Small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs, craft sector: coordination of actions. 1997 report

Reporting on behalf of the committee on the Commission report concerning the coordination of assistance to SMEs and the craft sector, Marianne THYSSEN (EPP, B) broadly supports the work done by the Commission in this field. In particular the Committee welcomed that the Commission increasingly studies the impact of new legislation on SMEs, and that SMEs are more often consulted when new legislation is drafted. The Committee calls on the Commission to formalise these practices and also to live up to its promises to include the SMEs in the social dialogue at the European level. On the legislative environment for SMEs, the Committee agrees in principle with the Commission's approach of using recommendations, communications and exchanges of best practices to encourage Member States to create a better climate in which SMEs can flourish. Having said that, the Committee nonetheless believes that binding measures - such as the recent directive on late payments - must be adopted whenever necessary. �