ESBA expresses concern at lack of progress on business red tape
The European Small Business Alliance (ESBA) has expressed concern at the lack of progress towards targets set out during the Lisbon Summit of March 2000, at which EU heads of State and government pledged to make Europe the world's most competitive knowledge-based economy. The ESBA is reported to have expressed 'grave concern at the ongoing increases in the regulatory environment for small businesses' and deplores what it describes as 'the evident lack of progress' regarding the Lisbon strategy. The group's main concern is the implementation of the European small business charter, adopted at the Feira European Council in June 2000, and the strategy for simplifying the regulatory environment. The ESBA attacks both Member States and the EU institutions for their failure to help entrepreneurs, saying that they 'constantly fail to tackle the main problem created by the accumulation of excessive regulation.' Baron Daniel Janssen, Chairman of the European Round Table of Industrialists, also highlighted the problem at a recent conference to examine progress towards the Lisbon targets, claiming that 'SMEs all over Europe work in a nightmare of bureaucracy.' He said that more should be done to build on the European Commission's eGovernment strategy, as e-government has a large role to play in making national and regional government less bureaucratic and increasing efficiency.