Press Release: Small Enterprise Charter: A Lisbon strategy success

The fifth report on Implementation of the European Charter for small Enterprises was adopted by the European Commission on 8 February 2005. It listed progress in the following fields: education for entrepreneurship, better regulation, bankruptcy law and skills shortages, especially measures to overcome the lack of skilled technicians and engineers. Since 2000, the Charter, which provides a framework to help signatories take action to support small enterprises, expanded from the EU-15 to 35 countries across Europe. The Charter commitments were also spreading beyond Europe with the recent signing of the Euro-Mediterranean Charter for Enterprise, involving another nine countries.

European Commission: DG Enterprise and Industry: Policy areas: Enterprise Policy: The European Charter for Small Enterprises: Annual Charter implementation reports: 2005 Implementation Report http://ec.europa.eu/comm/enterprise/enterprise_policy/charter/charter2005_base.htm

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