SMEs – the backbone of Europe
I have been looking at the EU homesite which has a good section relating to Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). One criticism of this otherwise good set of pages is the lack of a date – I know this material is fairly recent, but it would be nice to know exactly when the information was updated.
Anyhow, the EU “has integrated the “think small first” principle into all policy-making and is reviewing all EU legislation to ensure it is SME friendly.” It is making a lot of funding available to support SMEs as we
“account for a large proportion of Europe’s economic and professional activity. In practice, two thirds of all private sector jobs in Europe are in SMEs, meaning that small firms are in fact the real giants of the European economy.
In fact, the average firm in the EU employs just seven people, even though it’s true that the figures vary greatly from country to country. Micro-businesses dominate employment in countries such as Italy (48%) and Greece (57%), whilst the share of large enterprises in total employment in the United Kingdom is over 45%.”
The fact that 91% of businesses in the EU are micros (1-9 employees) demonstrate just how important we micros are in the general scheme of things – so how do we, Micros in the Storstrøms Region, get the recognition and support that is needed to make us grow? Quite apart from our Mikronet of course!