Nicole Fontaine, author. – (FR) Mr President, Mr Jouyet, Mr Verheugen, ladies and gentlemen, our group enthusiastically supports the draft Small Business Act presented to us by the Commission last June.

It is true, since the year 2000, initiatives have been launched for small and medium-sized enterprises – Mrs Vlasto’s excellent work on the SME Charter comes to mind in particular – initiatives that have been welcomed but deemed insufficient, since all too often they remain no more than pious hopes.

Today, we need to go further. The serious economic crisis being experienced in our countries, with particularly worrying consequences for SMEs, spurs us on where encouragement was needed. In this respect, the Small Business Act forms part of a new, determinedly pro-active approach.

In a few weeks’ time, we will examine Mrs Herczog’s report on the Commission’s communication, but today, by submitting this oral question, we have chosen to call on the Council.

Mr Jouyet, we have noted with interest the conclusions adopted yesterday by the Competitiveness Council and we would like to know whether the European Council of 11 and 12 December will indeed relay these conclusions and push for the general guiding principle ‘Think Small First’ to be transposed quickly into Member States’ legislation.

We hope that the Council will proceed on the basis of the action plan that is attached to it, accompanied by practical measures. In this regard, and in the short time I have been allocated, I wish to emphasise three areas in which we need a strong lead.

Firstly, systematic impact assessments and regular follow-up, monitored by the European Parliament, on the status of the Small Business Act in the Member States. Secondly, access to public contracts. The code of good conduct has no binding authority; together we need to be more imaginative, more inventive and to propose appropriate and practical measures that will genuinely open up these contracts to SMEs. Finally, access to funding, which in the current climate is more vital than ever.

Your proposals are sound, Mr Jouyet, they should also incorporate support for the offer. There is no time to waste. Please assure us of the Council’s intentions.