Communication from the Commission – An action plan to improve access to finance for SMEs

Europe's economic success depends largely on the growth of Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) achieving their potential. SMEs contribute more than half of the total value added in the non-financial business economy and provided 80% of all new jobs in Europe in the past five years.

SMEs often face significant difficulties in obtaining the financing they need in order to grow and innovate. One of the key priorities set out in Europe 2020, the EU's growth strategy for the coming decade, as well as in the Commission's Single Market Act and the Small Business Act is to facilitate access to finance for SMEs. The Annual Growth Survey has underlined the crucial role of a healthy financial system to support growth and set out priorities for action in the short-term perspective.

In this context the reform programme for financial services, implemented as a response to the financial crisis, can bring about regulatory benefits to SMEs. In addition, the Commission is proposing to release new targeted funding at EU level to address the key market failures that limit the growth of SMEs.

The Commission is presenting in this Action Plan the various policies that it is pursuing to make access to finance easier for Europe's 23 million SMEs and to provide a significant contribution to growth.

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)870: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:870:FIN

European Commission: SEC(2011)1527: Commission staff working paper http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SEC:2011:1527:FIN:EN:PDF

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