market for businesses, workers and consumers. The initiatives within the Communication cover areas as diverse as improving access to finance for SMEs, worker mobility, the regulatory environment, strengthening standardisation, or providing consumers with easier, quicker and cheaper procedures for dispute settlement. In October 2012, this was supported by a further Communication from the European Commission titled ‘Single Market Act II — Together for new growth’ (COM(2012) 573 final). The purpose of this second Communication was to build upon the first Single Market Act and it identified four drivers around which to focus key actions:

developing fully integrated networks (such as transport and energy) in the single market;
fostering the mobility of citizens and businesses across borders;
supporting the digital economy across Europe to boost productivity and creativity;
strengthening social entrepreneurship, cohesion and consumer confidence.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Internal market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs continues to work towards the completion of the single market by tackling gaps that remain in certain sectors, completing legislation and removing administrative obstacles, while monitoring the application of EU law and the functioning of the Single Market.

Small businesses and entrepreneurship

The 22.1 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the EU-28 in 2011 represented 99.8 % of enterprises in the non-financial business economy, and are regarded as a key driver for economic growth, innovation, employment and social integration. The European Commission aims to promote successful entrepreneurship and improve the business environment for SMEs, to allow them to achieve their full potential in the global economy. In June 2008, the ‘Small business act for Europe’ (SBA) was adopted by the European Commission and endorsed by the Council in December 2008. This aims to improve the overall approach to entrepreneurship, permanently anchor the ‘think small first’ principle in policymaking and to promote SMEs’ growth. The SBA is a set of 10 principles which should guide the design and implementation of national and EU policies. Between 2008 and 2010, the European Commission and the EU Member States took measures to ease the administrative burden on small businesses, to facilitate SMEs’ access to funding, and to support their access to global markets. The results of a review of the SBA were published in February 2011, providing an overview of the progress achieved through implementing the Act and setting out new actions to respond to challenges resulting from the recent financial and economic crisis. The review launched a process which aims to integrate the SBA with the Europe 2020 strategy; six of the seven Europe 2020 flagship initiatives include proposals to help SMEs achieve sustainable growth.

COSME is an EU programme for the competitiveness of enterprises and SMEs; it will run from 2014 to 2020 with a planned budget of EUR 2.3 billion. It aims to supports SMEs in the following areas: improving access to finance; access to markets; supporting entrepreneurs; and improving conditions for competitiveness.

The Entrepreneurship action plan (COM(2012) 795 final) was presented as a Communication by the European Commission in January 2013. It proposes action to increase Europe’s entrepreneurial potential, to remove existing obstacles and to transform the culture of entrepreneurship in Europe. The plan has four main parts: educating young people about entrepreneurship; highlighting entrepreneurial opportunities for women and other groups; creating an environment based on easy administrative requirements; and making it easier for entrepreneurs to attract investors.

Europe 2020 strategy: industrial policy

At a European Council meeting of 26 March 2010, EU leaders set out the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, designed to enhance the competitiveness of the EU and to create more growth and jobs. The latest revision of the integrated economic and employment guidelines (revised as part of the Europe 2020 strategy) includes a guideline to improve the business and consumer environment and modernise Europe’s industrial base.

In October 2010, the European Commission presented a Communication on ‘An industrial policy for the globalisation era’ (COM(2010) 614 final), which provides a blueprint to put industrial competitiveness and sustainability centre stage. This industrial policy establishes a strategic agenda and proposes some broad cross-sectoral measures, as well as tailor-made actions for specific industries, mainly targeting the so-called ‘green innovation’ performance of various sectors.

In January 2014, the European Commission adopted a Communication titled ’For a European Industrial Renaissance’ (COM(2014) 14 final). This Communication stresses the importance of full and effective implementation of industrial policy in the EU and aims to facilitate this. Examples of the initiatives put forward include investing in innovation, resource efficiency, new technologies and skills, simplifying legislation, updating the Small business act (SBA), and reinforcing the Entrepreneurship action plan. Please refer to the website of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs for further information on the work being done in relation to specific actions for industrial renaissance.

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