We need your help NOW
Hello, it's been a while, but we never stopped working on this campaign.
The change in leadership meant we were extremely busy catching up and re-establishing our group with contacts and people, so if you haven't already, please follow us on social media so you can get regular updates from us:
- Instagram+Threads+TikTok: @eu.mea.hq
- Facebook: Eu-MEA
- Bluesky: @eu-mea.eurosky.social
We have a lot in store, and WE NEED YOUR HELP, so please keep reading till the end!
----🚧----- We remind you that WE DO NOT COLLECT MONEY. If you give any € to Change.org, we won’t see a cent, unfortunately. Just share this petition! ----🚧-----
::: WHAT HAPPENED IN THE LAST WEEKS?
First of all, thank you for continuing to sign the petition, sharing it, and leaving comments: did we make an impact? Yes. Were we heard? Also, yes.
Was it enough? NO, IT WASN’T.
On Sept. 16, a debate about PPWR was held, and all speeches were favourable to our cause (here you can find our summary and opinions).
They admitted we were forgotten because we don’t have an SME lobby in Brussels. This made us quite furious because they didn’t follow their own principle, “Think small first”. How could that happen?
So, now WE NEED TO PUSH HARDER; we need to act en masse to create a collective wave to shake things up and pop the bubble the EU Commission lives in. YES, we have a plan, and you can help with it.
::: OUR PLAN AND REQUESTS
We need to push our national governments to reopen negotiations and advocate for us, the smallest among the small, to pursue the needed changes to the PPWR and EPR so we can keep selling in the EU. They didn't consider the catastrophic consequences of this law, and WE need to remind them. Every. Day.
On Oct. 19, there will be the Omnibus vote, and they will probably suspend the need for the authorized representative (AR), which is a first step, but it's NOT ENOUGH. Micro enterprises will still have the burden of registering in many different member states for the EPR and pay silly thresholds set up for much larger businesses.
What we want:
- A total exemption from EPR for enterprises with fewer than 5 owners/employees, and up to 1 million balance/turnover (we call them pico and nano enterprises);
- IF an exemption is impossible, we want the One Stop Shop (OSS) to have reasonable thresholds for pico and nano enterprises that ship just a few parcels a year. A study on pico and nano enterprises should be conducted to decide such a threshold. A business shipping 30 parcels can’t pay for a 1-ton threshold; it’s NONSENSE.
::: WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW?
1. URGENT: Tell your story via email to your local/national representatives; contact the politicians you voted for in your country, the minister of finance or environment or other related ministries, members of parliament.
Be specific, tell your hurdles, explain the impact PPWR has on your business and what the urgency is for you (OSS? Thresholds?). Write to as many as you can, especially to the national / EU politicians who are from your region/city; make them walk in your shoes!
You can send them an email by finding their addresses on institutional websites, and please CC us at eu-mea@proton.me.
2. URGENT: Tell your story on social media and tag your local government, local politicians, EU Commission, EU Parliament, and EU Council; invite us as a contributor or tag us (IG+Threads+TikTok @eu.mea.hq, Facebook: Eu-MEA, Bluesky: @eu-mea.eurosky.social ).
Explain what you do, the impact PPWR had on your business, use the hashtag #savemicroenterprises #fixPPWR.
We recommend using the trend audio with the hook "nobody talks about how hard it is going from this.... to being forgotten by the EU" where you show your business before and after Aug. 12. Here you can find an example made by one of our volunteers. Please go to our socials in the next few days for more.
Note: we need stories to share with policymakers. If you have a small or micro (or nano, or pico) business selling in the EU, please write us your story at eu-mea@proton.me - we have many stories from several countries already; you can keep sending, but we need to hear especially from businesses from: Austria, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, for which we don't have any yet.
Remember, the goal is to CREATE A WAVE of stories! Please spread the word, tag people you know to join in, send this update to whoever might be joining; the more we are, the more our collective voice will be heard!
::: A SHORT GOODBYE
We’ll be back with other updates soon, but in the meantime:
- Help us help you: we are all volunteers, and if you wish to contribute with content, letter writing, translations, or organising, your help is most welcome. Please fill in this form.
- We remind you that WE DO NOT COLLECT MONEY. If you give any € to Change.org, we won’t see a cent, unfortunately. Just share this petition!
That’s all from us for now. Stay strong, keep fighting,
All the volunteers @ EuMEA