Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union Directorate for Structural and Cohesion Policies Secretariat of the Committee on Culture and Education

Brussels, 24 September 2020

MSZ/zv

Draft opinion by Victor NEGRESCU on the “A new strategy for European SMEs” (2020/2131(INI))

Documents: CULT draft opinion PA/ 1207963 PE 653.852 v01-00 CULT amendements: AM/ 1212066 PE 655.981 v01-00 (1-44)

FINAL VOTING LIST

Reference AM Tabled by Rapp. Remarks Vote

If adopted, Am. 2, Am.1, Am 4, Am.8, COMP 1 Rapporteur + Am.7, Am. 5, AM. 3 and AM. 40 fall, Go to COMP 2

If adopted, Am 1 falls, 2 Niklas Nienaß + Go to Am.6

Paragraph 1 1 Niyazi Kizilyürek - If adopted, Am 4 falls

4 Massimiliano Smeriglio +

Elżbieta Kruk 8 + Andrey Slabakov

7 Gianantonio Da Re -

5 Isabel Benjumea Benjumea -

3 Catherine Griset -

VL_Negrescu_New strategy for SMEs 1/9 Update: 02/10/2020 Reference AM Tabled by Rapp. Remarks Vote

Paragraph 4 a 40 Niklas Nienaß + (new) If adopted, Am. 6, Am. 9, Am. 10, Am. COMP 2 Rapporteur + 11, Am. 12 and Am. 13 fall, Go to COMP 3 Morten Løkkegaard Irena Joveva Vlad-Marius Botoş 6 Ilana Cicurel + Laurence Farreng Radka Maxová Bernard Guetta Željana Zovko Tomasz Frankowski Paragraph 1 a Sabine Verheyen 9 Isabel Benjumea Benjumea + (new) Peter Pollák François-Xavier Bellamy Andrea Bocskor Paragraph 1 a 10 Niklas Nienaß + (new)

Paragraph 1 b 11 Niklas Nienaß + (new)

Željana Zovko Tomasz Frankowski Paragraph 1 b Sabine Verheyen 12 Isabel Benjumea Benjumea + (new) Peter Pollák François-Xavier Bellamy Andrea Bocskor Paragraph 1 c 13 Niklas Nienaß + (new)

If adopted, Am. 14, Am.15, Am.16 and COMP 3 Rapporteur + Am. 17 fall Go to COMP 6

VL_Negrescu_New strategy for SMEs 2/9 Update: 02/10/2020 Reference AM Tabled by Rapp. Remarks Vote

If adopted, Am.15 14 Niklas Nienaß + falls Paragraph 2 15 Niyazi Kizilyürek +

16 Catherine Griset -

17 Isabel Benjumea Benjumea -

If adopted, Am 18, Am. 19. Am 30, COMP 6 Rapporteur + Am.21, Am. 22, Am.23 fall Go to Am.20 Morten Løkkegaard Paragraph 2 Irena Joveva Vlad-Marius Botoş 18 Ilana Cicurel + Laurence Farreng Radka Maxová Bernard Guetta

19 Elżbieta Kruk + Andrey Slabakov Paragraph 3 – If adopted, Am. 21 subparagraph 1 30 Massimiliano Smeriglio + and Am.22 fall (new) Go to Am.23

Morten Løkkegaard Irena Joveva If adopted, Am.22 Paragraph 2 a Vlad- Marius Botoş falls 21 Ilana Cicurel + (new) Laurence Farreng Go to Am.23 Radka Maxová Bernard Guetta Željana Zovko Tomasz Frankowski Paragraph 2 a Sabine Verheyen 22 Isabel Benjumea Benjumea + (new) Peter Pollák François-Xavier Bellamy Andrea Bocskor

Paragraph 2 b Morten Løkkegaard 23 Vlad-Marius Botoş + (new) Irena Joveva Ilana Cicurel

VL_Negrescu_New strategy for SMEs 3/9 Update: 02/10/2020 Reference AM Tabled by Rapp. Remarks Vote

Laurence Farreng Radka Maxová Bernard Guetta Paragraph 2 a 20 Victor Negrescu + With oral amendment (new)

Željana Zovko Tomasz Frankowski Paragraph 2 b Sabine Verheyen 24 Isabel Benjumea Benjumea + (new) Peter Pollák François-Xavier Bellamy Andrea Bocskor If adopted, Am,28, Am. 26, Am.25, Am. COMP 5 Rapporteur + 27 and Am.29 fall Go to COMP 7 If adopted, Am 26, Am. 25 and Am. 27 28 Niklas Nienaß + fall Go to Am. 29 Morten Løkkegaard Paragraph 3 Irena Joveva If adopted, Am. 25 Vlad- 26 Marius Botoş - and Am. 27 fall Ilana Cicurel Laurence Farreng Go to Am. 29 Bernard Guetta Željana Zovko Tomasz Frankowski If adopted, Am. 27 25 Sabine Verheyen - falls Isabel Benjumea Benjumea Go to Am. 29 Peter Pollák

