PIMEC’s president travels to Brussels to defend the interests of SMEs in the EU regulations in progress

Antoni Cañete who is also vice-president of SME United held a series of meetings with representatives of European institutions in Brussels. In a meeting with the European Commission’s Director-General Daniel Calleja, Cañete exchanged on the EU regulations against late payments, on administrative simplification and on strengthening the competitiveness of SMEs Brussels, March 12, 2025. PIMEC’s president, Antoni Cañete, has traveled to Brussels to ensure that the EU regulations take into account the needs and features of SMEs. Cañete has focused his meetings on key legislation to deploy the 2023 SME Relief Package, such as the fight against late payments, reducing red tape (omnibus laws) and improving access to finance. Among other personalities, Antoni Cañete has met with Daniel Calleja, Director-General of the Legal Service of the European Commission; with the head of the SME unit of the European Commission’s DG Grow, Marie-Helène Pradines; with the delegate of the Government of Catalonia to the European Union, Ester Borràs, and with the director of the Acción office in Brussels, Ana Coelho. NO ES VA REUNIR TAMBE AMB ORIOL ESCALAS?? Regarding the omnibus laws, he welcomed them and highlighted that both directives recognise the voluntary standard for reporting on sustainability (VSME) unifying what large companies can request from SMEs in their value chain regarding sustainability. He also celebrated that the Invest EU regulation shall grant more money to the SME Window of the European program that finances investment, turning to a reality this long-standing demand of PIMEC and SME United. PIMEC has also asked the European Commission to improve the regulation that affects SMEs through administrative simplification. In this sense, Cañete noted the loss of competitiveness that administrative bureaucracy entails for SMEs and justified this with the data from the study prepared by the SME Observatory of Catalonia. “The problem is the transposition of the directives and the phenomenon of gold-plating in Catalonia and Spain,” he assured during the meetings.  Cañete also proposed more control by the European Union on gold-plating, through the European Semester process, including sanctioning Member States, if necessary. Accompanied by the permanent delegate of PIMEC in Brussels, Rosa Solanes, Cañete expressed his confidence that the Regulation against Late Payments will be addressed at the next meeting of the Competitiveness Council in May so that the Polish EU presidency can break the current deadlock. In relation to the Clean Industrial Deal to improve the competitiveness of the European industry. he positively assessed the plan for affordable energy and other specific measures such as accelerating the deployment of renewable energies and green technologies. However, he warned that the plan does not contain specific measures for SMEs.