The European Commission will announce next week a regulation to combat arrears, so that companies' invoices are paid at the latest after 30 days. Otherwise, interest on late payment will be generated. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, during next week's State of the Union speech, is expected to explain the start of the so-called "Relief Package for SMEs" (SME Relief Package ), in the 18-page draft to which La Vanguardia has had access.
Antoni Cañete, president of Pimec and vice-president of the European employers' association of SMEs SME United, has been pushing for legislative change in the EU for years to avoid the problems that non-payments and arrears cause for SMEs. The last act in which he detailed the needs of the group was a presentation on July 3 to the European Economic and Social Committee.
Cañete explained yesterday that "it is important that the package for SMEs is not processed as a directive, but as a regulation, therefore, it will be mandatory to comply immediately in all EU countries". When it comes to a directive, it is the member countries that have to carry out its transposition, which ends up delaying the whole process for years, even. With a regulation, it is immediate, says Pimec.
After the announcement scheduled for next week, the regulation will have to be ratified by the European Parliament and subsequently by the Council. The forecast of the Catalan employers' association of SMEs is that it could enter into force at the beginning of next year.
"Europe has taken the fight against arrears very seriously", says Cañete, before detailing that each country will have to create the mechanism to control that the payment regulations are complied with and, if this is not the case, the payment of the late interest. What is expected is interest equivalent to the legal interest on the money plus eight points.
The package also provides for improved access to financing for SMEs. This is an increase in the allocations for the InvestEU program and for the European Innovation Council (EIC) which will allow investment operations of between 15 and 50 million euros.
Another objective is to improve SMEs' access to public procurement by simplifying small contracts, for example. In regulatory matters, the EU draft envisages the strengthening of some spaces for dialogue to take into account the opinion of SMEs in legislative activity.
Another measure is to simplify certain current information obligations, such as in auditing and accounting, which are unnecessary for small companies.
Pimec highlighted yesterday that the European Commission is betting on the new package for the idea of "thinking small first" to take the sector into account when establishing the terms of application of new regulations or carrying out a analysis of the impact on SMEs of the new rules.
The Commission also wants to facilitate the creation of companies in just three days and with a maximum cost of 100 euros. Another commitment is to improve the tax conditions for the transfer of companies, such as inheritance and donation tax.
The last major area that the Commission's package on SMEs plans to attack is that of improving training and skills in different areas of staff in this type of company.
