Mr President, I would like to support the two rapporteurs in what has been said in this debate. I come from a peripheral area and I am aware of the problems of all the peripheral areas of the Community. SMEs are sort of doubly important there. Two jobs can often save a community from extinction. One wonders how many ideas which could be a powerhouse for bigger enterprises do not get started because of the failure of access to finance. There was a very good scheme whereby the EIB helped by putting a blanket over banks in Member States. That worked very well to my knowledge but it was withdrawn in the UK. I do not know if other Member States still have the scheme but it worked. We should go back to that.

Mentions were made of late payments. That is really devastating to SMEs. Mr Cassidy talked about red tape. What I have often found with regard to bureaucracy is that the UK enforces regulations straight away even when there is a transition period to let small businesses adjust to new conditions. This creates all kinds of problems. Small businesses in the UK are being asked to be sort of unpaid book-keepers for the Inland Revenue. It puts such a burden on them that it destroys creative ability. The VAT ceiling is also a question of great importance. It is too high in the UK and I think we could look at that throughout the whole Community.

Problems are also caused by the fact that business rates in Scotland are one and a half times those in England. If anyone can explain to me how that is fair in a single Community, I would like to know.