The Early Warning Europe project integrates the SME Policy Index: Western Balkans and Turkey 2019 - Assessing the Implementation of the Small Business Act for Europe
27 May 2019
In the document, the Early Warning mechanism is recognized as a central instrument for securing a resilient SME sector in any economy
The European Commission (EC), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Training Foundation (ETF), have just published the 2019 version of their Small and Medium-Sized enterprises (SME) Policy Index for the candidate countries to the EU.
The document provides an overview of the SME policy, it identifies the outstanding challenges affecting SMEs and issues recommendations on how to foster the development of SMEs. According to the Index, “this fifth edition of the report identifies the remaining challenges affecting SMEs in these EU pre-accession economies and makes recommendations to overcome them.”
The Early Warning Europe project is one of the European initiatives included in the document. The programme appears in the second chapter, entitled “Bankruptcy and second chance for SMEs in the Western Balkans and Turkey”. The chapter reports the initiatives in the Western Balkans and Turkey that support efficient bankruptcy legislation and promote a second chance for failed entrepreneurs.
As reported in the SME Policy Index document, “Early Warning Europe gives access to the early warning mechanisms foreseen in the upcoming EU Directive on preventive restructuring frameworks, second chance and measures to increase the efficiency of restructuring, insolvency and discharge procedures.”
The Early Warning Europe programme started in 2016 when 15 organisations from seven European member states integrated a partnership to develop a European network for Early Warning actions that provides support to enterprises and second starters. The main objective of the programme is to help companies in distress and to prevent bankruptcies. Since 2019, the project has helped almost 2200 companies in Europe.