The EU economy will plunge unless action is taken to rebuild the entrepreneurial spirit across all member states, a business pressure group has warned.
Small businesses account for over 99% of Europe’s enterprises and employ some 75m people, according to the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), but the current regulatory climate within the EU does not encourage entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses.
Small businesses have the ability to drastically reduce Europe’s rising unemployment, the FSB said, but those companies that are showing positive results and testing the limits are being restrained.
“By listening to the view from thriving businesses it should be possible for a modern Europe to remove barriers to growth from the path of small firms, creating new jobs and economic growth across the EU,” said Tina Sommer, FSB EU and international affairs chairman.
The FSB has launched a ‘blueprint’ of action for small firms in the EU and delivered it to decision makers in Brussels.
Among the organisation’s proposals were to give so-called ‘micro-businesses’ more incentive to grow and thus take on more staff, encourage local start-ups to build more thriving communities, encourage environmental sustainability and provide funding to those businesses that show innovation.