Meeting of the SMEs, Professions and Crafts Category

The third and last SMEs, Crafts and the Professions Category meeting of this year took place on Friday 2 December 2016. The morning session was dedicated to SMEs, starting with a presentation on The crisis and its aftermath: SMEs performance and macroeconimic policies by Lucio Pench, Director of Directorate C from DG ECFIN, followed by a second discussion on Circular Economy: an opportunity for micro SMEs with Peter Czaga, Policy Officer from DG ENV. The meeting continued with a debate on SME Performance Review 2015/2016 lead by Ludger Odenthal, Policy Officer at DG MARKT H.1, followed by a presentation from Mrs Milena Angelova (member of Group I) on the opinion on Effectiveness of policies for SMEs.

In the afternoon, the discussions concentrated on themes related to Liberal Professions.  Dr. Bernhard Wisleitner (CMC) gave an overview of Social security systems for liberal professions, followed on a debate on Representative structures of liberal professions in Europe, introduced by Dr. Wolfgang Doneus, Past President of the Council of European Dentists (CED). Last but not least, a debate was held on Structure of self-administrative chamber organisations in Germany with specific focus on Chambers of Skilled Crafts presented by Dr. jur. Manja Schreiner LL.M., Director of Organisation and Law Department, Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks (ZDH).