Member States informed about progress achieved in key areas such as the progress on access to credits and simplification initiatives, at the second meeting of the Network of SME Envoys celebrated in Luxembourg and chaired by the EU SME Envoy, Mr Daniel Calleja Crespo.

One of the main conclusions drawn from the second meeting of the Network of SME Envoys celebrated in Luxembourg and chaired by the EU SME Envoy, Mr Daniel Calleja Crespo who was elected in May 2011, is that European SME envoys make life of small enterprises easier. At the meeting, Member States informed about progress achieved in key areas which include measures to accelerate procedures to start a company, increase SMEs' access to finance, improving their participation rate in public procurement as well as in cutting red tape.

Among the examples presented at the meeting, the Netherlands plan to adopt the Late Payment Directive by the summer and the Dutch Parliament will soon discuss a new procurement law improving access of SMEs. Sweden works on improving Venture Capital regulation. Italy has increased its Central Guarantee Fund, so that banks can easier grant credits to small enterprises. Germany reported that four out of five companies are registered within the agreed EC EU objective of 3 days for less than €100. Furthermore, the United Kingdom reduced the average time to start a company to 7 hours, for € 22. But the record is in Estonia where in most of cases a company can be registered within 1 hour.

The National SME Envoys called upon the European Council to mobilise financial resources and make their access simpler for EU SMEs. They also agreed to tackle challenges for the SMEs in the areas of Better Access to Markets and Boosting Entrepreneurship in future meetings. The Commission also presented a report on minimising regulatory burden, seeking a lighter regime especially for micro-enterprises, and SMEs in relation to future legislation.