The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), EUROCHAMBRES, UEAPME and BUSINESSEUROPE are organising a conference on the first anniversary of the Small Business Act, to be held on Wednesday 2 December at the EESC

In June 2008, the European Commission launched a European Small Business Act (SBA) to improve the EU's strategic approach towards small and medium sized enterprises. The objective of the conference, entitled Small Business Act: Happy Birthday? is to assess the level of implementation of the SBA measures one year on from its endorsement by the Member States, especially in the context of the current economic and financial climate. European business representatives want the EU to deliver concrete actions in favour of SMEs, which are the main providers of growth and jobs in Europe.

Input from senior representatives of EU institutions – Gianni Pittella , Vice-President of the European Parliament, Edit Herczog , Member of the European Parliament, and Françoise Le Bail , Deputy Director-General, European Commission Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry - will be complemented by feedback from the main European business organisations and individual business managers. EUROCHAMBRES, UEAPME and BUSINESSEUROPE collaborate in the organization of this event.

The Small Business Act represents a strong political commitment in favour of the 23 million European SMEs, which have been responsible for 80% of job creation in Europe in recent years. The support given to SMEs with this legislative action, is reinforced by general actions such as the recent call of European Parliament to implement measures in order to reduce administrative burdens for SMEs, or the actions taken to facilitate SMEs the access to public procurement and public contracts market.