Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner presented yesterday an initiative which seeks to improve access to finance for small businesses and for socially excluded people, also ethnic minorities, who want to become self-employed. This initiative, in line with the Lisbon Strategy for growth and jobs, aims to make small loans, or micro-credit, more widely available in Europe to satisfy unmet demand. The main aspects of the initiative are:
- it invites Member States to adapt their national institutional, legal and commercial frameworks needed to promote a more favourable environment for the development of micro-credit. This should include making changes to their National Reform Programmes under the Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth, in order to set themselves meaningful targets in this field.
- it recommends setting up a new European-level facility with staff to provide expertise and support for the development of non-bank micro-finance institutions in Member States. This would equip micro-financers to offer not just a loan, but a service mentoring the borrower to help develop and ensure the success of their business. This kind of accompaniment is the key to the success of micro-credit operations.
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