UEAPME
The European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (known by its acronym UEAPME after the French name – Union européenne de l’artisanat et des petites et moyennes entreprises) is a European organisation representing the interests of crafts, trade and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). UEAPME is a recognised European Social Partner and acts on behalf of crafts and SMEs in the European Social Dialogue and in discussions with the EU institutions. As the European SME umbrella organisation, UEAPME incorporates 80 member organisations consisting of full members and associate members. Full members are the national cross-sectoral SME federations from EU countries which have voting rights in the association’s bodies. Associate members, with no voting rights, are the European branch federations, national cross-sectoral SME federations from non-EU countries and other associate members, which support the SME family. UEAPME represents over 12 million enterprises in the European Union with nearly 55 million employees.
UEAPME was excluded from the social dialogue negotiations which led to the framework agreement on parental leave in 1996, as UNICE (now BUSINESSEUROPE) was considered to be the body representing the interests of employers. As a result, on 5 September 1996, UEAPME invoked Article 230 EC (now Article 263 TFEU) before the European Court of First Instance (CFI) to challenge the validity of the directive implementing the agreement (Council Directive 96/34/EC of 3 June 1996 on the Framework Agreement on parental leave concluded by UNICE, CEEP and ETUC). The complaint was dismissed by the CFI on 17 June 1998 on the grounds that the social partner representing employers, which had negotiated the parental leave agreement, UNICE, was sufficiently representative of SMEs (Union Européenne de l’Artisanat et des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises (UEAPME) v. Council of the European Union, Case T-135/96 [1998]).
The expectations were that UEAPME would appeal the decision of the CFI to the European Court of Justice. Instead, the two bodies issued a ‘Proposal for a cooperation agreement between UNICE and UEAPME’, dated 12 November 1998, which described ‘the modalities of cooperation between UNICE and UEAPME in social dialogue meetings, including negotiations’ (Clause 1.2). This includes provisions whereby ‘UNICE undertakes to consult UEAPME prior to taking public positions on behalf of the employer group in social dialogue and negotiating meetings’ (Clause 3.1) and ‘UEAPME representatives fully participate in preparatory meetings of the employer group and in plenary meetings with ETUC’ (Clause 3.2). UEAPME has thereby become a recognised participant in the European social dialogue alongside UNICE.
See also: European social dialogue; European social partners; representativeness.