The Employers' Group at the SME Assembly

The fifth SME Assembly took place on 18-20 November in Luxembourg. This well-organised, high-level event brought together some 300 participants from across Europe. Amongst them were SME representatives, high-level EU officials, and representatives of NGOs, academia, media, etc.

The EESC Employers’ Group was represented by Violeta Jelic, Vice-President of the Group, Dimitri Dimitriadis, EESC rapporteur on photo of the EESC Members with EC Commissioner, Elzbieta Bienkowskaimproving SMEs' access to finance, and Georgi Stoev, Member of the Group. They actively participated in the interactive and very innovatively organised debate on how to increase SMEs' competitiveness and improve access to finance. The EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Ms Elżbieta Bieńkowska opened the debate, stating her clear commitment to improving market access for SMEs, as they form the backbone of the EU economy.

The Employers' Group remains committed to continuing its current SME-related projects, and in particular to following up on the information report that it produced this year. This focused on improving access to finance for SMEs by implementing a special project consisting of a series of going-local events, case studies and policy papers.

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