On 26 February, Committee of the Regions, in cooperation with the European Commission's Directorate General for Enlargement, organised another in a series of Local Administration Facility study visits for representatives of local administrations from the Western Balkans. This time, the visit was focused on entrepreneurship and SME policies at the local level.
 
As the CoR rapporteur on the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME), Member of the City and Municipal Council of Wołów (Poland), Mr Witold Krochmal addressed the guests from the Balkans and informed them about the work of the Committee of the Regions in the domain of entrepreneurship.
 
Mr Krochmal stressed the importance of SME sector for the economy of each EU country and for good functioning of our cities, regions and rural areas. He repeated that the CoR insists on a bigger role for SMEs in implementation of EU projects and the overall improvement of SME competitiveness which could be achieved in the first place by eliminating or reducing the difficulties SMEs face in accessing finance business activity and in expanding into markets outside their country of origin, but also through excessive tax burdens and red tape. On the other hand, he also pointed out to possible regulatory threats to a better development of SMEs, such as increased cost of labour, administrative burdens to businesses start-ups, insufficient access to information on market developments, obsolete education and training system, as well as overregulation at EU, national or local level.
 
The Local Administration Facility (LAF) finances study visits of local and regional authorities, including both elected representatives and senior officials to Brussels, during which they visit EU institutions and meet with leading representatives of local and regional authorities in the EU to increase understanding on what the EU stands for at the regional and local level.