CONAE :: Confederación Nacional de Autónomos y Microempresas ::

Confederación Nacional de Autónomos y Microempresas

DECLARATION FROM MADRID FOR THE PROMOTION OF SELF EMPLOYED, ENTREPRENEURS AND MICRO BUSINESSES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.
(Extract from the Decalogue of Measures)

1.- Divulge and encourage a business spirit through educational centres.

2.- To promote entrepreneurship through social funding.

3.- To facilitate the creation and functioning of businesses by eliminating bureaucratic obstacles.

4.- To facilitate access for entrepreneurs, self employed and micro businesses to priority finance.

5.- To alleviate or lessen fiscal pressure over entrepreneurs, self employed and small businesses in their first years of life.

6.- To increase social protection for self employed businessmen and women.

7.- To encourage policies for equality in entrepreneurship, promoting conciliation of work, family and personal life and Corporate Social Responsability.

8.- To promote a preventative culture when it comes to work risks and respect for the environment..

9.- To facilitate a priority access to the use of energy for business purposes.

10.- To promote associations between European business men and women.

DECLARATION FROM MADRID FOR THE PROMOTION OF SELF EMPLOYED, ENTREPRENEURS AND MICRO BUSINESSES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.

(Complete Text)

Self employed business men and women, entrepreneurs and micro businesses (with between 0-9 employees) contribute significantly to economic growth in all the countries of the European Union. Between 1988 and 2008, while employment in the SME sector increased remarkably in Europe, large businesses, on the whole, lost jobs. In the SME sector, the majority of jobs in Europe were created by micro businesses.

Along with the creation of jobs, the appearance of new businesses positively stimulates the market. They provide innovation, strengthen competition and help economic growth, using new niches of existing market in the current economy.

In these times of obvious economic recession, the self employed and micro businesses are those who suffer the most. As a result they should be the prime objective of social initiative destined to reactivate private investors, creation of employment and wealth.

Considering the aforementioned, it is only logical to think that the promotion of entrepreneurship should be one of the principal objectives of the policies of the governments in member states.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. The creation and development of specific programmes and the starting up of specific measures to help create a business spirit, in some cases, has taken second place in the design of European national policies.

As a result, those who signed this Declaration, following criteria established in the Lisbon Strategy and in other documents like the Green Book of Business Spirit in Europe, coincide in the need to establish common policies destined to strengthen and promote entrepreneurship, self employment and the birth of new micro businesses in the area of the European Union.

With this as their objective, the organisations which adhere to the present Declaration coincide in the need for the different member countries of the European Union to adopt the measures included in this document in their respective national laws.

DECALOGUE OF MEASURES FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE SELF EMPLOYED, ENTREPRENEURS AND MICRO BUSINESSES IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.
1.- Divulge and encourage a business spirit through educational centres.

With this measure it is expected to encourage, in the different member states, the adoption and introduction of measures inclined towards the impulse of a business spirit through education and training, encouraging the teaching of a business spirit in education systems in the different member states.

2.- To promote entrepreneurship through social funding.

Encourage between member states, the creation of funding destined to the promotion of self employment as an alternate access to the job market.

3.- To facilitate the creation and functioning of businesses by eliminating bureaucratic obstacles.

Request that member states in the European Union adopt distinct measures to remove administrative barriers which hinder or impede the creation or functioning of a business. There is a need to simplify the existing administrative procedures and promote the so called “electronic administration” for the administrative steps on-line.

4.- To facilitate access for entrepreneurs, self employed and micro businesses to priority finance.

Require member states to create an economic framework that facilitates access for entrepreneurs, self-employed and micro businesses to private finance. This will facilitate access to bank loans to the entrepreneur, as well as tax incentives for alternative sources of funding from private origin.

5.- To alleviate or lessen fiscal pressure over entrepreneurs, self employed and small businesses in their first years of life.

Reduce or simplify fiscal charges for entrepreneurs, self employed and small businesses during their first years of functioning, through the implantation of measures inclining towards the creation of wealth by entrepreneurs and which will be consolidated and maintained in time.

6.- To increase social protection for self employed businessmen and women.

The principal objective of this measure is to ensure the progressive comparison of the self employed Europeans with other coexisting collectives in member states, putting an end to a situation which supposed a historical And unfair discrimination in some states.

7.- To encourage policies for equality in entrepreneurship, promoting conciliation of work, family and personal life and Corporate Social Responsability.

To encourage a business spirit among women and other groups with a smaller representation in the business world, cultivating policies directed towards guaranteeing equality in entrepreneurship.

Encourage and impulse the implantation of measures inclining towards facilitating conciliation of the entrepreneurs, self employed and micro business constituents work, family and personal life.

Strengthen measures of Business or Corporate Social Responsibility as a means of voluntary and altruist contribution to society.

8.- To promote a preventative culture when it comes to work risks and respect for the environment.

Promote policies in matters of prevention of work risks and respect for the environment which have as their objective the entrepreneur, the self employed and the micro business, considering their special characteristics in design and application.

9.- To facilitate a priority access to the use of energy for business purposes.

Promote the creation of beneficial conditions in access to energy and fuel for business activities, creating a favourable framework for the generation of employment and wealth.

10.- To promote associations between European business men and women.

Facilitate, on a European level, the creation of organisations as legitimate representation of entrepreneurs, the self employed and micro businesses, encouraging the creation of a European Register of Self-Employed Organisations.