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Public financing of enterprises, which has been on the rise globally, can have a distortive effect on competitive markets. In response to this trend, in May 2021 the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation to tackle foreign subsidies with a distortive effect on the EU single market. It would enable the Commission to investigate subsidies granted by non-EU public authorities to companies operating on the single market, and to apply countervailing measures, should these subsidies ...

Entrepreneurial literacy and skills (ELS) empower European citizens to act on economic opportunities and enable them to adequately respond to ongoing impactful changes, such as the green transition, the ageing workforce and the digitalisation. This research paper analyses relevant empirical indicators of ELS, highlights the role of underrepresented groups in entrepreneurship and discusses EU-funded mechanisms in relation to ELS. The research paper concludes with recommendations on policy-making in ...

This study was commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee. It highlights that despite the increasing number of public policies and institutional resources designed to promote women-led business, the entrepreneurship gender gap persists. This study aims to analyse this apparent contradiction, focusing on three main questions: What are the constraints that women face when deciding to become entrepreneurs ...

This briefing discusses the actions that the EU could take to properly tackle the challenges that SMEs are currently facing. Several initiatives have already been launched, such as the EU Helpdesk, the Access2Markets Platform and the CTEO. The pros and cons of these initiatives are outlined, and examples and a general assessment are provided. In a second step, several actions of Member States and commerce organisations are highlighted and a detailed classification provided. In a final step, recommendations ...

This briefing summarises key elements of the intended initiative, based on the information that the Commission provided on 10 November 2020 in its related public consultation and additional public sources. The briefing also briefly focuses on other related issues, namely, misalignments between state-aid and resolution and some European Court of Justice decisions with impact on the crisis management framework, and a box focusing on rele-vant aspects of the Commission’s recently released NPL Action ...

The corona crisis has significant effects on many banks in the Banking Union. To support the Members of the Banking Union Working Group, the following briefing reports on observations made and actions taken by supervisory authorities, credit rating agencies, banking federations, or other industry experts, in order to point to relevant developments in the banking sector. The briefing will be updated on a bi-weekly basis, unless relevant developments require otherwise.

SMEs and Better Regulation

At a Glance 07-02-2020

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the European economy. However, numerous internal and external constraints, such as red tape and stringent business regulations, can make running a small business very difficult for entrepreneurs. Creating a business-friendly regulatory environment is a long-standing EU objective. The European Commission's cross-cutting policy on better regulation spearheads improvements, and its 'SME Test' scrutinises the impact of EU proposals on SMEs ...

One of the key lessons learned from the financial crisis in 2007-2008 is that in order to reduce the direct and indirect costs of bank failures for national governments, one has to have a credible framework in place to deal with banks’ failures, including clear rules as to the allocation of losses and the conditions attached to the use of common resources, to provide strong incentives for taking measures of precaution in good times and minimise losses in times of crisis. To that end, Europe has put ...

As geographical concentrations of enterprises, which work together in the same field to develop a high level of expertise, services and skills, clusters are hotbeds of innovation and play an important role in the EU economy. Known as transnational clusters when they involve actors from two or more countries in the same geographical area, clusters tend to generate higher employment growth than firms located outside clusters, and are estimated to account for a significant proportion of jobs in the ...

Cooperatives are autonomous associations of people aspiring to achieve their objectives through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise. International organisations, such as the United Nations and the European Union (EU), value the role cooperatives play for society, the economy and (international) development. There are 3 million cooperatives worldwide; together, they provide employment for 280 million people, equating to 10 % of the world's employed population. The 300 largest ...