Antonio Tajani is the European parliament’s new president. This is why SMEs should be rejoicing.

Feb 10, 2017

Antonio Tajani is well known for paying a lot of attention to the political SME Agenda. As Commissioner for Transport, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship in the past, and Member of the Committee of Industry and Research during his VicePresidency in the European Parliament, he certainly has a view on business. Here we’ve collected some of his most famous quotations on the topic:

“Solutions to the EU’s problems are not found in more and more Europe”

 

“If we want to win the battle against unemployment we have to nurture our 24 millon SMEs. Growth is linked to big business, but job creation is driven by SMEs”

 

“Internationalisation is the solution to offshoring.”

 

“I promised zero tolerance because just as citizens are required to pay taxes to the state it is equally important for the government to pay the companies that supply them. The term is 30 days, 60 in some cases.”

 

“My target is a good marriage between finance, banks, services and companies, and SMEs”

 

Tajani’s victory gives the EPP’s Christian Democrat group a grip on key EU institutions, with Donald Tusk as Council president and EPP leader Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission chief. Tajani will head the parliament for the next two and a half years.