Economic crisis

The economic situation in Europe dramatically deteriorated during the second half of 2008, with the downturn spreading from finance to the real economy. In November 2008, the European Commission adopted a European Economic Recovery Plan to enhance access to finance for SMEs, to reduce their administrative burden and to promote entrepreneurship, followed in 2009 by a communication on Driving the European recovery.

In 2009, UEAPME has commented on the main SME requests in a number of occasions, including a first-ever meeting between the European Social Partners and the College of Commissioners on 25 February and the Tripartite Social Summit on 19 March.

In March, it has also published its first “Craft and SME Barometer”, an EU-wide survey conducted among its members. Almost half of the about 50.000 SMEs polled all over Europe expect negative developments in their business in the first semester of 2009, compared to only 20% two years ago. The sharpest fall took place in the last six months, where the UEAPME Business Climate Index came down to 55.1, dropping by 14 points. Despite the economic crisis and contrary to larger enterprises, smaller businesses are still reluctant to lay off workers to cope with the downturn, according to the survey results.

On 27 April, UEAPME organised an extraordinary SME Convention in the presence of Commissioners Verheugen and Kroes. In May, it participated to an extraordinary "Jobs Summit" dedicated to the effects of the present downturn on employment.

In September, UEAPME has released a memorandum to the European Parliament for its first year in office, entitled "Acting now to trigger a new start".

Press releases and other documents

  04/06/2010: Economic crisis: reforms are unavoidable but must be shared, say SMEs

  23/03/2010: Business confidence is on the rise but an upswing is not near, SME survey finds

  15/02/2010: Only private spending will bring Europe out of the crisis, warn SMEs (auch verfügbar auf Deutsch)

  04/12/2009: Capital regulations must be strengthened without harming SME finance

  09/11/2009: Recovery measures must be geared towards to the future, SMEs urge ECOFIN

  05/11/2009: Open letter to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on regulatory capital, dynamic provisioning, tier 1 capital

  29/10/2009: Tripartite Social Summit: the crisis is not over, warn SMEs

  19/10/2009: Business confidence picks up slightly despite worrying reality, SME survey finds

  18/09/2009: Financial regulation: EU must support the real economy, not the City of London

  03/06/2009: Commission’s proposals to tackle unemployment set the right priorities

  03/06/2009: Swedish Presidency will be instrumental in restoring confidence, say SMEs

  14/05/2009: Brussels Economic Forum: put the real economy first, say SMEs

  07/05/2009: Employment will further decline unless urgent actions are taken, warn SMEs

  28/04/2009: Economic crisis: policymakers urged to “think and act small first”

  31/03/2009: G20 summit must first and foremost restore confidence, say SMEs

  19/03/2009: Tripartite Social Summit: SMEs urge EU to match commitments with action

  12/03/2009: Small businesses’ confidence hits new record low, first EU SME survey reveals

  25/02/2009: Recovery action must go beyond big businesses, SMEs urge Commission

  10/02/2009: Economic crisis: SMEs warn against rising wave of protectionism

  22/01/2009: Economic crisis must not be an excuse to stop reforms

  21/01/2009: Access to finance: differences remain despite wide range of responses, say SMEs

  26/11/2008: Economic recovery plan deserves Member States’ full cooperation, say SMEs

  25/11/2008: Europe’s economic recovery will not happen without SMEs

  03/11/2008: European SMEs should not pay the price of current economic crisis

  30/10/2008: SMEs can lead Europe out of the crisis, says re-elected UEAPME President

  05/10/2008: Summit gives hope that consumers and SMEs will be sheltered from financial crisis