The network of SME envoys was set up in 2011 as part of the review of the small business act. Each EU country has nominated a national SME envoy to complement the role of the EU SME envoy who chairs the network. The group of SME envoys makes up an SBA advisory group that promotes SME friendly regulation and policy making in all EU countries.
Even though EU countries can do a lot to improve regulatory and policy environment for SMEs, it is often hard for small businesses to voice their opinion and reach policy makers. The network of SME envoys improves the consultation process with national SMEs and cooperation between EU countries.
The position of EU SME envoy will be filled as soon as Commissioner Thierry Breton has nominated the new EU SME envoy, in accordance with the mission letter from President Ursula von der Leyen. Until this nomination, the SME envoy network is presided ad interim by Kristin Schreiber, Deputy SME Envoy and Director for SME policy, Entrepreneurship and the COSME Programme. The role involves
More information on the role of the SME envoy (13 KB).
SME envoys in EU countries are appointed by the national government. Their role is to
More information on the role of SME envoys in EU countries (13 kB).
Click on the flag to see the SBA factsheets. See the SME performance review for translations of the fact sheets.
| Country | Name | Institution, telephone | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
/growth/file/austria50png_enaustria_50.png | Austria | Mr Florian Frauscher, Director General | Federal Ministry of Digital and Economic Affairs +43 (0)1 71100 - 803522 website | florian.frauscher@oesterreich.gv.at |
/growth/file/belgium50png_enbelgium_50.png | Belgium | Mr Didier Kinet, Director General | Federal Public Service Economy, SMEs, Self-employed and Energy +32 (0)2 277 51 11 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/bulgaria50png_enbulgaria_50.png | Bulgaria | Mr Lachezar Borisov, Deputy Minister | Ministry for Economy website | secminister@mi.government.bg |
/growth/file/croatia50png_encroatia_50.png | Croatia | Mr Mario Antonić, State Secretary | Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Crafts + 385 1 610 61 11 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/cyprus50png_encyprus_50.png | Cyprus | Mr Constantinos Karageorgis, Councelor | Ministry of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism +357 2 286 7100 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/czechrepublic50png_enczech_republic_50.png | Czech Republic | Mr Marian Piecha, Deputy Minister | Ministry of Industry and Trade +420 224 851 111 website | posta@mpo.cz |
/growth/file/denmark50png_endenmark_50.png | Denmark | Mr Torsten Andersen, Deputy Director General | Danish Business Authority website | erst@erst.dk |
/growth/file/estonia50png_enestonia_50.png | Estonia | Mr Viljar Lubi, Deputy Secretary General | Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication +372 625 6342 website | info@mkm.ee |
/growth/file/finland50png_enfinland_50.png | Finland | Mr Petri Peltonen, Director General | Ministry of Employment and the Economy +358 29 516001 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/france50png_enfrance_50.png | France | Ms Caroline Mischler, Director | Ministère de l’economie et des finances +33 1 40 04 04 04 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/germany50png_engermany_50.png | Germany | Ms Sabine Hepperle, Director General | Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy +49 (0) 3018 6159 website | kmu-botschafter@bmwi.bund.de |
/growth/file/greece50png_engreece_50.png | Greece | Ms Panagoula Pasxali, Director General | Ministry of Development and Competitiveness +30 210 3332000 website | info@ggb.gr |
/growth/file/hungary50png_enhungary_50.png | Hungary | Mr Balázs Szepesi, Deputy State Secretary | Ministry for National Economy +36 1 795 1400 website | ugyfelszolgalat@ngm.gov.hu |
/growth/file/ireland50png_enireland_50.png | Ireland | Mr Conor Verdon, SME Envoy | Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation +353 59 917 8990 website | info@djei.ie |
/growth/file/italy50png_enitaly_50.png | Italy | Ms Benedetta Francisconi, Director General | Ministero dello sviluppo economico +39 0647051 website | dipartimento.impresa@sviluppoeconomico.gov.it |
/growth/file/latvia50png_enlatvia_50.png | Latvia | Mr Kristaps Soms, Director | Ministry of Economy +371 67013100 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/lithuania50png_enlithuania_50.png | Lithuania | Mr Tomas Urban, Director | Ministry of Economy +37070664617 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/luxembourg50png_enluxembourg_50.png | Luxembourg | Mr Gilles Scholtus | Ministère de l'Economie +352 2478 2478 website | info@eco.public.lu |
/growth/file/malta50png_enmalta_50.png | Malta | Ms Nancy Caruana, Permanent Secretary | Ministry of the Economy, Investment and Small Business +356 2220 9500 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/netherlands50png_ennetherlands_50.png | The Netherlands | Mr Pieter Waasdorp, Director | Ministry of Economic Affairs +31 77 465 67 67 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/poland50png_enpoland_50.png | Poland | Mr. Wojciech Paluch, Undersecretary of State | Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Innovation +48 22 693 5000 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/portugal50png_enportugal_50.png | Portugal | Mr Nuno Mangas, Chairman | IAPMEI (Ministry of Economy) +351 213 245 400 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/romania50png_enromania_50.png | Romania | Mr Darius Vodă, Deputy Director | Ministry for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship | office@investromania.gov.ro |
/growth/file/slovakia50png_enslovakia_50.png | Slovakia | Mr Jan Oravec, State Secretary | Ministry of Economy +421-2-4854 7204 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/slovenia50png_enslovenia_50.png | Slovenia | Ms Martina Gasperlin, Director General | Ministry of Economic Development and Technology +386 1 400 33 11 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/spain50png_enspain_50.png | Spain | Ms Maria Muñoz Martinez, Director | Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism +34 913 49 23 45 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
/growth/file/sweden50png_ensweden_50.png | Sweden | Ms Gunila Nordlöf, Director General | The Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth +46 8 681 91 00 website | grow-sme-envoy@ec.europa.eu |
| Area | Envoy(s) |
|---|---|
| Access to finance | Pieter Waasdorp, The Netherlands |
| Training and skills | Sabine Hepperle, Germany |
| Green economy | To be reattributed |
| Internationalisation/access to markets | To be reattributed |
| Key-enabling technologies and clusters | To be reattributed |
| 2nd chance | To be reattributed |
| Entrepreneurship, including entrepreneurship education | Mario Antoniċ, Croatia |
| Family business related issues and transfer of businesses | Christian Cardona, Malta |
| Better regulation and reduction of administration burdens | To be attributed |
| SME test | Didier Kinet, Belgium |
| Licensing | Conor Verdon, Ireland |
| Public procurement | Didier Kinet, Belgium |
| Digitalisation | Gunilla Nordlöf, Sweden |
| Start-ups and scaling up | To be reattributed |
| Business innovation and related IPR aspects | To be reattributed |
| SMEs in the defence sector | Mario Antoniċ, Croatia |
| SMEs in the satellite business and related sectors | To be attributed |
| Single market issues specific to start and scale-ups as well as 'traditional' SMEs | Torsten A. Andersen, Denmark |
| Cooperation of ecosystems on thesub-national level | To be decided |
The network meets 4 times a year with observers from European business organisations.
Call of the SME envoy network for a vigorous and forward-looking EU policy for small businesses
European SME-action programme (prepared by the national SME Envoys in cooperation with business organisations participating as observers of the SME Envoy meetings)
Commission decision (145 KB) of 4 July 2012 setting up the group of experts on enterprise and SME policies