27 Victor Negrescu +

29 Niyazi Kizilyürek +

If adopted, Am.31, Am. 32, AM.33, COMP 7 Am.34, Am.35 and Paragraph 4 Rapporteur + Am.36 fall Go to COMP 8

Željana Zovko If adopted, Am,32 and 31 + Tomasz Frankowski Am. 33 fall Sabine Verheyen

VL_Negrescu_New strategy for SMEs 4/9 Update: 02/10/2020 Reference AM Tabled by Rapp. Remarks Vote

Isabel Benjumea Benjumea Go to Am.34 Peter Pollák Andrea Bocskor If adopted, Am. 33 32 Isabel Benjumea Benjumea + falls Željana Zovko Go to Am.34 Morten Løkkegaard Irena Joveva 33 Ilana Cicurel + Laurence Farreng Radka Maxová Bernard Guetta

34 Massimiliano Smeriglio +

35 Niklas Nienaß +

36 Catherine Griset -

If adopted, Am.37, Am. 38, and Am. 42 COMP 8 Rapporteur + fall Go to COMP 9 Paragraph 4 a 37 Victor Negrescu + (new) Paragraph 4 a 38 Elżbieta Kruk + (new) Andrey Slabakov Paragraph 4 b 42 Niklas Nienaß + (new) If adopted, Am, 39, Am.41, Am. 43 and COMP 9 Rapporteur + Am. 44 fall

Paragraph 4 a Isabel Benjumea Benjumea 39 + (new) Željana Zovko Paragraph 4 b 41 Victor Negrescu + (new) Paragraph 4 c 43 Victor Negrescu + (new) Paragraph 4 d 44 Victor Negrescu + (new)

VL_Negrescu_New strategy for SMEs 5/9 Update: 02/10/2020 Final vote on the draft opinion as whole (roll call vote) for against abstentions

+

COMPROMISE AMENDMENTS COMP 1 Paragraph 1 Niyazi Kizilyürek), AM 2, 40 (Niklas Nienaß), Am.4 (Massimiliano Smeriglio) Elżbieta Kruk, Andrey Slabakov

1.Reiterates the importance of micro, small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) as the backbone of the EU economy, including for smaller Member States (AM 1); notes that SMEs are particularly vulnerable to economic shocks due to limited liquidity reserves and high labour intensity(AM8); underlines that the COVID-19 crisis has had an unprecedented socio-economic impact on SMEs, especially in the cultural and creative sectors and industries(AM2), education, youth, sports and media; stresses that, due to the specificities of these sectors, the European cultural and creative sectors and industries are in their biggest crisis ever (AM2); calls on the European Commission to revise its SME strategy for sustainable and digital Europe focusing its support on SMEs to help them survive the crisis and to play a key role in the sustainable recovery of our European economy, (AM2), ensuring that funds allocated to European SMEs are widely and readily accessible across Member States in order to enable them to address current challenges, and maintain high levels of quality (AM1, AM 4) employment and put job retention schemes in place (AM 1);

COMP 2 Paragraph 1b new based on AMs 6 (Morten Løkkegaard, Irena Joveva, Vlad-Marius Botoş, Ilana Cicurel, Laurence Farreng, Radka Maxová, Bernard Guetta), Am 9Željana Zovko, Tomasz Frankowski, Sabine Verheyen, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Peter Pollák, François-Xavier Bellamy, Andrea Bocskor), Am10Niklas Nienaß, Am11Niklas Nienaß, Am12Željana Zovko, Tomasz Frankowski, Sabine Verheyen, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Peter Pollák, François-Xavier Bellamy, Andrea Bocskor), Am13Niklas Nienaß)

Stresses the importance of SMEs in the cultural and creative sectors and industries in terms of employment and economic growth, as the cultural and creative sectors and industries contribute alone to more than 8.7 million fulltime jobs, from which many are SMEs (3.8 percent of the EU’s workforce) (AM 6 ); recalls the specificity of the CCSIs which are mainly based on SMEs ecosystems; Underlines that many SMEs in the cultural and creative sectors and industries have higher risk profiles, therefore highlights the importance of providing support for project development and capacity building for those SMEs (AM13);

Emphasizes that within the cultural and creative sectors and industries, it was the live sector that was hit the hardest by the COVID-19 crisis, with live venues for music and performing arts, including festivals, being the first ones to be closed and the last ones to reopen, which is why the live sector needs particular support;(AM10); stresses the need to take lessons from the current crisis and create a common EU- coordinated ready-to-go plan to lessen the impact of future crisis on SMEs; recommends to include tailor-

