Sektionen for Det Indre Marked, Produktion og Forbrug (INT) - Related Opinions

The aim of the Commission's New European Innovation Agenda is to position Europe at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation and start-ups. It will help Europe to develop new technologies to address the most pressing societal challenges, and to bring them on the market. The proposed agenda will help better integrate initiatives and investment at EU and national levels. Action at EU level is crucial for supporting the development of coherent national innovation agendas, supporting access to finance, particularly for small businesses, creating a framework more supportive of innovation, connecting innovation ecosystems, and developing and attracting talent.

COM(2022) 204 concerns the reform of the current EU rules on Distance Marketing of Consumer Financial Services, which govern financial services sold at a distance.

The European strategy for data proposed the establishment of domain-specific common European data spaces. The European Health Data Space (‘EHDS’) is the first proposal of such domain-specific common European data spaces. It will address health-specific challenges to electronic health data access and sharing, is one of the priorities of the European Commission in the area of health and will be an integral part of building a European Health Union. EHDS will create a common space where natural persons can easily control their electronic health data. It will also make it possible for researchers, innovators and policy makers to use this electronic health data in a trusted and secure way that preserves privacy.

This own initiative opinion intends to explore the role of business transfers in the sustainable recovery and growth in European SME sector and how the business transfers could be further promoted and facilitated at the European level. There is a need to accelerate concrete follow-up actions for the promotion of business transfers, which is also one of the action points of the recent EU SME Strategy. It is crucial to raise awareness of the potential that business transfers have to the economic growth and the SME sector.