Issue 16

ERENET Profile Vol. IV, No. 4.
www.erenet.org
AUTOM MESSAGE OF THE SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR
Dear Readers, Distinguished Friends,
It is Sándor Petőfi, the Hungarian poet, who declaimed,
"Here is the Autumn, once again enchanting,
It is always beautiful unto me again;
Lord knows why/
Do I love it? yes I do!"
Itt van az ősz, itt van ujra,
S szép, mint mindig, énnekem.
Tudja isten, hogy mi okból
Szeretem? de szeretem.
The Autumn, like just an artist paints over the leaves with yellow, ochre, rust-coloured and brown.
We see the bushes and trees laid out looking like a beautiful fairy tail carpet. I have just returned from
Chisinau, the Moldavian capital, where we convened a Workshop on Women and SMEs. Following this event,
I was taken to the enchanting Codru Forest, the current and former Government officials charged with
SMES, and I delighted in such a beautiful landscape. The restored Curchi monastery in Orhei District makes a
profound impression and should not be missed.
At the end of September, the ERENET flag waved wind over the fascinating and glowing building in
the pedestrian street Knez Mihailova which houses the Institute of Economic Sciences in Belgrade. It was
here the 4th ERENET Annual Meeting was held with over fifty participants. We were honoured, by the
presence of Tina Sommer, President of ESBA and Radovan Jelašić, Governor of the National Bank of Serbia.
The participation of South-Eastern Europe in the work of ERENET is growing and we are proud that
ERENET is contributing to strengthening mutual understanding and cooperation between the SEE countries.
The current global economic crises and recession have impacted deeply on people and entrepreneurs,
especially SMEs. The effect of the crises differs among the nations but in some areas the situation is critical
indeed. The rate of unemployment has been raised skywards. Commercial banks are still reluctant to
acknowledge their role in causing the chaos. Many commercial banks are sending foreclosures against their
debtors with loans in overseas currencies but as a result of high inflation and the result of losing their jobs are
unable to repay loans at the present time. We are witness to the downside of capitalism in the new CEE EU
countries. Hurray European Commission sitting in Brussels and doing nothing. Governments are challenging
taking actions to preserve jobs and smooth the effect of the impoverishment. The Hungarian National Bank
and others in CEE are only now waking up to prohibiting loans to purchase luxury cars without putting down
a penny of an individual’s own earned money..
ERENET has been invited by the Small Business Development Centre at the Corvinus University of
Budapest to undertake research in selected CEE countries on “The Reaction and available Protection
mechanisms for Small Businesses against the Stress Factors caused by the International Financial and
Economic crises”. On 18 November 2009, we shall also be discussing entrepreneurship policy in this time of
crises at the Pre-Conference Forum in connection with the 23rd RENT Conference to be held in Budapest.
The Pre-Conference Policy Forum is a joint event to be organized by the European Council of Small Business
and Entrepreneurship – ECSB – and ERENET. Hereby, I kindly invite all ERENET Members and Friends to
attend this interesting and challenging event. Participation is free of change.
Dr. Antal Szabó
Scientific Director of ERENET
Photo by Dr. Antal Szabó ©
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