VL_Negrescu_New strategy for SMEs 6/9 Update: 02/10/2020 made crisis support schemes to address challenges of different sectors affected;(AM9)

COMP 3 on Paragraph 2 based on AMs 14 (Niklas Nienaß,Am15(Niyazi Kizilyürek)

2.Reiterates the importance of accessible funding for SMEs across Europe, especially in the cultural and creative sectors and industries, and in the( AM14) educational, youth, media and sports sectors; calls on the European Council to increase funding (AM14); calls on the European Commission to increase the accessibility of funding, including public (AM15) funding, in particular in the upcoming InvestEU programme, and to provide equal financial opportunities in all EU Member States;

COMP 5 paragraph 3 based on AMs 25 (Željana Zovko, Tomasz Frankowski, Sabine Verheyen, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Peter Pollák), 26 (Morten Løkkegaard, Irena Joveva, Vlad-Marius Botoş, Ilana Cicurel, Laurence Farreng, Bernard Guetta),27 (Victor Negrescu), Am 28 (Niklas Nienaß), Am 29 (Niyazi Kizilyürek)

3.Strongly (AM26) condemns(AM 28) the lack of ambition of the revised proposal on the next MFF concerning sufficient funding for the cultural and creative sectors and industries ,(AM26) and the lack of specific financial support for these sectors in the new Recovery Plan; considers the current proposals as unacceptable and believes that they will have a negative impact on the sector (AM 29); reiterates the need for increased financial support as a foundation for the next generation to build a a sustainable future (AM25); considers, in this context, that these objectives can be successfully achieved only if (AM25) the Commission and Member States increase the budget of some of the most successful Union programmes, recalls, in this respect, the EP mandate for the next MFF programmes to triple the Erasmus+ budget, to double the Creative Europe budget and to restore the amount proposed by the Commission for the European Solidarity Corps; considers that these figures becomes more than ever relevant to challenge the current crisis(AM25); considering that cultural and creative sectors and industries weigh for 8,7 million jobs and 4% of the GDP, calls on the Commission and the Member States to earmark, according to their specific needs, at least 2% of the Recovery and Resilience Facility dedicated to the recovery to the cultural and creative sectors and industries; highlights that this percentage should reflect the importance of the industry; reiterates the need for precise programming and financial plans designed to ensure the continuity of cultural and creative sectors and industries activities and offer predictability to the people active in the field;

COMP 6 Paragraph 3a, b. c new based on AMs 18 (Morten Løkkegaard, Irena Joveva, Vlad-Marius Botoş, Ilana Cicurel, Laurence Farreng, Radka Maxová, Bernard Guetta),Am 19 (Elżbieta Kruk, Andrey Slabakov), Am 21 (Morten Løkkegaard, Irena Joveva, Vlad-Marius Botoş, Ilana Cicurel, Laurence Farreng, Radka Maxová, Bernard Guetta), Am 22 (Željana Zovko, Tomasz Frankowski, Sabine Verheyen, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Peter Pollák, François- Xavier Bellamy, Andrea Bocskor), Am 23 (Morten Løkkegaard, Vlad-Marius Botoş, Irena Joveva, Ilana Cicurel, Laurence Farreng, Radka Maxová, Bernard Guetta), Am 30 (Massimiliano Smeriglio)

Reiterates the importance of accessible funding for SMEs across Europe, especially in the cultural, creative, educational, youth, media and sports sectors; Recognizes that the intangible nature of activities in these sectors can limit the access to financial support AM 22); welcomes the recent enhancements to the

VL_Negrescu_New strategy for SMEs 7/9 Update: 02/10/2020 Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility (CCSGF), which during the last budget period from 2014 - 2020 has benefitted SMEs by securing loans for initiatives in the CCSIs; Calls on the Commission to ensure the CCSGF is included under the InvestEU Programme to improve access to finance for several enterprises operating in the cultural and creative sectors and industries during the COVID-19 crisis (AMs 21, 30) and calls for an extension of the CCSGF with an increased flexibility for the repayment for SMEs (AM22); calls on the Commission to ensure that the cultural and creative sectors and industries are adequately included in all programmes for entrepreneurship such as COSME and Horizon Europe (AM30);

Emphasizes the important role of Horizon Europe in helping the CCIs to innovate and develop new technologies, that can have a positive impact on an open and pluralistic cultural creative participation; in this regard welcomes the creation of CCIs KIC under the EIT strategy; Underlines the need to simplify the procedures for SMEs in CCIs, when applying for funds and calls for a one-stop-shop solution for SMEs applying for funds under Union programmes (AM23)

