EU prize for newcomers: The opportunity of the capital markets union

There are around 23 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with fewer than 250 employees and an annual turnover of less than 50 million euros in the European Union.

Financing them has been a concern of Brussels since the financial crisis, when the realization began to dawn that banks cannot be regulated more severely on the one hand and demand that they take all the risk involved in financing small and medium-sized enterprises on the other.

A lot has happened since then: For ten years, the EU has been trying to get closer to SMEs, for example within the framework of the SME Week and the SME Assembly, to promote more, to support initiatives and to award companies.

That is true, even though the gap between EU policies operating at the highest supranational level and small businesses operating at grassroots level is often difficult to bridge.

But there is a lot at the bottom of the European economy that has potential to grow beyond that.

This also offers opportunities for investors - especially if they succeed in broadening their horizons beyond national borders.

A thick board that the EU has been drilling from the start: the capital markets union.