Maive Rute appointed European Commission SME Envoy

Maive Rute has been appointed the new European Commission SME(small and medium sized enterprise) Envoy. Twenty five million SMEs create half of the new jobs in the Union.

One of Ms. Rute's top priorities will be to ensure better coordination of SME issues within the Commission, ensure the needs of SMEs are taken into account in drafting and implementing EU policies, and explain EU initiatives to SMEs. These include the European Charter for Small Enterprises and the Entrepreneurship Action Plan.

"I want to bring small business closer to decision-making in Brussels and EU policy closer to small business," said Ms. Rute.

Ms. Rute has previously been involved in the set-up and management of SME support schemes in Estonia and was Chief Executive Officer of the Credit and Export Guarantee Fund KredEx. Ms. Rute recently participated in a conference focusing on the success of CSR (corporate social responsibility) within the EU.