Green economy: the European Parliament adopts a new resolution

A non-legislative resolution aiming to facilitate the access to finance and innovation rules for greener companies was passed by the European Parliament on May 29th 2015, where they stressed that "green growth should be part of a wider stategy of promoting job creation".

MEPs highlighted that SMEs, representing 99% of Europe's businesses, are the backbone of the European economy and are important drivers for economic growth and job creation but they face several problems to keep on their activity. They called on the Commision "to include green services in the ongoing negociations on the Environmental Goods agreement, as well as in bilateral trade agreements such as the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership).

 

Small and Medium Enterprises, key players

SMEs "can be expected to play an important role in the circular economy, providing sustainable, yet labour-intensive services such as repair, refurbishing and recycling". MEPs recalled "the importance of technology-neutral and innovation friendly legislation" and called on Members States to "make adequate use of market-based instruments in their public schemes and to refrain from using environmental harmful market distorting subsidies".

They also called the Commission to "study and identify" the sectors of European industry where new clusters and hubs can be created as "EU needs to drastically change its entrepreneurial culture".

This vote follows up the Commssion communication on Green Action Plan for SMEs that gives a clear direction and framework for how the EU intends to help SMEs exploit the business opportunities that the transition to a green economy offers.