Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Politics and Policies in the European Economic Community

• Department of History

PhD thesis defence by Laurens-Jan Danen

Little is known about the origin and development of small- and medium-sized enterprise policies in the European Economic Community. This thesis highlights elements of the historical relationship between SMEs and policy development in the EEC, by combining primary sources from various historical archives in Europe. It is an important contribution in understanding how Europe’s large, diverse and economically important SME demographic influenced policymaking within the EEC institutions. The thesis poses questions to whether the general understanding of SMEs as being excluded from early EEC SME policymaking is justified.

The thesis illuminates four policy episodes or junctures within EEC SME policy development between 1957 and 1984, while putting a special focus on the policies’ protagonists as well as their motives, ideas, interests and ideologies. Beyond highlighting aspects of the policies’ developments, it also lays bare historical intricacies around the actors involved, whether Directorates-Generals, commissioners, political parties or MEPs. Over time, SMEs became closely connected to the pursuit of a well-functioning Common Market. The first EEC SME policies found their origin in the 1960s debates on concentration. In the 1970s, the European Parliament joined the EEC SME policy debate. The various parties had differing agendas connected to their support for SMEs and SME policies. From 1977 onward, DGIII, Davignon and his cabinet became important drivers behind the pursuit of EEC SME policy development, responding to cues from their environment, including Europe’s changing industrial landscape and an influential report from the European Parliament: the Notenboom Report. As time progressed into the 1980s, distinctive Christian-Democratic and conservative-liberal protagonists tried to put their stamp on EEC SME policy development with variable effect. The thesis shows that SMEs have been more closely involved in early EEC policy development than previously acknowledged.