Commission appoints Markus Pieper as EU SME Envoy

On 31 January 2024, the European Commission appointed Mr. Markus Pieper as an EU SME Envoy. The instalment of a dedicated EU SME Envoy was announced by President von der Leyen in her latest State of the Union speech. The EU SME Envoy's task will be to provide guidance and advice to the Commission on SME issues and to advocate SME interests externally ensuring that the 'Think Small First' principle is applied effectively.

The EU SME Envoy will also chair the SME Envoy Network, thus maintaining close contact with the national SME Envoys, and work together with business associations to advocate for the special concerns and needs of SMEs within the Commission, in line with the Commission`s Better Regulation Agenda. This includes, in particular, working towards bureaucratic burden reduction for companies, filtering upcoming SME-related EU legislation and signalling to the Commission those that merit close attention from an SME perspective, in a regular dialogue with the Regulatory Scrutiny Board. The SME Envoy will report directly to President Ursula von der Leyen.

Mr Pieper, a Member of the European Parliament since 2004, brings extensive experience and expertise in SME policies. He serves as a member of the Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy. Mr Pieper will take office in the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) and he will also report to the Commissioner for Internal Market on all SME-related activities. The date of effect of his appointment will be determined later.