Memo: State aid: Commissioner Kroes hosts entrepreneurs roundtable – seeks views on how to improve business climate for entrepreneurs

On 7 May, 2009, European Commissioner Competition Neelie Kroes sought feedback from entrepreneurs on the problems they are experiencing to obtain financing and state aid and how a better climate can be created for their work as recovery measures are developed. She convened the Roundtable because entrepreneurs and small businesses are at the heart of European economic recovery, but she is concerned that they find it difficult to obtain the necessary support to create jobs and grow their businesses. Commissioner Kroes outlined steps taken by the Commission to make it easier and quicker for Member States to give a wide variety of state aids for SMEs, namely the General Block Exemption and the Temporary Framework, and urged Member States to make use of these possibilities. A similar roundtable will reconvene in the second half of 2009.

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