WRITTEN QUESTION E-0871/00 by Alejandro Agag Longo (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Setting up businesses.
C 374 E/176 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 28. 12. 2000 (2000/C 374 E/207) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0871/00 by Alejandro Agag Longo (PPE-DE) to the Commission (22 March 2000) Subject: Setting up businesses According to OECD figures, the number of statutory documents needed to set up a business in the Member States of the EU varies between two or three in Denmark and 28 in Greece. Does the Commission consider that these differences between the Member States encourage the setting up of new businesses, especially by young people? Does the Commission intend to take any practical steps to remedy this evident distortion of the single market? Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission (26 April 2000) The Commission shares entirely the concern of the Honourable Member over the regulatory burdens involved in setting up a business that continue to exist in a number of Member States, and regards the simplification of the formalities involved in business start-up as a priority. That is why, while recognising that this is primarily a matter for national governments, the Commission has encouraged Member States, in its BEST report (1), to address this problem and has supported their efforts to find simpler and better solutions. The BEST report calls on Member States to facilitate the creation of enterprises. Under the follow-up (2) to this report, the Commission is monitoring and evaluating progress made by the Member States, and is also sharing information about good practices. The Commission will report on the follow-up later this year. Further, under its concerted actions (3), the Commission assists Member States in exchanging good practices. A good example is the French Centres de formalitØs díentreprisesí, which have greatly simplified procedures for start-ups. Moreover, there is encouraging evidence of Member States learning from each otherís experience. For example, the Portuguese Centro de Formalidades das Empresasí network, which has reduced normal start-up times for businesses from around six months to around fifteen days, exploited the French experience. Benchmarking is an important tool to show differences and progress, and the Commission will continue benchmarking between Member States in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation. (1) Report of the Business Environment Simplification Task Force. This report can be found on Internet: http:// europa. eu. int/comm/dg23/gen_policy. (2) Action plan to promote entrepreneurship and competitiveness. This can be found on Internet: http://europa. eu. int/ comm/dg23/gen_policy. (3) Outlined in the recent report to the Council and Parliament on concerted actions, adopted by the Commission on 9 November 1999, COM(1999) 569 final. (2000/C 374 E/208) WRITTEN QUESTION P-0877/00 by Karin Riis-Jłrgensen (ELDR) to the Commission (16 March 2000) Subject: Unlawful State subsidy to the DSB Passenger transport between Copenhagen and ˘ro is provided by two carriers, one a privately owned bus company and the other a rail link operated by the DSB (Danish Railways)