Spanish Presidency EU Council
The president of CEPYME, Gerardo Cuerva, and the president of the Employers’ group of the European Economic and Social Committee (CESE), Stefano Mallia, held a meeting today at the headquarters of the SMEs Confederation, to analyze the situation of Spanish and European SMEs and companies’ priorities for the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU next semester.
Both organizations have promised to work together to include business interests among the objectives established by Spain for the presidency of the Council of the EU during the second half of this year.
At the meeting, which was also attended by the vice-president of CEPYME, Mª Helena de Felipe -who is also a member of the Employers’ group and vice-president of the EESC’s Equal Opportunities group-, the concern of Spanish and European businessmen due to the size of the companies and the difficulties that this entails in terms of competitiveness and resilience in the face of crises.
The representatives of CEPYME and CESE have agreed on the need to consider business growth among the priorities for the coming months and implement measures aimed at promoting such growth, to improve the competitiveness of European companies.
In this sense, the president of CEPYME has recalled that the Spanish company is 24% smaller than the European average, which conditions its productivity, profitability and capacity to create employment. less productive and, therefore, grow less by investing less, attracting and retaining less talent, and innovating less than larger ones. He has also referred to the obstacles that prevent the growth of companies in our country, especially labor charges and the high tax burden.
In order to encourage the growth of companies, CEPYME proposes reducing administrative bureaucracy, establishing tax mechanisms and measures that favor and facilitate investment in Spanish SMEs, as well as important tax deductions and temporary measures and aid that promote and make investment very attractive. company merger.