site.btaFinance Minister Vassilev: Changing the Playing Field Will Enable Small Businesses to Grow

Sofia, July 9 (BTA) - Caretaker Finance Minister Assen Vassilev
Friday said that all the upcoming changes, from autonomous
vehicles to the digitization of information and health care, are
 linked to heavily regulated industries with very well
established big companies which have written the regulations,
making the entry of startups next to impossible. He addressed
the digitization panel of the Business Forum taking place
alongside the Sixth Summit of the Three Seas Initiative in
Sofia.

Those established companies and regulations are located mostly
in Western Europe and less so in the East - this is where the
Three Seas Initiative can come in very useful and this is what
puts Eastern Europe at an advantage. "We have the unique chance
to change the playing field, to enable the small [businesses] to
 grow, to experiment and write the new regulations," said
Vassilev. 

He also said: "I think we have a strong enough voice along with
the other countries of the Three Seas Initiative to make this
happen at the European level. We can talk no end about
digitization, but if we do not change the regulatory environment
 to help entrepreneurs break through and lay down the new rules,
 if we do not stop the anti-competition conduct of 'the old
ones', nothing will ever happen. I am optimistic that through
coordination and hard work, we can tap this unique opportunity
to move forward in many ways compared to the rest of Europe by
creating an environment for businesses and entrepreneurs so that
 they can create new processes and apply new technological
opportunities more quickly and at a lesser cost." NV/DD