PIN-SME

Brussels, 14 July 2010 – Speaking at a SME Union conference today, EU Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Mrs. Neelie Kroes insisted on the strong SME focus of the recently released Digital Agenda that sets the roadmap for the next 5 years of European ICT policy.

Referring to the Commission’s EU 2020 strategy, Mrs. Kroes considered that “if Europe is to achieve long term and sustainable growth, it must go through SMEs”: “I see ICT as having a central role in this. In today's economic environment growing smartly means growing digitally. We recognize that by making the Digital Agenda an SME Agenda.”

The Commissioner considered that SMEs have a crucial role to play in the development of a digital single market, but also that the Commission has to help SMEs have a fair access to it. According to Mrs. Kroes, the lack of telecoms single market is ”a nightmare for many SMEs”:

“Why should they have to travel around Europe juggling SIM cards and paying a fortune to communicate? A modern entrepreneur wants to have continuous access to all his or her business information travelling around the world with a smart-phone and laptop.” Mrs. Kroes expressed her confidence that the Commission would present a structural solution for a telecoms single market by 2011.

Mrs. Kroes also recognized the essential role played by ICT SMEs for European innovation, describing it as a “virtuous circle of digital activity”: “When one SME breaks through because of its innovation, it ultimately drags many other SMEs along with it.“ She expressed the Commission’s full support to innovative ICT SMEs, clarifying that “the Commission – whether via my advice or my colleague Joaquin Almunia – will not allow small players to be trampled because of their disruptive ideas.”

Considering that “the Internet is the best news for SMEs since the beginning of capitalism”, Mrs. Kroes defined her overall objective as “to enable SMEs to fully exploit the potential of the Internet”. Addressing the SMEs representatives including PIN-SME in the audience, she concluded: “with me you have a friend in the Commission looking to give a voice to SME needs every step of the way.”

The full speech of Commissioner Kroes can be found at the following e-address: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/10/388&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr