— In the new session of the ‘FGE | NextGeneratiOn Galicia’ cycle, the situation of Galician SMEs was presented, as well as the different European instruments to support their activity.

— The director of the Brussels office of Fundación Galicia Europa, Ana Ramos,
opened the session, which was also attended by representatives of the European
Commission and the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion.

Brussels, November 25th de 2023. Fundación Galicia Europa (FGE) organised this morning a new edition of the cycle of virtual meetings “FGE | NextGeneratiOn Galicia”, a monthly debate that brings together representatives of the Xunta de Galicia and experts from European institutions. This year’s seventh session was opened by Ana Ramos, the director of the Brussels office of the FGE, who was also in charge of moderating the event.

On this occasion, the meeting focused on SMEs, both in terms of existing EU support actions and their development in a changing European and global context. Simplifying their business activity, boosting their competitiveness and access to financing are some of the measures that the EU is committed to.

Ana Ramos also highlighted the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises in Galicia, given that there are almost 200,000 SMEs making up the Galician business fabric, which represent, as in the European statistics, a percentage of over 99%

To explore these issues and the instruments that can help consolidate the recovery of SMEs after the recent periods of crisis, the session included the
intervention of Raúl Merchán, policy officer at the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission. After his report, the Galician perspective was presented by Norberto Penedo Rey, the director of the Competitiveness area of the Galician Institute for Economic Promotion (IGAPE), the main body that manages the different lines of aid to Galician SMEs.

Virtual meetings between the Galician government and European institutions

The cycle of meetings ‘FGE | NextGeneratiOn Galicia’ brings together monthly the Xunta de Galicia with representatives of the European institutions to jointly address the policies promoted by the EU. Organised by the Fundación Galicia Europa since September 2020, it fosters debate on a multitude of issues on the EU agenda, such as the Industrial Strategy for Europe, the Green Pact and the European Digital Agenda.