SME Europe (Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Europe) is the official business association of the

European People's Party The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party with Christian-democratic, conservative, and liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative member parties. A transnational organisation, it is composed of other political parties. Fo ...

with the aim of defending the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises at European level. The organisation was founded in May 2012 by the three Members of the European Parliament,

Paul Rübig Paul Rübig (born 6 May 1953) is an Austrian politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1996 until 2019. He is a member of the Austrian People's Party, part of the European People's Party. Rübig became a Member ...

Nadezhda Neynsky Nadezhda Neynsky,Name after her second marriage after she divorced with her previous husband. previously known as Nadezhda Nikolova Mihaylova ( bg, Надежда Николова Михайлова) (born 9 August 1962 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian ...

and

Bendt Bendtsen Bendt Bendtsen (born 25 March 1954) is a Danish politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 until 2019. He was the leader of the Conservative People's Party from 1999 to 2008, and served as Minister of Economic an ...

. SME Europe is an organisation established under Belgian law. It has no legal link to the former SME Union, but numerous of its former members are now active in the newly established SME Europe. Politically, SME Europe urges for a reform of the legal framework in favour of small and medium size enterprises (SME) all across Europe. It pushes for a more efficient use of EU funds to strengthen SMEs. Together with cooperation partners is regularly organises events at European level in order to raise awareness of the needs of SMEs. The

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

supports the organisation through its two honorary members, the Commissioner for Regional Development

Johannes Hahn Johannes Hahn (born 2 December 1957) is an Austrian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Budget and Administration under Ursula von der Leyen since 1 December 2019. He previously served as European Commissioner for European N ...

und EU Industry Commissioner

Antonio Tajani Antonio Tajani (; born 4 August 1953) is an Italian politician, journalist and former Italian Air Force officer, who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of Foreign Affairs since 22 October 2022. He served as President of th ...

. Furthermore, in 2013, the former President of the European Commission,

Jacques Santer Jacques Santer (born 18 May 1937) is a Luxembourg politician who served as the 9th President of the European Commission from 1995 to 1999. He served as Finance Minister of Luxembourg from 1979 until 1989, and the 20th Prime Minister of Luxembo ...

, the former President of Eurochambres, Christoph Leitl, as well as the former Vice-President of the European Parliament,

Ingo Friedrich Ingo Friedrich (born 24 January 1942 in Kutno-Wartheland) is a former German (Bavarian) Member of the European Parliament. He was elected on the CSU ticket and sits with the EPP-ED Group. Friedrich holds a University degree in Economics. He was a ...

became Honorary Members of SME Europe.Announcement of the Honorary Membership
Blog of SME Europe, 20 February 2013.

External links

Description, retrieved 29 March 2013Blog of SME Europe on Facebook, retrieved 1 April 2013Statutes of SME Europe in English language, retrieved on 29 March 2013Statutes of SME Europe in French language, retrieved on 29 March 2013

References

Business organizations based in Europe Organizations related to small and medium-sized enterprises 2012 establishments in Europe