No help from the EU for British entrepreneurs
JULY 2010: Nick Griffin's Constituency Office has carried out some research into business grants, loans and assistance schemes, in response to many British entrepreneurs seeking to access European Union funds for business ventures outside of the United Kingdom.Constituency Office manager Tina Wingfield reports on the findings and provides the standard response to the many queries received:
"While it appears at the outset that there are various assistance packages available, more detailed investigation reveals that the assistance available is geared towards particular ‘less developed’ regions and targeted specifically at designated areas of trade. Some European countries, moreover, have more advanced assistance structures in place and language difficulties, not surprisingly, continue to present a barrier to effective cross-border trading.
The EU Service Directive, for example, was implemented with the aim of stimulating cross-border trade and to facilitate the establishment of new business ventures, through a ‘Single Point of Contact’.
The European Union (EU) supports indirect (i.e. through financial intermediaries in the home country) financing for small/medium sized enterprises (SMEs), to help their business start up or develop. It does this through the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme 2007-2013 (CIP). CIP funds are used to guarantee loans to SMEs provided by a range of financial institutions involved in SME lending. Unfortunately, however, there is currently no source of EU-supported loan finance in the United Kingdom. The EU also supports small businesses through direct funding/grants but this finance is directed primarily towards the poorer regions within the European Union. Another facility that is, therefore, of little use to to British citizens.
In short, as with many other aspects of our European Union membership, there is little or no benefit for British people in terms of gaining financial assistance for new business ventures. In fact, the net effect of our membership is socially, culturally and economically detrimental. In terms of finance, We put £billions British taxpayers’ money into the EU and receive few worthwhile services in return. Culturally, our British identity and national sovereignty are becoming increasing subsumed within a European Super State and our value as indigenous Britons eroded. Socially, the free flow of Eastern European migrants has squeezed British workers out of the jobs market and placed an unsupportable burden upon our health, education and welfare services.
This is why, as a British National Party MEP, Mr Griffin believes that Britain and the British people would be better off if we were free and independent of the European Union. He is anti-European Union - and calls, therefore, for Britain to withdraw from the EU - but he is not anti-European. A British National Party Government would replace rule from Brussels with a system of cooperation between free nations, establishing bilateral agreements on trade and travel with other countries that benefit Britain and the British people.
British sovereignty must be restored and the right to decide on issues of national importance - such as social and economic affairs - returned to the elected British Government. Only then will we be able to ensure that the interests of British workers and British business are put before all others.
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