EU Commissioner for the Internal Market Michel Barnier to visit Malta

Yesterday an MBB delegation led by President George Vella, and accompanied by CEO Joe Tanti and Permanent Delegate in Brussels, Omar Cutajar held a meeting with European Commissioner for Internal Market, Michel Barnier in Strasbourg.

During the meeting the Maltese delegation presented the Commissioner with the results of a study conducted by the MBB, pertaining to the experience of Maltese SMEs in the European Single Market. This was one of a series of meetings that the MBB will be holding with key EU institutional stakeholders.

The meeting touched upon a wide array of issues, including the need to improve access to finance for SMEs, improving the accessibility to cross-border public procurement opportunities for local firms and the need to maintain a level playing field in terms of timely and correct transposition of EU legislation across all member-states.

MBB President George Vella explained to Barnier how access to finance is a major concern for Maltese SMEs.

“The MBB is actively seeking other financial products available in foreign markets which could help current and prospective Maltese entrepreneurs to tap into a wider range of credit instruments. The MBB is currently conducting an assessment study, with the aim of identifying the right credit and financial engineering instruments available in the EU27 member states, and exploring which of these would be viable in Malta for SMEs at various stages of their lifecycle,” said Vella.

Barnier welcomed the report, saying, “I am satisfied by the study being undertaken by the MBB and commend your efforts in assisting Maltese SMEs to better connect to the European legislative agenda. Such exercises provide the European Commission with invaluable feedback from economic operators present in different member states, allowing it to better develop internal market policy."

At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Barnier was pleased to accept an invitation extended by MBB President George Vella to a debate with representatives of the Maltese business community to be held later this year.