Highlights the need for appropriate and effective rules for implementation and utilization of cohesion policies for SMEs in the cultural and creative sectors and industries (AM18); emphasizes the importance of synergy between different initiatives and funding available for SMEs and notes that SMEs still struggle with adequate access to funds, particularly for long-term and innovative projects;(AM19)

COMP 7 Paragraph 4 based on AMs 31 (Željana Zovko, Tomasz Frankowski, Sabine Verheyen, Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Peter Pollák, Andrea Bocskor),Am 32 (Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Željana Zovko), Am 33 (Morten Løkkegaard, Irena Joveva, Ilana Cicurel, Laurence Farreng, Radka Maxová, Bernard Guetta) Am 34 (Massimiliano Smeriglio, Am 35 (Niklas Nienaß)

4. Notes the increased demand for digital cultural content, especially during different confinement phases (AM31); Points out that a low level of digitalisation will hinder economic convergence and growth prospects in many sectors; therefore, (AM 34) underlines the need for further investment in digitalisation of European SMEs across sectors; acknowledges the increased opportunities of digitalisation and digitisation in the cultural and creative sectors and industries; calls for additional support for SMEs that promote the increased accessibility for digital cultural and educational content(AM31); urges to build a digital level playing field taking into account the challenges of SMEs in the cultural and creative sectors and industries, such as the interoperability in the EU, the digital divide (AM31) as well as equal internet access; emphasises the need for further investment (AM 31) in skills, in particular digital and entrepreneurial skills which need to be one of the central themes of the curricula for all stages of education as well as basic skills in the training plans for workers and the unemployed, all coordinated in the Digital Education Action Plan;(AM32); in order to ensure a comprehensive and sustainable digital transformation process, thereby protecting employment and enhancing social inclusion (AM33); calls for a European initiative on entrepreneurial education in order to prepare the next generation of European SMEs, especially in the cultural and creative sectors and industries , (AM35) and also to provide guidance and support to existing SMEs in adapting to current challenges through programmes including lifelong learning (AM31); reiterates the importance of Erasmus+ apprenticeship and entrepreneur exchanges, and calls for more, similar initiatives using new formats and tools; calls for an improved platform providing information for European assistance to young entrepreneurs, start-ups, scale- ups and existing SMEs(AM31);

COMP 8 paragraph 4 a new based on AMs 37 Victor Negrescu, Am 38 (Elżbieta Kruk, Andrey Slabakov), Am 42 Niklas Nienaß

VL_Negrescu_New strategy for SMEs 8/9 Update: 02/10/2020 Calls on the European Commission to develop an integrated support plan for SME’s using cross- financing mechanisms available at European level as well as synergies with the national and local initiatives in order to support SME’s facing big challenges caused by the COVID 19 pandemic and to provide financial means for the establishment of new entrepreneurial initiatives(AM 37); Underlines that ensuring diversity among SMEs in the cultural and creative sectors and industrieswill safeguard cultural diversity, defy authoritarianism and thus protects our European values;(AM 42); Emphasises the importance of improving regulation, as SMEs in particular suffer consequences of inefficient regulation and unnecessary administrative burden; highlights that deeper integration of the single market is also crucial for the competitiveness and existence of SMEs (AM38)

COMP 9 Paragraph 4 a, b, c new based on AMs 39 (Isabel Benjumea Benjumea, Željana Zovko) 41, 43, 44 Victor Negrescu

Stresses the need for the involvement of young people in entrepreneurial activities (Am 41); Recognises and values entrepreneurial efforts in the education sector, especially in the case of SMEs, cooperatives that allow diversification in the education system and in the models offered to families so that they can choose freely;(AM 39) calls on Commission and Member States to foster entrepreneurial education and create tailored-made support measures enabling access to entrepreneurship and independent worker activities for all Europeans with a special focus on people with fewer opportunities; (Am41) Calls on the European Commission, in close cooperation with Member States, local authorities and social partners, for the establishment of a European initiative aiming to create more than 1 million new start- ups in Europe offering entrepreneurship opportunities across Europe (AM43); Stresses the key role of SME’s in sports in ensuring and promoting healthy life, intercultural dialogue, educational and professional opportunities for all; therefore calls for a greater attention to sports dimension under Erasmus+ programme (44);

Oral amendment proposed by the Rapporteur to its AM. 20 based on AM 20 (Victor Negrescu)

2. a. Highlights that cultural tourism accounts for 40% of all European tourism ; stresses the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 on the tourism and travel sector; therefore calls for the development of Crisis Management Mechanism with concrete measures in order to answer to the needs of the SMEs in cultural tourism;

VL_Negrescu_New strategy for SMEs 9/9 Update: 02/10/2020